The Donkey that shits Money

Jackal had been riding his donkey and grew tired, so he decided to stop and cook some meat. Once his food was getting hot, he saw some farmers coming toward him and quickly put out the fire. When the farmers arrived, he said, "Look! This is a magic pot. It doesn't need a fire to cook food. You must just hit it three times.” He did just that, and then showed the farmers the meat that was still sizzling. "I will sell you this magic pot for $1,000," said Jackal. They took him up on the offer.

Later, the farmers grew hungry and tested their new pot. But after hitting it three times, they found their meat was still raw. They tried again—still raw. Realizing they’d been tricked, they went back to Jackal, who was scared to see his customers returning. Quickly, he took the money they had given him for the pot and hid it in his donkey's rear end.

The farmers demanded their money back. "I can't," replied Jackal. "This pot is yours now. Anyway, I have already spent the money.” But just as he said this, the donkey farted and all the money tumbled from its backside. For a second Jackal was terrified, but then he smiled. "Look at this donkey," he said to the farmers. "It’s magic because if you feed it grass, it will shit money.” He offered it to the farmers for $1,000. "This is a magic donkey!" agreed the farmers. So they parted with another thousand dollars, and Jackal happily went on his way.

The above story was told by a member of the Ju/’hoansi, an African hunter-gather society that I studied during anthropology in university, and retold via this article from The Atlantic. It's interesting that the everyman of an ancient society would have similar (mis)conceptions about money as any everyman in a modern society. And ATMs: “If you feed this machine the right numbers, it magically shits money.”