Week 14: The Clever Monkey (Storytelling)

Once, a monkey lived along the shore of a huge river. He would swing from tree to tree along its bank, looking for the best fruits to eat. There was also a small island in the center of the river. To get to the island, the monkey would jump from rock to rock over the river until the island was just a leap away.

Most monkeys were afraid to go to the island.  One, however, was not. This monkey was brave and clever and since he was the only monkey who would venture over the river to the island, he had all of the ripe fruits on the island to himself. He would often go there and feast on the many fruit trees the island possessed.

Still, the monkey wasn’t always happy. From the island, could see even more good fruit trees on the opposite riverbank. But there were no rocks on that side to jump across. Still, he’d often sit on the island and think about one day making it all the way across the river.

One day, he got up early to go to the island. When he got there he ate and sat, looking across the river at the other side. He was startled when he heard a voice down below him.

“Hello, Monkey,” the voice said. When the monkey looked down, he saw a crocodile swimming down below, right along the edge of the island.

“Hello, Crocodile. What brings you to my island?” The monkey asked.

“Well, you have a beautiful island,” the crocodile said, “but the trees over on the far side of the river look even better. I could take you over there if you’d like…you could ride on my back.”

The monkey watched the crocodile cautiously. The monkey was smart and knew that this was probably a trap because crocodiles loved eating monkeys. But he couldn’t help himself. He wanted to try the fruits on the other side of the river.

“Alright,” said the monkey, as he hopped down onto the crocodiles back.

The crocodile swam towards the far riverbank for a while, then suddenly, he dove beneath the water. Money was terrified. He couldn’t swim, so he had to keep holding on to the crocodile who seemed to want to kill him. After a long minute, the crocodile surfaced again, with the monkey clinging to its back.

“What were you doing?” The monkey coughed and shook, trying to dry off.

“Killing you,” said the crocodile. “I want to eat monkey heart for dinner tonight.

The monkey thought quickly, devising a plan. “Well,” he said slowly, “that’s really too bad. You see, I left my heart on the island. If you just would have told me, I would have brought it. Why don’t we go back and fetch it?”

The monkey could see the crocodile thinking, but crocodiles were not known for their intelligence. “Okay,” said the crocodile finally. “We can go back and you can get me your heart.”

The crocodile, with the monkey on its back, swam back to the island. As soon as the crocodile swam close enough, the monkey leapt and scrambled up a tree on the island’s shore.

“You’re very stupid, Crocodile,” the monkey said. “My heart is not on the island and now you can’t reach me.” The crocodile was angry at himself and Monkey for the trickery. But he devised another plan to catch the monkey for dinner.

The crocodile watched as the monkey went back to his feast on the island. The monkey ate all the fruits he could and was about to return back to his side of the river. It was just getting dark. Crocodile swam up, stealthily, and tried to disguise himself as one of the rocks Monkey jumps across to get home.

When monkey got close, he noticed that the rock was higher than it should have been. To see if the crocodile was hiding, the monkey called out, “Oh rock, shall we talk as we always to on my trip home?”

The crocodile, thinking that the monkey and rock were friends, answered, trying to convince the monkey he was a rock. “Of course, as we always do,” the crocodile said, trying to make himself sound like a rock.

“You are the crocodile!” the monkey yelled. “But, I suppose you have trapped me! Why don’t you open your mouth and I’ll climb in?”

The crocodile was giddy with monkey’s surrender. He did as he was asked and opened his mouth wide.

Monkey took this opportunity and jumped over the crocodile’s open mouth and onto his head. As quick as he could, the monkey jumped from the crocodile, to the rocks, then to the shore.

“I have outsmarted you again, Crocodile,” the monkey said.

The crocodile saw that the monkey was once again out of his reach. “Yes,” he said sadly, “you have. I won’t continue pursuit of you, Monkey. You are too hard to catch.”

“Nonetheless,” Monkey replied, “I will always watch out, as you almost ate me twice.” With that the monkey and the crocodile parted ways, they never saw each other again.

Author's Note: The original story was called The Monkey and The Crocodile from the Jatakas Tales (Babbitt) reading unit in the Un-Textbook. The story is about a crocodile and a monkey. The crocodile keep trying to kill the monkey, but the monkey keeps outsmarting the crocodile. 

I kept most of the story the same. I added more background for the monkey, such as him being the only monkey who would venture onto the island. I also condensed the story. Originally it was in two parts and the two parts were weeks apart. I changed them to happen in a singular day, one event right after the other. Besides that, the main events of the story are the same. 

Story Source: Story source: Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, illustrated by Ellsworth Young (1912).