The Monkey and the Crocodile

The Monkey and the Crocodile

Once there lived a monkey in a jamun tree by the river. When he was hungry he ate the sweet juicy jamuns.

The river was home to a crocodile. One day the monkey saw the crocodile. “Hello”, he called out in a friendly way.

“Hello”, replied the crocodile. “I haven’t eaten all day. There seems to be no fish in this river.”

“I don’t eat fish, but I have plenty of jamuns in my tree. Would you like to try some?”

“No,” said the crocodile, “we crocs don’t eat fruit.”

But the monkey threw some down, so the hungry crocodile ate one jamun. He said, “Not bad at all. Can I have more of these tomorrow?” asked the crocodile. “Come anytime you want more jamuns.”

After that, the crocodile would visit the monkey every day and they became friends. The crocodile thanked him and took some of the fruit to his wife.

The crocodile’s wife found the fruits sweet and juicy. She began to think about how sweet the monkey would taste. She asked her husband to invite the monkey for a meal so that they could eat him up. The crocodile did not like this at all.

 After a few days she told the crocodile that she was ill and only a monkey’s heart would cure her. She cried large crocodile tears.The poor crocodile thought his wife would die, so he invited the monkey for a meal in return from the monkey’s tree.

The monkey jumped onto the crocodile’s back and they set out. In the middle of the river the crocodile told the monkey the whole story of his ill wife and the cure by eating monkey heart.

 “Dear friend, we must go back. I’ve left my heart on the jamun tree. Let’s go back and get it.” Said the monkey

The foolish crocodile believed the monkey. He turned and swam quickly to the jamun tree. The monkey leapt off the crocodile’s back and went into the safety of his tree.

“Don’t you know no one can live without his heart? I thought you were my friend but you were ready to kill me,” said the monkey, before he vanished into the tree.

The crocodile knew he had lost a friend forever, and he would not get another jamun again.