Ennsel was the strongest and biggest donkey in all of Israel.

Had he wished, he could have carried the biggest packs of all, but he didn't like to do that. He couldn't understand why people should expect him to tote their heavy burdens from one place to another all day long. There wasn't much food besides thistles and tumbleweeds, and never enough water to slake his thirst. Ennsel was decidedly unhappy about his fate.

It was a struggle for anyone to hang a saddle bag across his back, and a worse fight when the loading began. He kicked out as hard as he could and bit his owners should they come close enough. So he was constantly beaten. With his whole back a festering sore, he still wouldn't obey his tormentors. He stiffened all four legs and braced himself so that they couldn't make him take even one step forward. All his life he was sold again and again, and mistreated cruelly again and again. He was good for no one, not even himself.

Finally he wound up in Levi's stockade. Levi bought animals for their leather, but before he skinned Ennsel, he brought him to the bazaar one more time. A man came by and asked, "How much for this large donkey?"

"Him? If you give me three shekels he's yours."

The man counted the money into Levi's hand, took Ennsel by his rope and led him away. "At the first opportunity I shall bit his hand and take off," flashed through the donkey's mind. He didn't have a chance because the man took him into a barn-like shed. He stroked Ennsel's forehead and said in a gentle voice, "My name is Joseph and I know you and I will become good friends. Poor beast. By the looks of you, you've had a rough time, but that will all change from this day on."

He put a whole bale of hay into the manger in front of Ennsel and brought him a bucket of clean fresh water. He brushed the dirt from Ennsel's coat until it was clean and shiny. Carefully he applied a soothing ointment to the lacerated back. It felt so good! All the while he talked as though they had known each other intimately for years. Ennsel could hardly believe there were men on earth so loving and kind as this Joseph. He forgot all about running away until he heard joseph say, "I dreamed about you, you know. I had a vision. You have been chosen to do a very special job. Rejoice!"

"Oh, oh!" thought Ennsel, "here it comes. He's going to make me carry a heavy load. He's like all other men. He was just buttering me up so I would cooperate. I have to get away, and the sooner the better."

Before anything could happen, a young woman suddenly stood in the doorway. Ennsel could see that she was pregnant, but the most amazing thing about her was her beautiful face which glowed so that it lit up the whole barn. Immediately Ennsel fell under her spell. "What has come over me now? he asked himself.

"This is my wife, Mary," said Joseph. "We must make a long journey to a town far away. You can see she can't walk there. Don't you want to carry her? You have been selected."

As if in a dream Ennsel let Joseph tie all their goods onto his back and in the end help Mary up as well. It was magic for certain because it seemed there was nothing on his back at all.

He took Mary all the way to Bethlehem. He was there when the Son of Man was born, when the shepherds came to worship, and when the Magi brought gifts. He even carried the young mother and child to Egypt. He served them all the days of his life.

And the load was light.