The Biberach Donkey
Having just come back from Guernsey where I saw a few of the 42 donkeys featured in the colourful Donkey Parade (http://www.guernseydonkeys.com), I feel tempted to share with you the story of our donkey, to be seen in the Biberach Market Square.
This donkey was created by Peter Lenk, a sculptor from Bodman, Lake Constance. The story behind it was written by Christoph Martin Wieland, who spent his childhood in Biberach and also worked here before he became the first classical author in Weimar, Thuringia. He wrote a satirical novel in the 1770s about the citizens of Abderra in Northern Greece (or Biberach, or …?) with episodes that might have some equivalents today. The Story about the Donkey and his Shadow is part of it and runs as follows:
A dentist has to go to a market town in the country for a few days to treat patients. He hires a donkey whose owner comes along with him. At lunchtime on a very hot day when they have a rest and - for lack of trees or bushes for shade - the dentist sits himself in the shadow of the donkey. Immediately an arguments starts between them, as the owner claims that his client has only paid for the donkey, not for the shadow. The dentist, however, argues that without the donkey there would be no shadow. As they cannot come to an agreement, they eventually return to their home town. The news has reached the town already, and the population is split right through society into two parties: The Donkey Party and the Shadow Party. Eventually the case is taken to court to the great delight of two barristers. The procedure goes through all levels right to the Court of Appeal. When the final trial takes place in the Market Square, the donkey appears, decked with flowers and wreaths. By then the audience has become so hysteric that they tear the poor animal to pieces. Reconciliation comes too late for the donkey, but it is decided that there should be a memorial for him.
This happened in Biberach in 2000. And the population was split into two parties: for and against the donkey, for and against the donkey in the Market Square, and whether it should be there temporarily or permanently. The front side of the sculpture is a modern interpretation of the story: vices such as prostitution (donkey‘s head and ears), corruption, skinheads (hind legs) are opposed by representatives of law and order, moral code, religion, and the appeal is for common sense, altruism, peace. The reverse side is blank - the shadow.
A decade later one can say that the donkey is well integrated into the town scenery, and when people want a precise place to meet each other - it is: at the donkey!
Rotraud Rebmann, Biberach
September 2011
