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Podcast, Boston.

0:45

When was the last time you

0:47

helped someone? Maybe you helped

0:49

a friend put together a puzzle. You

0:51

helped a family member do the laundry,

0:54

or maybe you helped a stranger by

0:56

donating groceries to a food bank.

0:59

When we help others, everybody

1:01

wins. But in today's story,

1:04

When one character refuses to

1:06

lend a hand, he ends up losing

1:09

big time. I'm

1:14

Rebecca Shere, and welcome to Circle

1:16

Round, where story time happens all

1:18

the time. Today, our story

1:20

is called donkey business. It's

1:23

inspired by trickster tales from Latin

1:25

America, the Caribbean, the Middle

1:27

East, and the European countries of

1:29

Italy and Spain. Some

1:34

really great people came together to bring you our

1:36

story, including Jennifer Hale and

1:38

Ratliff. Jennifer Hale

1:40

has voiced hundreds of animated shows,

1:43

films, and video games, including

1:45

the Powerpuff girls, Star Wars:

1:47

The Clone Wars, Ralph breaks the Internet,

1:50

Mass Effect and Overwatch. Connor

1:52

Ratliff has appeared in numerous TV shows,

1:55

including the marvelous missus Maisel.

1:57

He hosts the improvised talk show, the

1:59

George Lucas talk show, as well as

2:01

the podcast dead eyes. So

2:04

so circle around everyone for

2:06

donkey business. Thrones

2:23

was a farmer named Carmela. Carmela

2:26

lived in little red house just

2:28

up the road from a big gray house owned

2:31

by a fellow farmer named Enzo.

2:34

But even though Carmela and Enzo

2:36

were neighbors, they weren't exactly

2:38

what you would call friends. If

2:41

Carmela happened to pass by Enzo's

2:43

house and offer a friendly

2:45

greeting, good morning,

2:47

neighbor. How are you? Enzo

2:50

was anything but friendly. I'm

2:54

fine. Not that it's any of your

2:56

business. And if Carmela tried

2:58

doing something nice like bring over

3:00

a bouquet of wildflowers from her

3:02

yard, I just picked them today.

3:05

Aren't they beautiful? Enzo's

3:07

response wasn't nice at

3:09

all. They look

3:11

like weeds to me. Perfect

3:14

food for my sheep. Well,

3:17

the years went by, and once

3:19

summer, Carmela fell unexpectedly

3:22

hard times. Bugs gobbled

3:24

up her crops, foxes made

3:26

off with her chickens, and by autumn,

3:29

the poor woman had nothing to her name

3:31

but her little red house, her old

3:33

gray donkey, Luigi, and

3:35

one last silver coin.

3:39

Well, this is terrible. Winter

3:41

is just around the corner and I'll

3:43

never make it through if I don't turn my fortune

3:45

around. Carmela knew she

3:47

had to do something. She also

3:50

knew that while her farm was floundering,

3:52

Just down the road Enzo's farm

3:55

was flourishing. I

3:57

can't believe I'm saying this, but

3:59

I think I'll go down the road. And

4:02

ask Enzo if he can help me out.

4:04

He's not the friendlier sort, but surely

4:06

he'll take pity on a neighbor in need.

4:09

So Carmela headed over to Enzo's

4:11

big gray house and ring the doorbell.

4:16

Yes. Greetings neighbor.

4:19

Not sure if you remember me, but I'm

4:21

Carmela.

4:23

I live in the little red house up the road.

4:25

You

4:25

mean the one with all the dead crops in

4:28

the yard and the abandoned chicken

4:30

coop? Yes.

4:33

That's the 1II had pretty

4:35

tough summer as you obviously

4:37

noticed. Oh, I noticed.

4:40

I passed by your little farm

4:41

every day and it's downright depressing.

4:44

It is. Right? So

4:47

depressing. Unlike your

4:49

fabulous farm, which clearly is

4:51

going gangbusters, I have

4:53

to commend you on doing so

4:55

well. Enzo smiled,

4:57

a smug little smile. I

5:00

am

5:00

doing well. I had such a

5:02

great summer that I've got crops and cash

5:04

coming out of my ears.

5:06

Oh, of course,

5:08

you do. Of course. And

5:11

actually, that's why I came

5:13

over here today. I wanted to ask

5:16

you favor.

5:19

Enzo's smug smile was

5:21

replaced by a stern stare.

