Enjoy one of our new bedtime stories for kids. Discover the enchanting fable about monkeys and their belief that all the bananas in the world belong to them. This tale unfolds the amusing story of how this belief originated and the adventures that ensued.
You might not know this, but monkeys believe that all the bananas in the world belong exclusively to them. Whenever they see them, they rush over and try every possible way to take them. Read on to find out how it all started.
Long, long ago, there was only one type of banana in the world, but many different species of monkeys. There lived an old woman who had a large garden full of banana trees. It was very difficult for the old woman to pick the bananas by herself, so she made a deal with the king of the monkeys. She told him that if he picked the banana bunches for her, he could take half of them. According to the agreement, the monkey picked the bananas. However, when it came to sharing, he gave the woman those that grew low, were small and wrinkled. The big and beautiful ones, he kept for himself.
This made the old woman very angry. She stayed up all night scheming a trick to settle the score. The next day, she put her plan into action. She made a wax sculpture that looked like a little boy. She then placed a large, flat basket on top of his head and filled it with the best, ripe bananas she could find. They looked very tempting.
It wasn’t long before the king of the monkeys appeared. He immediately thought it was a boy selling bananas. He often chased such boys, knocked over their baskets, and then ran away with the bananas. That morning, however, he was in a good mood, so he thought he’d try asking politely first.
„Boy, boy!” he called – „Please give me a banana.”
The sculpture said not a word. He repeated, this time louder:
„Boy, boy! Give me a banana! Just one, small, ripe, sweet banana.”
Again, nothing. Then he roared as fiercely as he could:
„Boy, boy! If you don’t give me a banana, I’ll push you so hard that your whole basket will fall and you’ll lose them all.”
The figure remained silent. The monkey then rushed up and hit him hard. His hand got stuck in the wax and stuck so firmly that it could not be pulled out.
„Boy, boy! Let go of my hand and give me a banana, or I’ll hit you even harder.”
The wax boy did not relent. The monkey king hit him with his other hand, and this time the hand remained firmly embedded in the wax.
„Boy, boy! Now you’ve made me so angry that I’m going to kick you with all my might!”
The furious monkey wound up and this time both his feet stuck to the wax so firmly that they could not be pulled out.
Then the monkey made such a racket that soon monkeys from all sides – small, medium, and large – gathered around. An entire army of monkeys arrived to help. They began to discuss how to help their king. The smallest monkey came up with an idea.
Following her advice, they climbed the tallest tree and stood on each other, forming a tall monkey ladder. The loudest among them climbed to the top and called the sun for help.
In response, the sun came out from behind the clouds and lit up the entire area with a huge glow. The hot rays began to melt the wax, and after a while, the monkey king was able to pull out one of his hands. The heat increased, and soon he was able to free his other hand, and finally his feet and the rest of his body. The king roared with all his might, announcing that he was finally free.
When the old woman saw that her trick had failed completely, she was totally discouraged from growing bananas. She decided to move to a completely different area and grow cabbage there. The monkeys, however, stayed in place, fully taking over the banana garden. From that day on, monkeys decided that all the bananas in the world belonged to them.
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