The Monkey King

Let me begin by thanking you for so many comments yesterday, many that were so moving. It seemed you liked the story of the elephant. To answer the question, was this prompted by the visit of my daughter? The answer is yes.


So let me share another story today this time the animal will be a monkey.

Once there was a monkey king. He was very tall and strong and had wisdom like the sun. In his kingdom, there was a mango tree as big as the moon. The monkeys jumped from branch to branch chattering and eating the lovely fruit that was big and sweet and delicious. Sometimes a ripe mango fell into the river.

One day, the Monkey King strolled downstream and came upon a river palace where a human king lived. "Soon danger will come if the mangoes float downstream," he told the monkeys. "Pick all the mangoes and flowers on the trees and take them deep into the forest."

But one mango, hidden by a bird's nest, was left unseen by the monkeys. When it was large and ripe, it fell into the river and floated downstream where the human king was bathing.

The human king, who was very curious, tasted the beautiful mango. "This is delicious!' he exclaimed.”I must have more. Servants, find all the mangoes and bring them to me at once!"

Deep in the forest, the servants found hundreds of mango trees. In the trees were the monkeys. When the human king heard about the monkeys, he was very angry, "The monkeys are eating my mangoes. Kill them all!" he ordered his archers.

"Very well," said the archers and chased the monkeys to the edge of the forest where they came to a deep cliff. There was no way for the monkeys to escape. Shivering with fright, they ran to the Monkey King asked, "What shall we do?"

"Don't be afraid. I will save you," said their king. Quickly, he stretched his huge body as far as possible and made a bridge over the cliff to a bamboo grove on the other side.

"Come monkeys, run across my back to the bamboo grove," he called. And so the monkeys escaped.

The human king watched all that happened. He was amazed, "This Monkey King has risked his life to save his whole troop! And all I'm doing is being selfish. I have learned a great lesson." Then he called to his archers, "Put down your bows. It isn't right to kill this King of Monkeys."

Forgetting about the mangoes, the human king went back to his palace by the river and ruled kindly and wisely for the rest of his life.

I am not by any stretch of the imagination wealthy in the sense of monetary riches but I am rich in the joy of friends. I am also rich in the fact that I have the ability to bring joy to others, as do most of you who read this blog.

I have seen down the years so many people whose lives were far from happy because they had not discovered what the monkey king did, that happiness comes in the least expected places.

This blog is connected to my other blog:- Silent Thoughts