“The
donkey had a bad press in ancient Egypt,” she informed him. “Much maligned,
generally inoffensive, occasionally perverse and abominated since ancient times
- so hated that the temple scribes could not write its name without showing a
knife stuck in its shoulder - yet the little African donkey is indefatigable.
It goes like the devil. Which was exactly what the ancients thought it was. A
devil. The donkey was an essentially evil entity in the creeds of the
Egyptians, personified by the god Seth. The donkey was the magical
scapegoat par excellence."
