Story about fear: A donkey, a boy, an old man, and peer pressure

An old man, a boy, and a donkey were going to town. They lived in a small village in which everybody knew everyone. The boy rode on the donkey and the old man walked beside him. As they were leaving the village, they passed some people from the village who remarked how it was a shame the old man was walking and the boy was riding. The boy became afraid that his neighbors would say he does not respect his elders and is taking advantage of the old man. The boy told the old man his thoughts and the old man explained to the young boy that what he is feeling is peer pressure and he shouldn’t succumb to it. But still, the young boy was worried and insisted they change positions. The old man saw an opportunity for a lesson and accepted the boys’ decision. Now that they have changed their position the boy felt safe to continue their journey.

Later they passed some people near the town who remarked, “what a shame! He makes that little boy walk.” The boy again felt pressure and asked the old man what should they do know. The old man asked in return “What do you want to do now?” The boy thought hard and asked if they could both walk alongside the donkey. Soon they passed some more people who again loudly remarked “How stupid can you be to walk while you have such a good donkey you can both ride.” The boy stopped and suggested that they should both ride the donkey. So they both got on the donkey. 

After some time they meet some people who were very loud and started shaming them by saying how awful it was to put such a load on a poor donkey. The boy again didn’t know if he made the right choice and asked the old man what should they do now. The old man was silent for a moment and then asked the boy what he wanted to do. The boy was thinking hard about what he heard. As he couldn’t forget the words “poor donkey” he saw that they were just about to cross a narrow bridge. He thought that the other people were right and the donkey was exhausted. So he suggested to the old man that they should carry the donkey over the bridge so it wouldn’t slip and fell into the river. The old man did as the boy asked. They picked up the donkey and started walking. 

As they were crossing the bridge the boy lost his grip of the animal and the donkey fell into the river. Everyone that was near the bridge saw how the donkey fell into the river. The boy forgot about the donkey and started worrying about the people around him, while the old man went to save the donkey. When the old man came back with the donkey he told the boy that today he got a free life lesson about peer pressure. As they continued their journey the old man asked the boy to go over everything that happened this day and how it would have gone if the boy wouldn’t have listened to the remarks of others.