Week 10 Story: The Monkey and the Crocodile

A monkey was standing at the shore of the river and needed to get to the other side but at the bank of the river sat a crocodile. The monkey could not get over the river by himself for the water was too deep and he did not know how to swim. The crocodile had its mouth wide open and sat ready for the monkey to come over so he could eat him. The monkey begged the crocodile to not eat him for he promised he would lead him to a place where he could have all of the monkeys in the world. The crocodile hesitantly agreed and told the monkey to climb onto his back so he could take him across the river.

Once on the other side, the monkey jumped off of the crocodile's back and ran up into the tree where the crocodile could not follow. "Hey! You tricked me!" said the crocodile. "There will be a time where you pay for this!"

The crocodile lay motionless on the side of the river bank and the monkey thought the crocodile was dead. He ran down the tree by the bushes with the bright chili-peppers and slowly approached the crocodile. He quickly grabbed the crocodile's tail and began playing with it. The crocodile seized the monkey and held on to him so tight that he could not escape.

"Please let me go! I am the cook of his Majesty the king. Those bright-red breads have been entrusted to my care!" the monkey pointed over to the pepper bushes. "If you kill me, the king will arrive with thousands of well-armed troops and will punish you," the monkey warned.

"I did not mean to harm you," said the crocodile, "I will set you free if you relieve my hunger."

The monkey went over and grabbed some peppers from the bushes. The peppers were so hot that it made the crocodile very angry and it didn't cure his hunger. The monkey sat there and laughed at the crocodile as he complained about the heat. The crocodile reached out and ate the monkey right then and there in order to stop his teasing and cure his hunger.


Author's Note: In the original story, the crocodile does take the monkey across the river in exchange for food. The monkey is the king's chef and does give the crocodile spicy bread peppers in order to cure the crocodile's hunger. Instead of the crocodile eating him, he just runs up the tree and laughs at the crocodile while he tries to cool his mouth. I changed the story in the end where the crocodile eats the monkey to get his revenge.

The Monkey and the Crocodile by Dean S. Fansler

Crocodile. Source: Pixabay