(A Short Story with moral)
Once upon a time, a man was
passing through a jungle. He saw a monkey and was attracted to it. He called the
monkey and to his surprise, the monkey came near him.
The man told the
monkey that it was his ancestor and so they should cultivate friendship. With
different kinds of gestures, he was able to establish friendship with
it.
The man was just
trying to kill time using the monkey as company while crossing the
jungle.
Suddenly unexpectedly, a lion roared fiercely and pounced in front of
them. They scarcely had time to escape. The monkey ran and the man followed
suit. They found a very huge tree and soon climbed it. Though they were
breathless, they did not stop until they climbed to a safe height.
The lion continued to prowl here and there, hoping to catch them when they climbed down.
The lion was angry and hungry and awaiting his prey finally sat down under the
tree.
The man was
clinging to one of the strong branches, while the monkey was sitting on a branch
with ease, as if nothing had happened.
After a prolonged wait, the lion lost
patience and proposed to let one of them go scot-free if the other was offered
to him as 'food'.
The man and the
monkey consulted each other. They even offered to sacrifice their lives for each
other, but ultimately concluded that they would live and die
together.
The lion was disappointed, but not
dissuaded. He continued his vigil. Nevertheless, the wait on the tree proved a
testing time for both the monkey and the man.
They were feeling drowsy. They were both
faced with the danger of falling down while dozing on the tree. Ultimately they
decided to take turns to sleep.
The monkey would sit wide-awake while the
man slept and the man would keep vigil while the monkey had his share of
sleep.
As decided, it was the man's turn to sleep
first, while the monkey kept guard. The monkey slept in the other half of the
night, while the man held fort.
When the monkey was fast asleep, the man
started contemplating. He thought that if he pushed away the sleeping monkey,
the lion, as promised, would allow him to go scot-free.
Immediately, he
translated his thoughts into action. The monkey was in deep slumber. The man
pushed him down.
As the monkey was accustomed to such
things, he immediately caught hold of the branches halfway and was back to his
place in a moment.
Without uttering a single word, he went
back to sleep as if nothing had happened. In the morning, the monkey led the man
to safety. The lion was still on prowl under the tree.
When they reached at the safer place, the
monkey made a special request to the man. "Please do not allege that monkeys are
ancestors of mankind."
Conclusion:
Man
without humanity is inferior to animals.
