One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal brayed pitifully for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided, because the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway so nobody else would fall into it, it would be better just to bury the donkey there.
He invited all his neighbors over to help him. They each grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well.
At first, the donkey, realizing what was happening, became frightened and began to bray hysterically. But suddenly, he became very quiet.

Many shovel loads later, the farmer, thinking the donkey had died from being buried under the dirt, finally looked down the well.
He was astonished at what he saw.With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey did something nobody ever thought he would or could do. He would shake it off and take a step up.
As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the donkey, he would shake it off and take a step up until eventually, he was able to step over the edge of the well and happily trotted off.