“The journey which this little book is to describe was very agreeable and fortunate for me. After an uncouth beginning, I had the best of luck to the end. But we are all travellers in what John Bunyan calls the wilderness of this world–all, too, travellers with a donkey: and the best that we find in our travels is an honest friend. He is a fortunate voyager who finds many. We travel, indeed, to find them. They are the end and the reward of life. They keep us worthy of ourselves; and when we are alone, we are only nearer to the absent.”
- Robert Louis Stevenson

From Enchanteur’s Bag
by Shari Vogt

“I seem to have hit my head. Or so my donkey tells me. Or so my donkey tells me? I close my eyes, give my head a gentle shake and open them again. It takes several seconds for my vision to clear. Did I just hear my donkey (why do I have a donkey?) talking to me?

“You might wish to open your pack” said the donkey helpfully. “Pack?” I asked stupidly. “Yes, pack.” the donkey replied patiently, as one talking to a very small child. “The enchantress packed each of you a small sack in case we became separated. You should open it and see what’s inside.”

Travelling with a Donkey.

Some very famous people have travelled with donkeys. It was the small one who, led by Joseph, carried Mary on his back and all Australians know the classic tale of Simpson and his Donkey.

From the beginning, Robert Louis Stevenson was an explorer who probed both the past and present and discovered the far reaches of the human spirit. Filled with tales of Scottish and Protestant history, Robert Louis Stevenson set his compass for voyages in the long ago. And fueled by the winds of imagination those passages became famous novels, Treasure Island and Kidnapped. Exploring his present Stevenson chose a pace that would give him extraordinary vision. After walking the southern mountains of France he wrote Travels with A Donkey. In Travels with a Donkey, Stevenson documents his journey with Modestine.

Lemurian Donkeys

Perhaps one of the highlights of coming to Lemuria is the opportunity to travel with a donkey. Upon arrival, le Enchanteur gives travellers a bag filled with special talismans, and tells them of the donkey compound where travellers meet the Secretary of the Donkey Union, and the donkey who is destined to share their journey. Travellers always recognise the donkey who is to guide them. Guides such as Geraldine, Regina, and Belenus, have trod the roads and faithfully advised their human companions as they tread unchartered regions.

When you come to Lemuria, receive you bag and meet your inner donkey you begin a journey within that will change you for ever.

Belenus the Donkey
by Imogen Crest
15th May 2006

Winged shoes racing through the air to White Owl, where I had been before,
I got there quick, but no time for sight seeing. Had to find my donkey.
There was a donkey for me as the kind Muse of the Donkeys, who goes by
the name of Fran among others, assured me. A donkey with long furry ears
and a dreamy kind of nature, that read books and wore glasses,
indicated it wanted to come along for an adventure.
“Call me Belenus” it said, “Like the Sun God”.
I laughed a bit.
“I hope you don’t mind me wearing glasses”,
said the newly christened “Belenus”.
“Of course not,” I said, “we will
be wanting to see things differently, — be wise eyed in fact. I have
glasses too in my bag of tricks.”
Belenus looked satisfied, and put down the
Classics he had been reading. There was a stack of them
leaned against an old oak.
“Leaving my books for a Grand Tour,” he said, “a grand adventure.
And this is right, you see. It’s how it’s meant to be.
And I hope you don’t mind if we fly
at times, me being a plodder and all.”
“Only too pleased you want to fly too,” I said.
“I have always wanted to fly, closer to the sun, the reason for my name,”
he said, “but not too close, mind, as I have just read about that poor
fellow, whatsisname?”
I smiled because I remembered reading about the mythical figure, Icarus,
flying too close to the sun. This fact was pleasing, as I knew my donkey
had uncommon sense already. Just what I needed. Perfect.
“So you wish to fly,” I said, “above your daily cares, but not too
high? That suits me. We are off to find a treasure, and
be buccaneers. We have to find the dead man’s chest.
Come on, we don’t have lots of time to spare.”
Belenus and I had to fly, so we waved farewell to the
Muse of the Donkeys with her good wishes, and flew over land and
dale, looking for the shore of a mysterious lake where the
treasure was likely to be found. But I had to do some thinking along
the way, — this was not an easy task. Enchanteur always made things
sound easy at first, and then they always got tricky. But this was
her way, and it only made us more intrigued, liking a good mystery and
all, as both of us equally did. Belenus loved flying, and loved seeing
the sun at closer range. “Not too close,” he said, and I agreed.
“We might see the sunlight glinting on the lake,” he
said, looking down with his glasses on the end of his nose.
And sure enough, through a break in the trees we would
see the lake, and other things besides…
copyright Imogen Crest 2006.