There was a king who left a group of tamed monkeys as pets in his palace. He treated these monkeys as if they were the king’s special pets. He provided them with the best food and the finest care.
The leader of these monkeys was very wise. He observed the flatterers who visited the king and learned many lessons from them. He always tried to teach the other monkeys. But they had become satisfied with their haughty lives. On the other hand, the king loved two of the cooked dishes.
One of the dishes was cooked chicken meat. The cooks would go to the kitchen every day and eat whatever they could get. This made the cooks very angry, causing them to throw anything that fell into their hands to beat the monkey when he was hungry for food.
The leader of the monkeys noticed this behavior and thought: “This behavior of the cooks may lead to accidents that could destroy this kingdom if they play with fire? What if they did something with fire?” The leader of the monkeys warned the other monkeys and said: “The behavior of the cooks toward the monkey may lead to some accidents any day. We may be the main losers if this is what happens. Let us move away from here before some accidents occur.”
But the other monkeys were accustomed to the luxurious life and refused to return to the forest and refused to listen to the leader’s warnings. They decided to stay, thinking that the leader had become old and that he had strange ideas.
Thus the leader of the monkeys decided to leave them. After the leader of the monkeys went to the forest and stayed, one day, the monkey cook entered and ate some delicious foods that were being prepared to be presented to the king. One of the cooks became very angry, so he picked up something sharp from the stove to beat the monkey to frighten him. But the fire caught immediately. The monkey cook, angry with the fire, kicked the stove burning with the fire to the nearby haystack, and the fire spread immediately.
The palace workers tried to extinguish the fire. The palace was exposed to serious dangers when the news reached the king. He was very distressed that such a thing had happened to his beloved palace. He summoned the two guards to describe the solution. The guards advised him: “Oh king, the burns resulting from the fire will soon be extinguished if they are covered with the ape’s fur.”
Thus, the king ordered that all the monkeys be arrested immediately and their fur used to cover the burns of the marble palace. When this news reached the leader of the monkeys, he was very sad and said to himself: “The monkeys were foolish and did not listen to warnings. But the king was just to punish them for this bad behavior with his beloved animals. I will make him pay for his deed.”
He did not eat food, or drink water, remaining in a state of thinking for several days. He was also broken-hearted. Then he came to a beautiful lake full of lotus flowers, thirsty. He decided to drink some water when he was thirsty for the lake. He noticed that there were many footprints of people and animals that went to the lake, but not one footprint came out of the lake.
He realized that there must be something dangerous in this beautiful lake. Then he brought some lotus plants and used them as a boat, and drank water from a distant place. While he was doing this, a monster appeared from the lake that had a necklace of pearls around his neck and said: “I am a monster living in this lake. Whoever enters this lake to play or drink water ends up in my belly. For many years, I have not seen a wise person like you. You are drinking water, but with caution such that you cannot be touched. Therefore, I will forgive you any request you want.”
The leader of the ape remembered immediately the revenge from the king and said: “How can you eat? The king has a grudge against me. If you grant me the necklace that is with you, I will use it to convince the king to bring you to the lake.”
The monster answered: “If they enter the lake, I can eat thousands of them. Already, bring me what you can!” The leader of the ape put the necklace around his neck and jumped from tree to tree to reach the palace in the shortest possible time. Then he went hurriedly to the king.
When the king and everyone saw the leader of the monkeys returning with a beautiful necklace of pearls, they were surprised and began to praise him. The leader of the monkeys said to the king: “Oh king, while I was walking in the forest, I passed by a huge cave hidden inside the lake. Anyone who plays in the lake one day can take a larger amount of pearls. This necklace is nothing compared to the other pearls there!”
When the king heard this, he said: “Oh leader of the monkeys, if this lake actually exists, I hope that you will take us to it, and I will come to see it myself, and I will bring everyone in the palace with me.” Early in the morning of the next day, the king and the leader of the monkeys went inside the forest, accompanied by the soldiers, maids, ministers, and workers, and others. When they reached the place, everyone was terrified by the sight of the lake full of lotus flowers. The leader of the monkeys said: “You must enter the lake one after the other. As for you, oh king, you must wait, and I will show you a special place by them.”
They entered the lake one after the other and started to disappear, while the king waited in vain for them to return with the pearls. When no one came out and they disappeared from the lake after a long time, the king asked: “Oh leader of the monkeys, why are they not coming out? Why are they taking such a long time?”
The leader of the monkeys climbed to the top of the tree and answered: “Oh king, oh fair one, there is a monster living in this lake, and now he has eaten all your servants, as I had told you earlier, and he said: ‘I have forgiven you, because you once gave me a drink! You can go to your palace that belongs to you, oh loyal one, and go quickly.’” Thus the king returned to his palace after he lost all his servants and became very poor, for the leader of the monkeys had taken revenge on him.
Translated from the story: The Unforgiving Monkey