[Monkey A Folktale Of China Pdf 57
Sharif Garmon
When I was a kid, my mother used to tell me Chinese folktales before bedtime. My mother is an immigrant. She was born in mainland China and eventually made her way to the United States for graduate school.
Of all her stories, my favorites by far were about Sun Wukong, the monkey king. Here was a monkey who was so good at kung fu that his fighting skills leveled up to superpowers. He could call a cloud down from the sky and ride it like a surfboard. He could change his shape into anything he wanted. He could grow and shrink with the slightest thought. And he could clone himself by plucking hairs from his head and then breathing on them. How cool was that?
Instead, I invited Monkey King into my story so that I could talk about the uneasiness of growing up Asian in America. The character I knew from my childhood expressed his emotions without reservation. I needed him to emote on my pages.
A group of playful and funny little monkeys makes a silly mistake. They think that the moon has fallen into a well and then they try to catch the moon Readers count from 1 to 5 and recite the string of number words to five. "5 Little Monkeys Catching the Moon" is a folktale from China and is the third of the three books in the first series of the CAMathories(TM) Folktale Mathematics(TM) curriculum (3-4 years old). Series 1: Count and Recite 1 to 5. Two other books in the same series are: "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (from Britain), and "Paco and the Giant Chili Plant" (from Mexico). This series helps readers to develop an awareness of the mathematics principle of 'order irrelevance' - we can count things in any order but the number stays the same.
CAMathories(TM) Folktale Mathematics(TM) Series books are fun math-learning folktales designed, written, and peer-reviewed by renowned (current and previous) researchers and faculty members of mathematics and early years learning from the University of Cambridge.
The story of "middle sister" (the characters have no names) and the people around her is: compelling, stressful, emotional, violent, feminist, stunning, and utterly unforgettable. There are transcendant moments of pure beauty and joy that will shock you. This is an amazing book worthy of all the praise.
- The Monkey and the Crocodile (India, Suka Saptati; or, Seventy Tales of a Parrot)
- The Foolish Dragon (China).
- The Monkey and the Jellyfish (Japan).
- The Jellyfish and the Monkey (Japan).
- The Heart of a Monkey (Africa, Swahili).
- Brother Rabbit and the Gizzard-Eater. (African-American, Joel Chandler Harris). Return to D. L. Ashliman's folktexts, a library of folktales, folklore,fairy tales, and mythology. The Monkey's HeartIndia, Jataka TalesOnce upon a time, while Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisattacame to life at the foot of the Himalayas as a monkey. He grew strong andsturdy, big of frame, well to do, and lived by a curve of the river Gangesin a forest haunt. Now at that time there was a crocodile dwelling in theGanges. The crocodile's mate saw the great frame of the monkey, and sheconceived a longing to eat his heart. So she said to her lord, "Sir, Idesire to eat the heart of that great king of the monkeys!"
So when the Bodhisatta was sitting on the bank of the Ganges, aftertaking a drink of water, the crocodile drew near, and said, "Sir Monkey,why do you live on bad fruits in this old familiar place? On the otherside of the Ganges there is no end to the mango trees, and labuja trees,with fruit sweet as honey! Is it not better to cross over and have allkinds of wild fruit to eat?"
The monkey trusted him, and agreed. "Come here, then," said thecrocodile. "Up on my back with you!" and up the monkey climbed. But whenthe crocodile had swum a little way, he plunged the monkey under thewater.
The crocodile brought him to the place. The monkey leapt off his back,and, climbing up the fig tree, sat upon it. "Oh silly crocodile!" said he."You thought that there were creatures that kept their hearts in atreetop! You are a fool, and I have outwitted you! You may keep your fruitto yourself. Your body is great, but you have no sense."
