The Cap Seller and the Monkeys Past and Present

Once upon a time, there was a nice young man. He used to sell caps for a living, and roam around several villages. One day he would be in one town and on the next day, people would find him in a different one. It was an afternoon in summer and he was traversing the vast plains when he felt tired and wanted to have a nap. He found a nice mango tree with lots of branches and cool shade, placed his bag of caps beside him, and went to sleep. Tired as he was, he quickly fell fast asleep. After a refreshing little nap, he woke up, and found that there were not any caps in his bag! “Oh, God,” he said to himself, “did the thieves have to find me, of all people?” Then he noticed that the mango tree was full of cute monkeys wearing colorful caps! He yelled at the monkeys, and they screamed back. He made faces at them, but found that the monkeys were experts at making faces as well. He threw a stone at them, and they showered him with raw mangoes!

“Oh God, how do I get my caps back,” he exclaimed. Frustrated, he took off his own cap and threw it on the ground. Lo and behold, the stupid monkeys threw their caps down as well! The smart cap seller did not waste a second. He collected all his caps and was on his way.

50 YEARS LATER….The grandson of the famous topiwala (cap seller), named Abdul, who was also working hard at making $$$, running his family business, was walking through the same jungle. After a long while, he was very tired and found a nice mango tree with lots of branches and cool shade. He decided to rest, and very soon was fast asleep. A few hours later, he woke up, and realized that all the caps from his bag were gone! The cap seller started searching for his caps and to his surprise, found some monkeys sitting on a mango tree wearing his caps. He was frustrated and did not know what to do.

Then he remembere a story his grandfather proudly used to tell him. “Yes!”, “I can fool these monkeys!” said the cap seller. “I’ll make them imitate me and very soon I’ll get all my caps back!” He waved at the monkeys, and the Monkeys waved back at him.

He blew his nose - the Monkeys blew their noses He started dancing - the Monkeys also danced. He pulled his ears - the Monkeys pulled their ears. He raised his hands - the Monkeys raised their hands. He threw his cap on the ground. Suddenly, one of the monkeys jumped down from the tree, grabed the cap seller’s cap, walked up to the cap seller; slapped him and said,

“Do you think ONLY YOU HAD A GRANDFATHER?”

The Tiger and the Greedy Man

An old tiger lived in a forest. He was not strong. He could not hunt the other animals. He starved for many days. One day he thought of a plan. He said, “I shall go to the river and take a bath. Then, I shall sit on the bank. In one paw, I shall hold some sacred kusa grass. In the other paw, I shall hold a gold bangle.”

He carried out his plan. Every day he sat on the bank of the river with the kusa grass in one hand and the gold bangle in the other. For some days, no one came that way. The tiger was sad and hungry.

After a week, an old man passed his way. He was a poor and greedy man. The tiger saw him and said, “Come here, good sir, I will give you a gold bangle. You can give it to your wife or daughter, or you can sell it for a lot of money.” The old man saw the gold bangle. He thought, “The tiger has spoken kind words to me. He is very old too. He will not do me any harm.” Then the old man asked the tiger, “You are sitting on the opposite bank of the river. Is the river very deep? Can I cross it safely? How can I trust you?”

The tiger replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. I am very old. I have lost all my teeth. I bathe in the river every day and give presents to the poor. The river is not very deep. You can easily come to me and take the bangle from my hand.”

The greedy old man trusted the words of the tiger. He got into the water and walked a few steps. The river was not very deep. In a few minutes, he was very near the opposite bank. However, suddenly his feet sank into mud. The tiger said to him, “Do not be afraid, old man. I will come and pull you out.” Then the tiger walked slowly to him, pulled him out, and ate him!

The Moral of the story: Being greedy is bad.

Mousetrap

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall, to see the farmer and his wife open a package. “What food might this contain?” He was devastated to discover that it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse announced a warning. “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!” The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.”

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mousetrap in the house.” The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.” The mouse then turned to the cow.foldable e bike But she said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse, I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.” Therefore, the mouse returned to the house, his head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house - like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she could not see that it was a venomous snake, whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard, for the soup’s main ingredient. However, his wife’s sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer’s wife did not get well, and she died. So many people came for her funeral; the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The moral of the story:

(1) The next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn’t concern you; remember, when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

(2) We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.

(3) Each of us is a vital thread in another person’s tapestry; our lives are woven together for a reason.

The Bird with Two Heads

A great bird named Bharunda lived on the banks of a lake. He had two heads, but one single body. One day, as the bird was wandering on the bank of the lake, he found a piece of fruit, which was as delicious as ambrosia. One of his heads mumbled, “Oh what a fruit. I am sure the heavens have sent it for me. I am so lucky.”

Hearing this, the second head said, “O brother, let me also taste the fruit you are praising so much.”

The first head laughed and said, “Both of us have the same stomach. It makes no difference whether I eat it or you eat it. I shall give it to our beloved. She will be very happy.” Bharunda thus gave the fruit to his wife. But the second head was disappointed at this action of the first head.

