The Monkeys

The Monkeys : Clever and Sometimes Dumb – Adapted from Tales from “Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources” By F. Anton Von Schiefner – Retold By Navin

Monkeys are our closest evolutionary ancestors. Having brains very similar to that of us humans, they can be clever and dumb.

In a region in India, there were three troops of Monkeys. One night, all three troops were rambling about. One of the troops’ leaders noticed a well beside the path. He went over to the well and looked in. At the bottom, in the water, the monkey noticed the moon’s reflection, glowing white. “Come hither!” he cried to his troop, “The moon has fallen into the well! We must pull it out! The world does not have its moon currently!” There were murmurs of assent from the troop, and they all agreed that it would be a good deed. One monkey took hold of a tree branch hanging over the well. A second monkey took hold of his tail and a third grabbed the second’s. In this way, the monkeys formed a chain and the whole troop reached towards the bottom of the well. They did not notice, but the tree branch was slowly bending under their weight. Suddenly, it broke, and all the monkeys toppled into the well, and were disagreeably damaged. The other two troops of monkeys took no notice and carried on their way.

The next day, the monkeys all passed a town. Besides a playground was a tall tree with many juicy fruits. One troop’s chief noticed that though the fruit was very lovely looking, none of the human children were eating of it. He said, “From this it can be concluded that the fruit is not conducive to enjoyment.” His troop followed his lead and avoided the tree. The other troop’s leader said, “We are all fatigued, why don’t we take a rest and partake of this fruit!” His entire troop clambered up the foliage and began to eat the fruit. Soon after, they all lay sprawled on the ground with belly aches as a result.

The other troop, who had not eaten, continued they journeys around the region. They found a comfortable place to live, with many trees, and a field of corn. They ate leisurely from the corn field. The humans who lived in the area were furious when they discovered this and decided to exterminate the monkeys. They cut down all the trees in the area but one. While they were doing this, they stumbled upon the monkey chief and put him in a cage in the village. The men then continued preparations to shoot all the monkeys, who were now trapped in the last tree. Meanwhile, in the village, a kind crow flew down to the monkey chief’s cage. The monkey chief explained that the men were off to kill all of his relations. The crow quickly freed the monkey, who began to run towards the commotion near the last tree. Suddenly, he stopped, and reconsidered. With the help of his friend the crow, the monkey chief set fire to some damp piles of hay in the village, causing a lot of smoke to billow up. The people saw the smoke and left off the monkeys in the tree, thinking that they had to put out a large fire. The monkey chief rejoined his troop, and they all escaped.

“A deity uttered this verse: ‘When the foolish have a foolish leader, they all go to ruin, like the monkeys which wanted to draw the moon up from the well.’” – Schiefner