The Ass Festival Ends — Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Zarathustra leaps into the cave, shouts YE-A louder than the donkey, and yanks the praying men to their feet. He calls them foolish children and asks the pope how he can worship an ass. The pope says he would rather adore God in some form than in none at all. The scene is absurd, but the guests defend it with straight faces and clever excuses.

One by one the guests defend the scene with sly answers. The shadow blames the ugliest man for waking God again. The magician admits the stunt was stupid. The scholar says even slow stupidity can go far. The ugliest man says Zarathustra taught him that one kills by laughter, not wrath. Each excuse is clever, and each one shows how much they enjoy testing him and pushing his patience to its limit.

Zarathustra realizes they have been rogues and buffoons all along, playing at piety like children. He laughs, sends them outside to cool down, and blesses their ass-festival as a sign of recovery. They do not want heaven, he says; they want the kingdom of earth. What looked like blasphemy becomes proof that they are finally learning to live and laugh at themselves instead of hiding behind solemn masks.