On another day, the second head found a poisonous piece of fruit and told the first head, “You treacherous fellow. For what you have done to me, I will eat this poisonous fruit and avenge your insult.” The second head said, “You fool, if you eat that, both of us will die because we both have the same body.” Ignoring his warning, the second head ate the poisonous fruit and both of them died.

The moral of the story: Those who are not in agreement will perish.

The King and the Monkey

Once upon a time, there was a king named Chandra ruling a small state. His children were fond of playing with monkeys. So, the king ordered a number of monkeys to be brought to the palace and asked his servants to feed them well and look after their needs.

The leader of the monkeys was an old scholar, who was well versed in statecraft, especially the works of Shukracharya, Brihaspati and Chanakya. This old monkey also trained the younger ones in statecraft.

The king had a stable of goats that his young sons used to ride. One of the goats was fond of food and would daily sneak into the kitchen, at any time of the day, and make a clean sweep of whatever was available. If the cook chanced to see him stealing food, he would throw at it, whatever was handy - a stick or a brass pot.

The monkey leader saw this drama between the cook and the wily goat and thought: “I am sure this tussle between the cook and the goat will lead to the ruin of my tribe. This goat has become a slave to food. The cook will throw at it whatever is nearby. It may be a stick or if it is not readily available, he may use an ember from the hearth, to throw at the goat. This will set ablaze the goat’s fur-covered body making him run into the stable, which would soon catch fire, and would burn the horses. The great veterinarian Salihotra, has said that the fat of monkeys, is the best medicine for burns. That will be the end of monkeys.”

The monkey leader then summoned all the younger ones and told them, that the feud between the cook and the goat, would certainly do them harm. In their own interest, they should leave the palace as early as possible. He quoted the scholar’s saying: “He, who wants to live in peace, must leave a house of daily strife. Conflict breaks up kingdoms, just like bad words, separate friends”.

The younger ones, however, refused to listen to the advice of the old monkey. They told their leader, “Sir, you have become old and senile. We are not going to leave the palace where we have the best food available. What do we get to eat in the jungles? We cannot eat these kinds of different foods in the forest!”

Extremely unhappy at their response, the old monkey said, “You have no idea of the price you will pay for the comforts of the palace. They will not last long. I cannot bear to see the end of our tribe.

I am leaving. He who spares himself the spectacle of a friend in distress, of his house occupied by an enemy, or of the division of his country, is the happiest.” The old monkey left all of them with a heavy heart.

Some days later, the wily goat entered the royal kitchen and the cook, failing to see anything handy to punish it, took out a burning piece of wood from the hearth and hurled it at the goat. His fur afire, he ran in panic into the stable, where his burning body set ablaze the stacked hay. Several horses perished in the fire. The king consulted expert veterinarians who advised him to use monkey fat as unguent for horses suffering from burns.

The king ordered all monkeys to be killed and their fat used to heal the burns of the horses. The old monkey was distressed by the death of his progeny, and began planning as to how he could take revenge on the king for killing all monkeys.

Wandering restlessly in the forest, the old monkey saw a lake full of lotus flowers. On deeper inspection of the lake, he found the footprints of animals and human beings entering the lake but not any footprints leaving the lake. The wise old monkey at once realized that there must be some wicked crocodile in the lake, and that it was better to drink water, using the tube of a lotus.

As he began drinking water, a monster emerged from the lake wearing a pearl necklace. The monster addressed the monkey and said, “You seem to be an intelligent chap. You drank water without entering the lake. I am impressed by your presence of mind. Ask anything you want.

The monkey asked, “Sir, how many lives can you take in one go?” The monster said, “I can swallow tens, hundreds, and thousands at one time. All this I can do, but only when they enter the lake. Outside the water, even a jackal can challenge me.”

The monkey said, “I have to settle scores with a king. If you can lend me the pearl necklace on your body, I will somehow persuade the king and all his men to enter the lake for hidden wealth. Then you can kill all of them.”

Trusting the monkey, the monster gave him the pearl necklace. The monkey reached the kingdom of Chandra. People saw the dazzling necklace and asked him how he got it. The monkey told them about the lake. When the word reached the king, he sent for the monkey and asked him how he got the necklace.

Upon the monkey telling him everything about the lake, the king, led by the monkey, and accompanied by his family, ministers, and followers, reached the lake. The monkey told the king that it was better that all his men entered the lake at the same time at dawn. However, the monkey told the king, “My lord, you will not go with them. I will take you separately to a spot where you can get a large store of pearl necklaces.”

According to the plan, all the king’s men entered the lake at the same time and were killed by the monster. When nobody came out of the water for a long time, the king became suspicious, and asked the monkey about the delay in his men coming back out of the lake. The monkey immediately sprang to the top of a tree and told the king: “O king, the monster inside the lake has killed all your people! You have killed my people. This is my reply to that treachery.”

The moral of the story is: He, who is overwhelmed by greed, and doesn’t weigh its consequences, will become a victim of deceit.

Posted by Commander Selvam

Posted Date 12.11.2014
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