Once upon a time there were monkeys living in a very green forest, neighbouring a village. The people of the village treated the monkeys nicely because when they came to the village the monkeys amused the children, and played with them in a peaceful manner. They did not destroy their properties or farms, and so the community of that village offered them delicious and good types of food.

On the other hand, there was another village nearby where some other monkeys were misbehaving and biting the children, and destroying properties and farms. The community of this village always kicked the monkeys away by beating them, until finally it became too much and they decided to forbid the monkeys from entering the village.

One year, there was no rain and everything got very dry; there was no food in the forest, and the lions and leopards got very hungry because they could not find enough food to eat. One day, an old fox became afraid that the lions and leopards may start eating him so he ran to the lions’ leader and advised him to go near the village as there were a lot of delicious monkeys living there. The lions’ leader listened to the fox’s advice and assembled all the animals and marched toward the village where the monkeys were. When the good monkeys heard the fierce animals approaching, they ran to village to seek refuge. To protect the monkeys, the community prepared themselves with sticks and spears and chased the fierce animals away.

Defeated, the fierce animals returned back to the forest. The lions’ leader was so angry with the old fox because they were all tired and had come back empty-handed. So he ordered for all the foxes to be killed, starting with the old fox. Quick as a flash a young fox jumped up to stop the lions and leopards; he told them, “There is another forest which I know; it also has many delicious monkeys! Let me take you there!”

So it was that the lions’ leader asked the fierce animals to move onwards towards the other forest.

Hearing a lot of crashing from the undergrowth the monkeys of the second village sensed they would be attacked by the fierce animals. So they ran into the nearest village, but the community chased them away back to the forest where the fierce animals were waiting for them! This time the fierce animals killed them and ate them all.

Reflections