Week 7 Story: The Man and the Monkeys

When the garden of Eden was in the world, a foreign man found the garden while traveling. He thought it was very beautiful. The garden was filled with a lot of good foods. He wanted to stay forever. He decided to take a nap and crawled up into a tree to fall asleep. He forgot he was up in a tree because he was sleeping so well. He fell out of the tree and into a lake.

A monkey saw him fall into the lake and tried to get him out but couldn't because he was too little and weak. The monkey wanted to get him out eventually so he decided to work out every day by lifting stones large enough that eventually he was strong enough to get the man out of the river.

The man didn't feel very good after getting out of the river and the monkey suggested that he start working out with the stones in order to build his strength. He threw the stones until he felt well and decided he needed to sleep again, this time he lay on the ground. The monkeys were making a lot of noise that kept him up. He thought if the monkeys died, he could get his family to come stay here.

When the monkeys were asleep in the trees, he shook the branches so the monkeys fell out and were killed by the fall. He felt satisfied and went to bring his family to the garden. He was stopped by the monkey god and he knew he had been mean to the monkeys. The monkey god turned himself into a snake and swallowed the man.

The man awoke from his sleep realizing he had dreamt everything. He saw the monkeys below him staring at him sleeping. He realized he was in their trees and probably needed to move. He knew the garden of Eden was a paradise and wanted to bring his family to the garden. He was stopped on the way from the monkey god, but this time the man knew he hadn't harmed the monkeys; he only hurt them in his dream. The monkey god still didn't want the man to bring his family here because the monkeys wanted the garden to themselves. The monkey god turned himself into a snake and swallowed the man.


Author's Note: In the original story, the man actually fell into the lake and killed the monkeys and ended up being swallowed. I decided to add the part where he dreamed everything because I thought it added a little more depth to the story. I still wanted the ending to be the same so I kept the ending as well.

The Man and the Monkeys by A.L. Shelton

Garden of Eden. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Reading Notes: The Three Hunters

Three brothers lived in a mountain village. They were hunters and each brother had a wife and a sister that lived with them all. One day, the brothers went out to hunt and brought back a deer. After they each ate all the meat they wanted, they gave the rest of the leg bone to the sister. She then took the bone marrow inside and toasted it. It was a delicacy and the other wives of the two brothers got very angry watching her eat it. They were so angry in fact that they planned on killing the sister to get her out of the minds of the other brothers.

Once the brothers went out for another hunt, the women decided the time was right to make their plan a reality. When the brothers were on their way back from the hunt, they stopped to rest and noticed a bird was singing a repetitive tune nearby. One of the brothers thought that the bird had a message for them. He speculated the bird might be his sister because it sounded similarly to her. He asked the bird to hop in his hand if he was their sister and the bird hopped into his hand. All the brothers began to cry because they knew that meant the sister was dead.

When they came home, they found the wives but not the sister and no one said anything about her being gone. They found the younger wife crying. The brothers told the wife they knew what had happened because the sister's soul went into the bird and the bird found them. The wife told them the story and the brothers were so angry that they killed the two wives.

The Three Hunters by A.L. Shelton

Man holding bird. Source: Flickr

Reading Notes: Covetousness

A long time ago, there was a pool where all the animals drank at in a deep valley hidden in the mountains. A hunter had set up a trap where a bow would shoot a spear into the animal that rigged it across a road near the pool. A bear tripped on the trap and the spear killed him instantly. A fox came along and cut the string attached to the trap so the hunter wouldn't come back and kill him while he ate the bear's meat. As he was doing so, the trap was triggered and the fox was killed.

An elephant was sleeping nearby where the bear and the fox lay. A rabbit came along and hopped on the elephant until he woke up. When he woke up, he wanted to jump like the rabbit and jumped up and down. When he did, his big jump loosened a big rock and it fell on him and killed him.

Seven robbers came near all three animals and were excited about all of the meat they were going to get. They needed water with each of their meals and designated a group to go get some. When the group left, the others who stayed behind poisoned the meat they set aside for the other group to have when they got back so they could have more of the meat and the bones.

The other group who had gone to get the water knew that the other group was bad. They planned on poisoning some of the water they were bringing back for the others so they could have all of the meat. When they got back, the other group drank some of the water and eventually died.

The group knew they had all of the meat to themselves. They ate it and eventually died too. This story shows that there can be plenty of riches and food for all and you should not be greedy and you should not do what you can not do.

Covetousness by A.L. Shelton

Quote about greed. Source: Flickr