5:24

A favor. What

5:26

kind of favor? Well,

5:29

I was wondering if you could

5:31

lend me some cash. Times

5:33

have been so hard. I don't even have

5:35

two coins to rub together. I only

5:38

have one. So I

5:40

I figured I'd ask you. Farmer

5:42

to farmer, neighbor to neighbor.

5:44

If you could help me out, I promise

5:47

I'll pay you

5:48

back. I'll even return the favor.

5:51

I'll cook you dinner. I'll help you

5:53

on your farm. I'll I'm gonna stop

5:55

you right there. I'm not

5:57

going to lend you any money.

6:00

You're not? No. I

6:03

work hard for what I have. Very

6:06

hard. So hard. That

6:08

I have neither the desire nor

6:10

the time to do favors for

6:12

beggars like you. Now,

6:14

good day. Neighbor.

6:17

And with that,

6:19

Enzo slammed the door.

6:22

Wow. That did not go

6:24

well. But I

6:26

guess I shouldn't be surprised. Enzo's

6:29

always been so sucky and certainly.

6:32

Now I know he's selfish too. There

6:35

must be some way to teach that grumpy,

6:37

greedy guy a lesson. Now,

6:40

can only have lost practically everything

6:43

she had, but one thing she hadn't

6:45

lost, Her wits, Carmela

6:48

had always been a clever woman. So

6:51

she's set to work, devising a plan

6:53

to get even with Enzo.

6:56

First, she went to her kitchen and

6:58

found a spoon and a half eaten

7:00

jar of honey. Then she rooted

7:03

around her purse and fished out her last

7:05

silver coin. She brought the honey

7:08

spoon and coin out to the yard. But

7:10

her old gray donkey was grazing

7:12

on a tiny patch of grass. Good

7:15

afternoon, Luigi. Would you like

7:17

to take a walk fella? Yep.

7:20

Great. I just have to do little

7:22

something first. Don't

7:24

move. Okay? Carmella

7:27

bent down, lifted Luigi's

7:30

tail, then dab a spoonful of

7:32

honey right where his tail, met his

7:34

bottom Sorry, fella.

7:36

This is just as awkward for me as it

7:38

is for you. No butts about it.

7:41

Get it. Because it's your

7:43

butt. Your bottom. Once

7:46

Luigi's bottom was smeared

7:48

with honey, Carmela took her silver

7:50

coin and stuck it to the gooey

7:53

glob. Alright, fella.

7:55

I know it isn't every day that you have a coin

7:57

clinging to your keaster or silver

8:00

Sticking to your seat or cash. Go

8:02

here and do your caboose. Plug

8:04

and go on all day. But trust

8:06

me, it will be worth it. Because

8:09

if my plan works, then

8:11

Enzo is about to be the butt

8:13

of the best joke ever.

8:20

A silver coin stuck to a dab

8:22

of honey on a donkey's dairy

8:25

air What do you think Carmela the

8:27

farmer is cooking up? He'll

8:30

find out after a quick break. Hard

8:39

to believe, but we've been circling around with

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fans like you for five years now,

8:44

and we couldn't do it without your amazing

8:46

support. As our thanks for becoming

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a monthly supporter of our home NPR station,

8:51

WBR, we have a ton of super

8:53

fun gifts for you to choose from, including

8:55

the circle around t shirt, water bottle,

8:58

tote bag, coloring book, soundtrack,

9:00

picture sure books and now the circle

9:02

around lion in the form of an adorable

9:05

stuffed animal you can cuddle during story

9:07

time. More all the time. Grown

9:09

ups. Head to WB0R dot org

9:11

slash circle round and click circle round

9:13

to swag. Welcome

9:23

back to Circle Round. I'm Rebecca Shere.

9:25

Today, our story is called dunky

9:27

business. Before

9:37

a break, Carmela the farmer had

9:39

fallen on hard times, but her

9:41

gruff greedy neighbor Enzo refused

9:43

to help her out. So clever

9:45

Camilla decided to play a trick on Enzo.

9:48

Using a dab of honey as glue,

9:51

she stuck a silver coin beneath

9:53

the hail of her old donkey, Luigi.

9:56

Then she attached her rope to Luigi's

9:58

halter and led him down the road.

10:00

When they reached Enzo's big gray house,

10:03

Carmella brought Luigi to a stop.

10:06

See this big beautiful lawn

10:08

fella? Go ahead. Have

10:10

a taste. The donkey

10:12

was never one to turn down a meal,

10:15

so he put his head down and began

10:17

to graze. That's a good

10:19

boy.

10:20

Yummy, isn't it? So soft

10:22

and sweet. What in the

10:24

world are you doing? Carmella

10:27

looked up just as she'd hoped.

