The Monkey and The Crocodile
Once upon a time, a clever monkey lived in a tree that
bore juicy, red rose apples. He was very happy. One fine day, a
crocodile swam up to that tree and told the monkey that he had traveled a
long distance and was in search of food as he was very hungry. The kind
monkey offered him a few rose apples. The crocodile enjoyed them very
much and asked the monkey whether he could come again for some more
fruit. The generous monkey happily agreed.
The crocodile returned the next day. And the next. And the next one
after that. Soon the two became very good friends. They discussed their
lives, their friends and family, like all friends do. The crocodile told
the monkey that he had a wife and that they lived on the other side of
the river. So the kind monkey offered him some extra rose apples to take
home to his wife. The crocodile’s wife loved the rose apples and made
her husband promise to get her some every day.
Meanwhile, the friendship between the monkey and the crocodile deepened
as they spent more and more time together. The crocodile’s wife started
getting jealous. She wanted to put an end to this friendship. So she
pretended that she could not believe that her husband could be friends
with a monkey. Her husband tried to convince her that he and the monkey
shared a true friendship. The crocodile’s wife thought to herself that
if the monkey lived on a diet of rose monkeys, his flesh would be very
sweet. So she asked the crocodile to invite the monkey to their house.
The crocodile was not happy about this. He tried to make the excuse that
it would be difficult to get the monkey across the river. But his wife
was determined to eat the monkey’s flesh. So she thought of a plan. One
day, she pretended to be very ill and told the crocodile that the doctor
said that she would only recover if she ate a monkey’s heart. If her
husband wanted to save her life, he must bring her his friend’s heart.
The crocodile was aghast. He was in a dilemma. On the one hand, he loved
his friend. On the other, he could not possibly let his wife die. The
crocodile’s wife threatened him saying that if he did not get her the
monkey’s heart, she would surely die.
So the crocodile went to the rose apple tree and invited the monkey to
come home to meet his wife. He told the monkey that he could ride across
the river on the crocodile’s back. The monkey happily agreed. As they
reached the middle of the river, the crocodile began to sink. The
frightened monkey asked him why he was doing that. The crocodile
explained that he would have to kill the monkey to save his wife’s life.
The clever monkey told him that he would gladly give up his heart to
save the life of the crocodile’s wife, but he had left his heart behind
in the rose apple tree. He asked the crocodile to make haste and turn
back so that the monkey could go get his heart from the apple tree.
The silly crocodile quickly swam back to the rose apple tree. The monkey
scampered up the tree to safety. He told the crocodile to tell his
wicked wife that she had married the biggest fool in the world.
Moral: Don’t underestimate yourself. There are bigger fools in this world.The story is taken from: http://www.moralstories.org/the-monkey-and-the-crocodile/
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