Once there lived a monkey in a jamun tree by a
river. The monkey was alone - he had no friends, no family, but he was
happy and content. The jamun tree gave him plenty of sweet fruit to eat,
and shade from the sun and shelter from the rain.
One day a crocodile came swimming up the river
and climbed on to the bank to rest under the monkey's tree. 'Hello',
called the monkey, who was a friendly animal. 'Hello', replied the
crocodile, surprised. 'Do you know where I can get some food?' he asked.
'I haven't had anything to eat all day - there just don't seem to be
any fish left in the river.'
'Well,' said the monkey, 'I don't eat fish so I
wouldn't know - but I do have plenty of ripe purple jamuns in my tree.
Would you like to try some?' He threw some down to the crocodile. The
crocodile was so hungry that he ate up all the jamuns even though
crocodiles don't eat fruit. He loved the sweet tangy fruit and shyly
asked whether he could have some more. 'Of course', replied the monkey
generously, throwing down more fruit. 'Come back whenever you feel like
more fruit', he added when the crocodile had eaten his fill.
After that the crocodile would visit the monkey every day. The two
animals soon became friends - they would talk and tell each other
stories, and eat as much of the sweet jamuns as they wanted. The monkey
would throw down all the fruit the crocodile wanted from his tree.
One day the crocodile began talking about his
wife and family. 'Why didn't you tell me earlier that you had a wife?'
asked the monkey. 'Please take some of the jamuns for her as well when
you go back today.' The crocodile thanked him and took some of the fruit
for his wife.
The crocodile's wife loved the jamuns. She had
never eaten anything so sweet before. 'Imagine', she said, 'how sweet
would be the creature who eats these jamuns every day. The monkey has
eaten these every day of his life - his flesh would be even sweeter than
the fruit.' She asked her husband to invite the monkey for a meal -
'and then we can eat him up' she said happily.
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