(Carefulness)
Once upon a time, there was a cruel monkey king who ruled the
forests of the Himalayas. All the monkeys in his troop were his own wives and
children. Yet worried that one of his sons might grow up and seize his throne,
he made it a rule to bite each son just after he was born. This bite would
alter the male baby so that he would be too weak to ever challenge his father
even when he reached adulthood.
Now, a certain wife of the monkey king was pregnant. Fearing
for her child, in case the unborn one was a son, she ran away to another forest
at the foot of a distant mountain. There she soon gave birth to a bright male
baby monkey. Before long, this baby grew up into a big and strong monkey.
Curious about his parentage, he asked his mother one day, “Mum, who and where
is my father?” “Your father is the king to a troop of monkeys staying at the
foot of a far-off mountain. You are actually a prince,” she answered him. “Mum,
can you take me to see my father please?” the monkey prince begged. His mother
said softly, “No, my son, I am afraid I can’t. Your father bites all his sons
in order to weaken them for life. He is afraid of losing his royal crown to one
of his sons.”
“Don’t be afraid for me, mother,” assured the prince. “I can
take care of myself.” This gave her confidence, so she agreed and took him to
his father.
When the cruel old king saw this strong, young son of his, he
thought, “I have no doubt that when this son of mine grows stronger, he will
steal my kingdom from me. I must get rid of him while I still can! I know, I
will hug him, pretending it is out of fatherly love for him, but my true
intention is to squeeze him to death!”
Pretending to welcome his son, the king said, “Ah, my long
lost son! Where have you been all this time? I have missed you dearly.” Then he
took him into his arms. Intending to squeeze the life out of him, he hugged him
really hard! Fortunately, the monkey prince was stout and as strong as an
elephant. He hugged his father right back, even harder and tighter, until he
could feel the faint cracking of the old king’s rib bones!
After this incident, the monkey king was even more terrified
that his son would kill him one day. So he cooked up another plan and schemed
to get his son eaten by a water demon that lived in a pond nearby. He called
for the prince and said, “My dear son, it is perfect that you are home now for
I am old and need an heir to take over my troop of monkeys. However I need flowers
for the coronation ceremony. Go to the nearby pond and bring back two kinds of
white water lilies, three kinds of blue water lilies and five types of
lotuses.”
“Yes, my father, I will get them for you,” replied the
prince. When he arrived at the pond, he saw that there were many kinds of water
lilies and lotuses growing all over it, but instead of jumping right in and
plucking them, he investigated the pond carefully. He walked slowly along the
bank. He noticed that there were footprints going into the pond, but none
coming out! After careful consideration, he realised that the pond must be
possessed by a water demon, and that his father must have sent him there to be
killed by it.
He investigated further, until he found a narrow part of the
pond where with great effort, he was able to jump safely across to the other
side. In the midst of his leap, he reached down and plucked the lotuses and lilies,
without actually getting into the pond. Then he jumped back again, picking more
flowers. He continued jumping back and forth, and in this manner, collected all
the required flowers. Suddenly, the water demon popped his head up above the
water, and witnessing this phenomenon thought, “In all the time that I’ve lived
here, I have never seen anyone, man or beast, as wise as this monkey!
He has gathered all the flowers that he want, without having
to come within my grasp, here in my kingdom of water.” Then, the ferocious
demon waddled through the water and climbed up onto the bank. Respectfully, he
exclaimed, “Hail, Monkey King, there are three qualities that make one unbeatable
by his enemies, and it appears that you have all three — skill, courage and wisdom.
You must be truly invincible! Tell me, mighty one, why have you gathered all those
flowers?”
The monkey prince replied: “My father wants to make me king
in his place. He sent me to gather these flowers for the coronation ceremony.” “You
are far too noble to be doing this chore. Let me carry these flowers for you instead,”
The water demon said, and he picked up all the flowers and followed behind the
monkey prince.
As the prince and the water demon were reaching the monkey’s
palace, the monkey king caught the strange sight of the water demon carrying
the flowers and following the prince. “I sent him to get flowers, thinking he
would be eaten by the demon. But instead he has made the water demon his
servant. I am lost,” he thought to himself. Afraid that all his unwholesome
deeds would be revealed, the monkey king went into a sudden fit of panic. This
caused his heart to fail and killed him on the spot! With the death of the old
king, the monkeys voted the strong, young prince to be the new king.
The moral is ✏ it pays to be
careful.
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