The Monkey and and The Crocodile
The Monkey and and The Crocodile
The Monkey and and The Crocodile
Orientation
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.
complication
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.
resolution
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.