10:29

Enzo was marching out of his house

10:31

and just as she'd expected, he

10:34

did not look happy.

10:36

Carmela, are you

10:38

actually letting that miserable creature

10:40

of yours gobble up on my beautiful

10:43

grass?

10:44

Carmilla smiled. Oh,

10:46

well, I'm just letting him have a taste

10:48

and so after all your

10:50

grass is

10:51

so healthy and green. Yes.

10:54

It is healthy and green, but

10:57

all the more reason for me not to share

10:59

it. Now take that pathetic

11:01

beast of yours and go glaze on your

11:03

own scrubby lawn.

11:05

Alright. Certainly, we'll get

11:07

going. But if you

11:09

don't mind, Could Luigi do

11:11

his business first? Do

11:14

his business. Oh,

11:16

you know what I mean? He's really

11:18

old and it's getting harder and harder

11:20

for him

11:21

to, you know, hold it in. Enzo

11:24

scrunched up his nose If

11:26

you're asking me, if I'll

11:28

let your donkey leave his

11:30

droppings all over my

11:32

yard, The answer is most

11:34

definitely unquestionably,

11:36

unmistakably, undeniably, no.

11:41

But alas. It

11:43

was too late. Oh,

11:45

I'm so sorry and so

11:48

I told you when Luigi's gotta go,

11:50

he's gotta go, and he

11:53

just went. I

11:55

can see that. Now,

11:57

clean up this revolting mess before

11:59

I What's

12:01

this?

12:03

Enzo knelt down on one knee.

12:05

Do my eyes deceive me? Or

12:08

is there an honest goodness, silver

12:11

coin on top of your

12:13

donkeys, to pass it.

12:16

Carmela's heart skipped a beat.

12:18

Her plan was working. The

12:20

coin had fallen off of Luigi's back

12:22

side and landed just where she'd

12:24

hoped it would. Well,

12:27

you know, I have always

12:29

said that Luigi is quite the treasure

12:32

I don't know what I would do without

12:34

him. Enzo's eyes

12:36

glittered with greed. Carmela.

12:40

Now that I know what a treasure your

12:42

donkey is, I must have

12:44

him. How much will you sell him

12:46

for? Sell him.

12:48

Oh. Luigi is not for

12:51

sale. But if he were, how

12:54

much would you want? Fifty

12:56

silver coins?

12:58

No way. One hundred

13:00

silver coins? Uh-uh. Two

13:03

hundred then. No. Three

13:04

hundred. Three hundred

13:06

silver coins plus one half of

13:09

my latest harvest.

13:10

You want to give me three hundred silver

13:13

coins plus one half of

13:15

your harvest? Yes. You'll

13:17

be feasting on corn, wheat, and potatoes

13:20

all winter long. Alright

13:23

then. Carmella handed Enzo

13:25

the donkey's lead rope. You have

13:27

yourself a deal. Then she collected

13:29

her coins and her crops and

13:31

headed back up the road. Laughing

13:34

to herself all the

13:35

way. Enzo

13:38

meanwhile led Luigi into his

13:40

big wooden stable Here

13:42

you go, my little silver mine.

13:45

The sun's going down, so you will spend

13:47

the night in this cozy comfy

13:49

stall. Now drink some fresh

13:52

water, eat some yummy hay,

13:54

then lie down and go to sleep.

13:56

We have a lot of business to do

13:58

in the morning. Sitching. But

14:03

when the morning came, good

14:07

morning. My little cash cow Or

14:10

should I say cash donkey?

14:13

Enzo was gravely disappointed.

14:16

What's going on? From

14:18

the look and smell of this place, I can

14:20

tell all that hay went right through

14:23

you, yet I don't see any

14:25

coins. Not a

14:27

single

14:28

one. Wait

14:30

a minute.

14:32

Enzo paused. All of

14:34

a sudden, everything became

14:37

clear. I've been tricked.

14:40

Oh, that neighbor

14:43

of mine will pay for this I'll

14:45

take Carmela, visit right now

14:48

and give her a piece of my

14:49

mind. Well,

14:52

as you might guess, Carmilla had

14:54

a hunch that Enzo would be furious when

14:57

he discovered the trick she played,

14:59

so she was ready. When

15:02

Enzo came stomping over to her little

15:05

red house. With Luigi and To

15:07

Carmelo was out in the yard watering

15:09

a little tree in a pot.

15:11

Carmela, you rascal.

15:14

I have some words for you.

15:17

Oh, Hello and so, and

15:20

hello Luigi.

