The Monkeys and the Reeds

4.8

Part I

Many, many years ago in the middle of the forest there was a lake of clean cold water. All the animals of the forest came to drink from this lake. But in the middle of the lake there lived a monster. The monster caught any animal who went to the water to drink and ate it.

One day some monkeys came to this lake. They ran and jumped in the trees for a very long time, then they wanted to drink very much. They wanted to run to the water and drink. But they did not do it.

“We must wait for our King,” said one old monkey and they sat down and waited. The King of the monkeys was a very large monkey. He always told them what they must do and what they must not do.

“My brothers,” he said, “the fruit on some of the trees in the forest may be bad for us. Do not eat fruit which grows on trees if you have not eaten it before. Do not drink water which you have not drunk before. Bad monsters live in the lake. Ask me if you want to eat or drink anything.”

And the monkeys always asked him when they wanted to eat or drink something. That is why they did not go to the lake and drink. They sat near the lake and waited.

Part II

When the King came, he walked round the lake and looked at the water and at the shore of the lake. He found the tracks of animals who went to the lake. But he did not find any tracks of animals who left the lake. The King came to his friends and said, “You were right when you sat and waited for me. A monster lives in these waters. He eats the animals who come to drink the water of the lake. Let us wait here.”

The monkeys wanted to drink very much but they waited. They knew their King was clever. “He will get some water from the lake,” they thought.

All this time the monster watched the monkeys from the lake. He was angry. “Why don’t those animals come to the water?” he said to himself. He came out of the water and cried out to the monkeys:

“Why don’t you come down to the water and drink? My friends, this is a very beautiful lake and the water in it is very cold.” At this the King of the monkeys said: “You are right, the lake is very beautiful. But you are the monster who eats every animal which comes to drink, aren’t you?”

The monster laughed. He saw that this monkey was very clever.

“You are right, King of the monkeys. I am the monster of the lake. I eat the animals who come to drink in my lake and I shall eat your monkeys.”

“No,” said the King of the monkeys, “you won’t eat any of my friends.”

“So you say,” the monster answered, “but if you don’t drink you will die as you sit there. There isn’t another lake in this forest.”

The King of the monkeys thought a little, then said: “That’s right. We want to drink, so we must have water and we shall have water but we shan’t let you eat us.”

“How can you drink and not come to the water?” asked the monster.

“Wait and you will see. We shall bring the lake to our mouths, as we sit on the shore,” the King answered.

Part III

The King of the monkeys went to a reed which grew on the shore of the lake. He took the reed and put it in his mouth. Then he blew into the reed and made it hollow. Then he blew into another reed and another. But then he stopped and thought of the monkeys. They wanted to drink very much. “They will die before I can blow a reed for every monkey,” he said to himself. So he went round the lake and cried:

“Let the reeds on the shore of the lake be hollow!”

And the reeds which grew on the shore of the lake were hollow.

Then the King told each monkey to take a reed in his hands and go to the lake after him. He sat down on the shore by the lake. He put one end of the reed in his mouth and the other end in the water. Then he began to suck. The water came up through the reed and he drank. The monkeys did so too. Each monkey drank for a long time, and the lake monster did not catch any of them.

The monster was very angry. He went down into the lake and waited for some other animals who did not have a clever leader. The King of the monkeys was very clever, wasn’t he?

The hollow reeds which grew on the shore of that lake were the parents of other hollow reeds. Soon hollow reeds grew round the lakes in other forests.