“You are even more stupid than Bamchik,” shouted Dunni the dog, whacking his son Lippo one on his backside. Dunni was trying to teach Lippo to stand on two hind legs and beg - a trick which Dunni’s master Surya, the farmer, found most amusing.

“Ouch!” yelped Lippo and scampered away. He rushed straight to Bamchik - his best friend. Bamchik was a donkey well known for his stupidity. Everyone made fun of his hare-brained nature.

Billi the cat who often teach her daughter Pilli to catch mice would scream, “How many times have I told you not to spend too much time with Bamchik? You are becoming as slow and clumsy as that stupid donkey. At this rate you will never learn to catch mice.”

Bamchik would listen to all this and feel really sad. He was a good natured fellow and kind at heart. He did not believe in picking up fights. So he would suffer silently. However, he had one consolation, even though Dunni and Billi treated him with contempt, Lippo and Pilli simply adored him. They would climb on to him and he would taken them around the farm. He would tell them stories, which his grandma had told him, in his own style. He could be quite funny and would make them giddy with laughter. And most of all he never treated Pilli and Lippo like kids. He treated them as his equals, and they loved him for that.

All the animals lived in the barn next to Surya’s farmhouse. The farmhouse was in one corner of the Megvati village.

Dunni guarded the farmhouse while Billi’s job was to catch mice. Bamchik carried load from the farmhouse to the farm, which was close by, and back.

Surya was a hard working and wealthy farmer who took good care of his farm as well as the animals. Of course, often he too would make fun of Bamchik.