- Return to the table of contents.The Monkey and the CrocodileIndia, Suka Saptati; or, Seventy Tales of a ParrotIn a forest called Pushpkara, lived a small monkeywhose name was Vanapriya. One day he waswalking close to the river bank, when he saw acrocodile basking in the sun. "Friend Crocodile,"said he, "are you tired of life that you have comeso close into land?" The crocodile heard whatthe monkey said and replied: "He who has asituation that suits him, he who receives due wagesfor his services, is perfectly content with the placein which he happens to be. For it has been said:Lanka is altogether made of gold, yet I carenothing for it. Ayodhya, the home of my fathers,is but poor, yet I delight in it. But there is somethingmore than that, for your acquaintance hasadded additional pleasure to my existence. Forit is written: A sacred bathing-place is only profitablesometimes. But the mere sight of a good man isalways a source of purification. So now a piece of luck has happened to me, in that I have comeacross one who speaks such kindly words as you." "My dear Crocodile," answered the monkey," from this day forward I shall be entirely devotedto you, for your words are indeed the words offriendship. As it has been said: Friendship, in the opinion of wise men, is thesociety of the good. Therefore," continued themonkey, "let me offer you such hospitality as Iam capable of." So saying he brought the crocodilesome ripe fruit as sweet as nectar. So after this every day the monkey used to bringhis friend the crocodile plaintain fruit, and thecrocodile took it home to his wife. One day sheasked him where this fruit came from, and he toldher the whole story, exactly as it all happened. She thought to herself, "This monkey seems to enjoyexcellent fruit, I wonder what his ordinary foodis like," and so, being in a condition which gave hera craving for all sorts of strange out-of-the-waythings, she said to her husband: "I must havesome of that fruit which the monkey is alwayseating; if you don't get it for me I shall certainlydie." So off the crocodile started on his errand,and soon arrived at the river bank where he hadmet the monkey the first time. The monkey wasthere, and the crocodile said to him, "My dear friend! Your brother's wife is very anxious tosee you; will you come with me to our house?" The monkey accepted the invitation, and withoutany hesitation mounted the crocodile's back, andthey started on their journey. On the way themonkey became a little anxious, and said: "Ithas occurred to me how am I to find my way back?" The crocodile recognized the monkey's difficulty,and explained carefully to him the way home. The monkey replied, "My good crocodile! It isof no use your telling me all this, I am sure I shouldnot recollect it. Besides, I think my affection foryou has something lessened, so it is of no use mygoing home with you." The crocodile rejoined,"Well, where shall I put you down?" "My dear friend!" answered the monkey, "haven't youheard the saying: My heart is always in the figtree; my desire always for the sacred fig? Ifyou know what that means you will take me backat once." The stupid crocodile at these words turned roundand took the monkey back to the river bank, andas soon as they had got there, the monkey jumpedoff the crocodile's back, and scrambled up into thetree. When he was well out of reach, he turnedround and said with a jeer, "Go along with you!As long as I am up here I am out of your clutches.Wise men say, There can be no friendship betweencreatures that live on land and those that live inthe water." So the crocodile turned back andwent sadly home, and the moral is: That he whohas wit enough, can get out of difficulties, whateverthey may be.
- Source: The Enchanted Parrot: Being a Selection from the "Suka Saptati," or, The Seventy Tales of a Parrot, translated by B. Hale Wortham (London: Luzac and Company, 1912), story 67, pp. 117-120.
- Return to the table of contents.
- Return to the table of contents.The Monkey and the JellyfishJapanChildren must often have wondered why jellyfishes have no shells, likeso many of the creatures that are washed up every day on the beach. In oldtimes this was not so; the jellyfish had as hard a shell as any of them,but he lost it through his own fault, as may be seen in this story.
The sea-queen Otohime grew suddenly very ill. The swiftest messengerswere sent hurrying to fetch the best doctors from every country under thesea, but it was all of no use; the queen grew rapidly worse instead ofbetter. Everyone had almost given up hope, when one day a doctor arrivedwho was cleverer than the rest, and said that the only thing that wouldcure her was the liver of an ape.
Now apes do not dwell under the sea, so a council of the wisest headsin the nation was called to consider the question how a liver could beobtained. At length it was decided that the turtle, whose prudence waswell known, should swim to land and contrive to catch a living ape andbring him safely to the ocean kingdom.
It was easy enough for the council to entrust this mission to theturtle, but not at all so easy for him to fulfil it. However, he swam to apart of the coast that was covered with tall trees, where he thought theapes were likely to be; for he was old, and had seen many things. It wassome time before he caught sight of any monkeys, and he often grew tiredwith watching for them, so that one hot day he fell fast asleep, in spiteof all his efforts to keep awake.
By and by some apes, who had been peeping at him from the tops of thetrees, where they had been carefully hidden from the turtle's eyes, stolenoiselessly down, and stood round staring at him, for they had never seena turtle before, and did not know what to make of it. At last one youngmonkey, bolder than the rest, stooped down and stroked the shining shellthat the strange new creature wore on its back. The movement, gentlethough it was, woke the turtle. With one sweep he seized the monkey's handin his mouth, and held it tight, in spite of every effort to pull it away.The other apes, seeing that the turtle was not to be trifled with, ranoff, leaving their young brother to his fate.
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