15:21

Are you two out for a walk? If such

15:24

a beautiful morning. Well,

15:26

my morning has hasn't been beautiful at

15:28

all. The minute I woke

15:30

up, I went racing to Luigi's stable.

15:33

I searched through all of his

15:36

business and not a

15:38

coin was to be found. Oh,

15:42

really?

15:43

Carmela furrowed her brow. How

15:45

strange? I wonder if Luigi

15:47

isn't feeling well. I tell you what,

15:50

leave him here and I'll take a look

15:52

at him. Just as soon as I'm done

15:54

watering my money

15:55

tree. To Carmela's delight,

15:58

Enzo immediately took the bait.

16:01

Money tree, you say? And

16:03

what? Pratell is

16:05

a money tree.

16:07

Oh, can't you see? It's

16:10

a tree that grows money. Carmilla

16:13

gestured toward the little tree. And

16:15

indeed, each and every branch

16:17

seemed to be sprouting a silver

16:19

coin. This tree is rather

16:21

young, of course, just a sapling.

16:23

But once it's all grown up, it will

16:26

be bursting with money, dripping

16:28

with money, sagging like a big

16:30

sparkly weeping willow of

16:33

coin. Now as you can

16:35

probably guess, the truth is that

16:38

Carmela had taken some of the coins she'd

16:40

gotten from Enzo yesterday and glued

16:42

them onto the tree. But as

16:44

far as Enzo could tell, the coins were

16:46

growing from the branches like leaves.

16:49

A money tree. How

16:52

marvelous. From the

16:54

gleam in Enzo's eye, Carmela

16:56

knew she had her greedy neighbor right

16:58

where she wanted him. Carmela,

17:02

this money tree is magnificent.

17:05

No. It's more than that. It's miraculous.

17:08

How much

17:08

will you sell it for?

17:10

Sell it. Oh, no. No. It's

17:12

not for sale. Not for sale.

17:16

Carmela. After this

17:18

morning's disappointment with your donkey,

17:21

I should take back all the money

17:23

I gave you yesterday. And the craps.

17:25

But instead, I will

17:28

make you a deal. I

17:30

will let you keep everything If

17:33

you give me this miraculous money

17:36

tree, it's exactly what a

17:38

man like me deserves.

17:40

Carmilla smiled to herself and

17:43

pretended to think things over.

17:46

Well, If you

17:48

really want to get what you deserve,

17:51

then alright, fine. I

17:53

will give you the money tree. But

17:56

promise me you will be patient. This

17:59

tree takes time to grow. At

18:01

first, it will seem like nothing is happening.

18:04

But don't be discouraged. Keep

18:06

watering the tree and giving it plenty

18:09

of sun, and I promise. You

18:12

will get what you deserve. So

18:14

Enzo snatched up the tree and

18:16

ran down the road back to his house.

18:19

He placed the tree in a sunny spot

18:22

He gave it plenty of

18:23

water, then he

18:26

waited.

18:27

I must be patient to get what I do

18:29

deserve. And waited.

18:32

I must be patient to get what

18:34

I deserve. And waited.

18:37

I must be

18:37

patient. Get what I deserved. The

18:39

tree did grow, but it didn't

18:42

sprout any

18:43

silver coins.

18:44

I must be patient to what

18:46

I deserve.

18:48

Soon the tree grew so big that Enzo

18:50

had to transfer it from its pot into

18:52

the earth, but still it

18:55

didn't sprout any coins.

18:57

I must be patient to get what

19:00

I deserve.

19:01

And then, at long last,

19:04

The day finally came when Enzo

19:06

realized, Carmela had

19:09

tricked him. Again, He

19:12

was never going to get any money from the tree.

19:15

After being so selfish and

19:17

stingy and anything but

19:19

neighborly. He was going to get

19:22

exactly what he deserved.

19:25

Nothing. Though

19:29

the good news is he did learn

19:31

something. The importance of being kinder

19:34

and more generous to others, To

19:36

that end, he allowed Carmela to keep

19:39

the coins she had tricked him out of, and

19:41

she used the money to get back on her feet.

19:43

She purchased new seats, She bought

19:46

new chickens and she planted a whole

19:48

new yard of healthy green

19:49

grass, which her donkey, Luigi,

19:52

immediately began to devour.

19:54

Top, Two, bottom.

