The old man's donkey was a character in the tale The Wizard and the Hopping Pot by Beedle the Bard. The old man used his donkey to carry his wares to the market. One day, the donkey had disappeared, so the old man asked the Wizard to help him, for without the donkey to carry his wares to the market, his family would starve. The Wizard rudely refused to help him. Later, when the Wizard could bear no more of his father's lucky cooking pot, he summoned the donkey from a distant briar patch.