The Monkey And The Turtle

Long ago, a monkey and a turtle lived together as friends in a forest. They always helped each other out when they had difficulties. Although they were friends, sometimes the monkey tricked the turtle. But the turtle was always honest and tried to be a good friend to the monkey.

One sunny day, the two animals were taking a fresh water bath in the river. While they were enjoying their bath, they saw the trunk of banana tree in the water. They immediately swam towards the tree and pushed it towards the river bank.

The turtle said,”My friend, what would you think if the two of us planted this banana tree together? We could harvest the fruit together later.”

The monkey replied,”That’s a good idea! Let’s cut the tree into two and plant it. You get the lower part of the tree and I get the upper part.”

The monkey thought: the leafy part was the one that bore fruit while the lower part, with the roots, wouldn’t bear fruit even though it would grow after planting. They took the tree out of the water and cut it into two sections. The turtle took his part and planted it in fertile soil. First, he dug a hole in the ground, and then he filled it with dead leaves and other kinds of trash. He then burned the whole thing. Afterwards, he put the fire out with water from the river, and then finally he planted his tree. Meanwhile, the monkey planted his part of the tree in dry soil because he didn’t like mud.

Everyday the turtle took water from the river and watered his tree. Meanwhile, the monkey watered the tree with hot water. Naturally, the monkey’s tree wouldn’t grow even though it had plenty of water. Of course not! It had no roots. So eventually, the tree planted by the monkey withered and died.

Meanwhile the banana tree planted by the turtle was healthy and growing. Buds appeared at the top of the tree. Then the buds slowly became leaves which grew bigger and bigger day by day. After several months, flower began to appear. Soon they turned into fruit. The turtle was very happy watching his banana tree bear fruit. His only problem was that he couldn’t find a way to reach the bananas. He would just have to wait until they were ripe and down naturally.

While the turtle was waiting for his bananas to ripen, the monkey came for a visit. He saw that the bananas on the turtle’s tree were ready to be picked because the green bananas were starting to turn yellow.

The monkey said to the turtle,”Why do you have to wait until they’re all ripe? The birds will eat your bananas and there will be nothing left for you. Why don’t you just let me climb the tree and pick the bananas for you. Then you can eat them right away. And you can keep the rest of the bananas for yourself.”

answered the turtle,”Thanks! If you don’t mind climbing up to get the bananas, we will divide them equally.”

The monkey then climbed the tree. He picked the bananas, but then, with a wicked smile, he started to eat them one by one and he ate until only half were left. Below, the trusting turtle shouted,”Monkey, my friend, why haven’t you dropped any of the bananas for me?” The monkey shouted back,”Wait a second, I just want to taste them.”

Hearing what the monkey said to him, the turtle kept quiet, waiting patiently for the monkey to throw down some bananas. A few minutes later the turtle shouted again, but the monkey’s answer was the same.

The turtle kept asking, but the monkey kept giving the same answer. Finally, nothing was left on the tree. The monkey had eaten all of the bananas. He felt really full and fell asleep on top of the tree.

After waiting such a long time for the bananas, the turtle finally realized that he had been tricked. He started to cry.Just then, a giant crab passed by.He saw the turtle crying and asked,”Why are you crying, my friend?” The turtle replied,”My bananas were all eaten by that cruel monkey. Now he is probably sleeping up on that tree because he has eaten too much. I let him climb the tree to pick the bananas because we agreed to divide them equally, but he didn’t keep his word.”

The giant crab felt sorry for the turtle and said,”Don’t worry. I will help you.But stop crying, that doesn’t solve anyting. Trust me, you will get all of your bananas back. Just do what I say. Stand upside down under the tree with the sharp end of your shell pointing to the top of the tree. I am going to climb the tree and pinch that monkey’s buttocks so that he will suddenly wake up and fall down.”

The turtle did what he was told.The crab quietly climbed up the tree and pinched the monkey’s buttocks as hard as he could. The monkey awoke with a shock.He screamed with pain, lost his balance, and fell from the tree.He fell right on top of the turtle so his stomach was cut by the sharp end of the turtle’s shell. The monkey died instantly, and all of the bananas he had eaten came out, scattered on the ground. the turtle picked them up one by one and thanked the giant crab for his help.