One day, a monkey entered Moocha Raja’s bedroom through an open window. It sat on the window sill and watched a maid fanning the king, who was sleeping. The maid left for some errand. The monkey jumped into the room, picked up the fan, and started fanning the sleeping king.
When the king woke up, he saw the monkey fanning him. The king blinked. He thought that the maid had changed into a monkey! Just then, the maid walked in, looked at the monkey with the fan in his hand. Shrieking loudly, she ran out of the room. The monkey grinned. Moocha Raja laughed.
The king took a liking to the monkey at once. The monkey appeared to be his long lost friend! Moocha Raja, overcome by love for his new friend, threw him a banana which the monkey smartly caught. Later, when Moocha Raja dressed up to leave for the court, the monkey ran and brought him his shoes. Moocha Raja patted him and threw him a mango, which the monkey accepted with glee.
Moocha Raja called the royal tailor and asked him to stitch a pant and a coat for the monkey. Dressed up in the coat and the pant with a cap on his head, the monkey accompanied Moocha Raja wherever he went. The minister was worried about Moocha Raja’s misplaced trust in a monkey. “You can never tell how these monkeys behave sometimes.” The minister tried to caution the king. But Moocha Raja cut him short, “if you utter even a single word, my new companion will replace you as the minister.”
The minister shut his mouth and withdrew.
That afternoon, Moocha Raja took a nap. The monkey sat beside him with the fan. He saw a fly coming into the room through the window. The monkey eyed this fly suspiciously. The fly ignored the monkey and buzzed towards the sleeping king. The monkey shooed him away with the fan in his hand. But the fly was not easily put off. He came again buzzing. The monkey chased him away, only to find him buzzing above the sleeping king.
As though to defy the monkey, the fly sat on the nose of Moocha Raja. Now the furious monkey raised his fist, and brought it down hard on the fly. The fly flew away just in time. But Moocha Raja jumped in pain, holding his broken and bleeding nose.
Alarmed at the sight of the blood, the monkey jumped out of the window, never to be seen again. Much to the relief of his people, Moocha Raja stayed away from them until his nose had healed!
The END
Discussion Points
1. In the above story we see how the king started to think of monkey as a true friend.. He saw a few tricks of the monkey, enjoyed and got convinced that he is a trusted friend... But such kind of friends could be dangerous to us...
2. Although the blow of Monkey landed on the nose of the king, it could have very well landed on neck and it could have been fatal... We should not just make friends who amuse us, but also who challenge us intellectually. That way we can know the capability and suitability of our company..
3. This story also has the higher meaning. Here the king represent the soul and the Monkey represent the mind.. the act of mind might amuse the soul but the mind is just like a monkey and can get the soul into trouble.
STORY CREDIT: This Story has its source in Panchtantra by Vishnu Sharma. The Panchtantra means five books. It is possible the oldest surviving collection of Indian fables having been written around 200 BC.
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