Summary
Summary of Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes
Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 2 h 15 min1 h 50 min fast, 2 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 32,700 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1879by Robert Louis Stevenson
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Key ideas
Key idea 1
A donkey carries his plans
In Le Monastier, Stevenson prepares to walk south through the Cévennes. Instead of a tent, he designs a sleeping sack that carries his clothes by day and shelters him at night. But the sack needs an animal to carry it. He buys Modestine, a tiny donkey whose behaviour already gives him reason to doubt his choice.
Helpful neighbours secure the load, and Stevenson admires the result. His confidence is part of the joke: the journey begins with plans he does not yet know how to manage.
Key idea 2
Speed comes at a painful cost
Modestine will not move at the pace Stevenson wants.
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Key idea 3
A lost night becomes a discovery
In upper Gévaudan, stories of the Beast feed Stevenson's hopes of adventure.
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Key idea 4
The journey matters more than arrival
At Cheylard, an innkeeper points out that Modestine's load needs dividing.
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Key idea 5
Respect need not mean agreement
Stevenson approaches Our Lady of the Snows with a Protestant's fear of the monastery.
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Key idea 6
Solitude makes room for longing
With clear weather, Stevenson crosses open country alive with sheep bells, a horn and a flute.
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Key idea 7
The landscape holds a violent history
Entering the true Cévennes, Stevenson turns from his own journey to the Camisards, Protestant mountaineers who fought Louis XIV's troops.
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Key idea 8
Shared ground allows tolerance to grow
Following the Tarn, Stevenson sleeps beneath a chestnut tree and imagines himself hidden like a hunted Camisard.
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Key idea 9
Travel teaches through imperfect encounters
Stevenson's journey joins comic mishaps to a quiet argument about how to live among others.
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Who it’s for
This book is for walkers and armchair wanderers, lovers of dry humour and a lively voice, and anyone curious about village France, wild nights outdoors and old religious wars.
What this book is
What would you do if the only way to carry your bed across the mountains were a donkey that refuses to walk? In the autumn of 1878, a young Scottish writer faced that problem in the French highlands. He bought a small, stubborn female donkey, named her Modestine, and set off south on a trek of about 120 miles.
Robert Louis Stevenson published Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes the next year. It follows twelve days on the road, from Le Monastier to St. Jean du Gard. The tone is comic, warm and honest, and he laughs hardest at himself. You get a travel story, a portrait of village France, and a history of the Camisards, the Protestant mountain rebels.
In this summary
- 1A donkey carries his plansFree
- 2Speed comes at a painful cost
- 3A lost night becomes a discovery
- 4The journey matters more than arrival
- 5Respect need not mean agreement
- 6Solitude makes room for longing
- 7The landscape holds a violent history
- 8Shared ground allows tolerance to grow
- 9Travel teaches through imperfect encounters
A sleeping sack and a small donkey
The book opens in Le Monastier, a highland town where Stevenson spends a month. Everyone there wants to help the stranger who plans to travel south through the Cévennes.
Stevenson wants to be ready to camp. A tent is a nuisance for one person, so he designs a sleeping sack instead. It holds his clothes by day and he sleeps in it by night.
A sack that size cannot ride on a man's back, so he needs a pack animal. He dismisses the horse as a nervous, delicate creature. A donkey is cheap, small and calm. In the market square he meets Father Adam and his tiny mouse-coloured jenny. Children are put on her back to prove her temper, and each one goes head over heels into the air. Stevenson buys her anyway, for sixty-five francs and a glass of brandy, and names her Modestine.
Helpful neighbours tie the load with an elaborate system, and he looks at the result with foolish satisfaction. He sets out, as he says himself, like an ox led to the slaughter. He turns a small piece of planning into comedy, and he is quick to admit his own pride and ignorance.
A journey begins long before the first step, in the choices about what to carry and who will carry it.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Check yourself
Why does Stevenson value travel?
Right. “He travels not to arrive anywhere but to travel.”Not quite. “He travels not to arrive anywhere but to travel.”
How does Stevenson feel about making Modestine move faster?
Right. “He is ashamed of his cruelty and also glad of the speed.”Not quite. “He is ashamed of his cruelty and also glad of the speed.”
How does Stevenson judge the opposing sides in the Camisard conflict?
Right. “He sees poor, brave, deluded men on both sides.”Not quite. “He sees poor, brave, deluded men on both sides.”
Go deeper: the whole of Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes
About 2 h 20 min to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
Who’s who
- Robert Louis Stevenson
- Stevenson is the Scottish traveller and narrator, walking through southern France with Modestine to carry his camping gear.
- Modestine
- Modestine is Stevenson's small pack donkey, whose stubborn pace and awkward load test her travelling companion's patience.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 32,700 words
- Reading timeAbout 2 h 15 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes
What is Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes about?
It tells of Stevenson's twelve day walk through the highlands of southern France in 1878. He travels with a stubborn donkey named Modestine, sleeps outdoors, meets monks and villagers, and reflects on the Camisard rebellion of the early 1700s.
Is Travels with a Donkey a true story?
Yes. It is a travel memoir of a real walk Stevenson made, starting at Le Monastier and ending at St. Jean du Gard. It was published in 1879 and is dedicated to his friend Sidney Colvin.
Who were the Camisards in the book?
They were Protestant mountain fighters who rose against the French king's persecution in the early 1700s. Stevenson tells of their prophets and leaders, such as Séguier, Roland and Cavalier, and of the killing of Du Chayla at Pont de Montvert.
Who is Modestine?
Modestine is the small, mouse-coloured female donkey Stevenson buys from Father Adam for sixty-five francs and a glass of brandy. She carries his sleeping sack, tests his patience, and becomes the real companion of the trip.
Is Travels with a Donkey worth reading today?
Its short chapters, lively humour and clear scenes make it easy to enjoy. It suits readers who like travel writing, mountain scenery, outdoor nights, and a thoughtful narrator who laughs at himself while describing people with warmth.
Cite this edition
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/travels-with-a-donkey-in-the-cevennes.
Stevenson, R. L. (2026). Travels with a donkey in the Cévennes. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/travels-with-a-donkey-in-the-cevennes (Original work published 1879)
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/travels-with-a-donkey-in-the-cevennes.
@book{stevenson2026travels,
author = {Stevenson, Robert Louis},
title = {Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/travels-with-a-donkey-in-the-cevennes},
note = {First published 1879}
}
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