The donkey interrupted with a loud laugh.
"What nonsense!"
And then he cried out to the men, "Ho, my friends, will you please come and shovel a range of mountains upon my back?"
"What?"
"Will you please come and shovel a range of mountains upon my back?"
The men were silent for a time. Then they went apart and debated. They gesticulated a great deal.
Some apparently said one thing and some another. At last they paused and one of their number came forward.
"Why do you wish a range of mountains shovelled upon your back?"
"It is a wager," cried the donkey.
The men consulted again. And as the discussion became older, their heads went closer and closer together, until they merely whispered, and did not gesticulate at all. Ultimately they cried, "Yes, certainly we will shovel a range of mountains upon your back for you."