Far more explicit in a romantic-magical sense is the 1970 Chilean novel “La Reina del Burro” (The Queen of the Donkey) by Isabel Allende’s lesser-known contemporary, Marcela Paz. In this book, a reclusive widower, Don Justo, raises a female donkey named Estrella (Star). He bathes her, dresses her in ribbons, and addresses her as his “bride.” The village mocks him, but Don Justo explains: “She never lied to me. She never spent my money. And when I touch her nose, she closes her eyes like a woman receiving a kiss.”

In Middle Eastern and North African storytelling, the female donkey (often named Ayisha or Layla in folktales) occupies a unique space. Unlike in the West, the jenny is sometimes depicted as a transformed human lover—a princess under a curse. The most famous example is the 12th-century Persian poem “The Donkey and the Prince” by an unknown Sufi poet.

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