G. Lessing, S. Mikhalkov, and others used it in their works. A donkey is an appropriate figure for the humour culture.

First of all a donkey symbolized carnality. Any medieval fools' day included the ceremony of praising a donkey and a usual figure of fun was a bishop riding a donkey arsy-varsy.

In Eastern countries a donkey was considered to be deity. Ancient Persians celebrated traditional Donkey Holiday seeing winter off. There were also beliefs of man's transmutation into donkey, it is described in Apulei's immortal "Golden Donkey". Plaut was also inspired with a donkey and wrote a comedy. Although that animal contributed much into art, it always symbolizes stupidity and stubbornness. And it is true! Look at its ears, listen to its bray! During the times of Reformation the Pope was drawn like a donkey. Great F. Goya also paid his attention to it working at his immortal "Carpichos". The artist made out of this animal a symbol of oppression and frightening. The donkey is drawn in different situations: it teaches ( "Is not a student cleverer?"), it learns itself ("Up to the third generation"), it treats patients and then waits for their death ("What will the cause of his death be?"), asks a monkey artist to paint its portrait ("Exactly"), or pretends to be a music connoisseur ("Bravissimo"). A donkey can be seen in the XVIth century Dutch engravings, and also in Russian and German caricatures of late XIXth-early XXth century. In 1905 I. Bilibin drew a caricature of Nikolai II - "A Donkey in 1/20 of its size". A human head is often changed with donkey's. Sometimes a donkey is an emblem of caricature exhibition or a symbol of humorous column in mass media. Its tail has become the name of an artists' group "Donkey's Tail".

Soviet caricaturists can not but use such a bright figure as a donkey in the caricature "cold war". In the "Krokodil" magazine a fable by S. Marshak was published. It was about an American "ambassador"-donkey as a symbol of American foreign policy of the 1950s.During the fight against abstractionism donkey was presented as an artist painting its works with the help of its tail. Soviet artists who loved Western idols like Picasso, or Dali were not recognized officially, loyal artists were sometimes criticized also with the help of a donkey.