The Golden Asse

The Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius, which St. Augustine
referred to as The Golden Ass (Asinus aureus), is the only
Latin novel to survive in its entirety.

The protagonist of the novel may in fact be the author himself. His first
name is revealed to be Lucius; at the end of the novel, he is revealed to be
from Madaurus, the hometown of Apuleius himself. The identification of the
protagonist as Lucius of Madaurus has led some scholars to posit that the
narrator and the author are one and the same person. The plot revolves around
the protagonist's curiosity (curiositas) and insatiable desire to see and
practice magic. While trying to perform a spell to transform into a bird, he
accidentally gets transformed into an ass. This leads to a long journey, literal
and metaphorical, filled with in-set tales. He finally finds salvation through
the intervention of the goddess Isis, whose cult he joins.

— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.