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Overview
A steward gives his impoverished nephew a small ass that deposits money onto a cloth placed underneath it. He warns the child to keep the animal close and tell nobody about its gift. At an inn the boy insists on sleeping beside the ass, but the landlord watches through a keyhole, sees the coins and exchanges it for an ordinary animal of the same colour and size while the boy sleeps.
The uncle later provides a food-producing tablecloth, which the same landlord steals, and finally a command-responsive stick. The stick beats the thief and wrecks his furnishings until he returns the original ass and cloth. The boy brings all three gifts home, and a family banquet confirms the household’s prosperity. The animal’s identity depends on its money-producing action, not its outward appearance: the counterfeit resembles it but cannot perform the wonder. No speech, wings or unusual number of limbs is stated.
Origins & earliest records
Crane, Italian Popular Tales (1885), XXXII, The Ass That Lays Money, pp. 123–127; source: Nerucci, Montalese tales 43.
Records & interpretation
The complete selected English tale describes these actions and their ending. Its published source attribution distinguishes the local witness from parallel tales.
Selected bibliography
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- 01
Italian Popular Tales: XXXII, The Ass That Lays Money, pp. 123–127
Source listed as Nerucci, Montalese tales 43; original-language text not independently collated.
Family & connections
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References
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- Primary historical collectionCrane (1885): XXXII, The Ass That Lays Money, pp. 123–127Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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