20:13

Now it's your turn. What's one

20:15

thing you can do this week to be a good

20:17

neighbor? Maybe you can bake your

20:20

neighbor some cookies. Offer to fetch

20:22

their mail, or you can make them a hand

20:24

drawn card to thank them for

20:26

being a good neighbor. This

20:38

week's story, Donkey Business, was adapted

20:40

by Me for Becky Shere. It was edited

20:42

by Nora Sacks, our original

20:44

music and sound design is by Eric

20:46

Shimelonis. Our artist is

20:48

Sabina Han. Sabina has drawn a

20:50

black and white coloring page for all of our circle

20:53

room stories and you can color them in while

20:55

you listen. Grooutups, visit our

20:57

website, WBUR dot work

20:59

slash circle round and click on

21:01

coloring pages. And while you're

21:03

at WBUR dot org slash

21:05

circle around, you can find a link to our series

21:07

of picture books adapted from some of

21:09

your favorite around stories. Just

21:11

click on books. Special

21:14

thanks to this week's actors, Jennifer

21:16

Hale and Connor Ratliff. Jennifer

21:18

Hale has lent her voice to hundreds of animated

21:21

shows and films including the Powerpuff

21:23

girls, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and

21:25

Ralph Breaks the Internet. She's also

21:27

voiced nearly two hundred video

21:29

games including Overwatch, Mass Effect,

21:32

and Star Wars: The Old Republic. She's

21:34

the founder of Skills Hub, A coaching site

21:36

for actors. Actor and comedian

21:38

Connor Ratliff has appeared on such TV

21:41

shows as the Marvelous Missus Maisel

21:43

and Search Party, he plays George

21:45

Lucas on the George Lucas Talk Show

21:47

and is the creator and host of dead eyes.

21:50

The acclaimed podcast about why Tom

21:52

Hanks fired him from a small role

21:54

in the two thousand one HBO mini

21:56

series band of brothers. Watch

21:59

for Connor in the upcoming feature film,

22:01

pinball, the man who saved

22:03

the game. Our featured instrument

22:05

this week was The Fiddle, played by

22:07

our guest artist Christian Habel,

22:10

Christian has performed with a who's who

22:12

of music legends, including

22:14

Barbara Streisand and Billy Joel.

22:16

Listen for him performing John William's score

22:19

in the coming movie, Indiana Jones,

22:21

and The Dial of Destiny. To

22:23

see a photo of Christian and to learn

22:25

more about the fiddle and fiddling style,

22:27

visit our website Once more,

22:29

that's WBUR dot org slash

22:32

circle round. Grown

22:34

ups, if you enjoy what you hear on circle

22:36

round, please tell your friends about the

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show, and write us a five star review

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if you'd like to stay in touch, follow us on

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Instagram and Facebook. We

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are at Circle Round Podcast. Circle

22:50

Round is a production of WBUR, Boston's

22:53

NPR News Station. I'm

22:58

Rebecca Shear. Thanks for circling around

23:00

with us. One

23:04

of the best things about creating Circle

23:06

Round is hearing from listeners like

23:09

you. Circle Round fans have been telling

23:11

us about their favorite circle round

23:13

stories. And we're excited to share

23:15

some of their voices with you.

23:17

Myons, pallets, and I

23:19

live in Manila, Philippines, and

23:22

my favorite circle around story

23:25

is fair feathered friends.

23:27

I like the park where the rest

23:29

says ashes. My

23:32

name is Mia. I am

23:34

from Seattle, Washington. My

23:37

favorite soccer on story is

23:39

the great ballgame. I like

23:41

to park when bad things piece to

23:43

every animal. My name is

23:46

Daniel, and I live in Snohamish, Washington.

23:49

My favorite supple mount is Coyote's

23:52

flame and a gentle paintbrush.

23:55

My name is there, Rob. I

23:57

appreciate your work. My

23:59

favorite circle, my story

24:02

is curious, baby.

24:04

Can I like the part with a

24:07

hair chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop

24:09

chop chop chop

24:11

chop chop It's a shovel? I

24:14

don't really believe that. It's hazelnut.

24:17

My name is Verna. I

24:20

live in New York. My

24:22

favorite circle around is finding

24:24

the light. My favorite

24:27

part is when the kid

24:29

drops the light to the

24:31

north. And my name is Jinay.

24:33

I live in Fort Worth, Texas. My

24:36

favorite to go on story is the fire

24:38

on the

24:38

road. I'd like it because the

24:41

spy who gets a fling. Did

24:43

someone mention an episode you missed? No

24:45

problem. You can find every single Circle

24:47

Round story on our website. That's

24:49

WBUR dot org slash circle

24:51

round or wherever you and your grownups

24:53

get your podcast