Children Stories - The Girl Monkey And The String Of Pearls

Three men were flying on a plane over the jungle when it crashed. They were the only people who survived. They decided that starting the next morning one of them would go out and make weapons and see if he could kill anything. So the next morning... Read more of Hunting in the jungle at Free Jokes.ca

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THE GIRL MONKEY AND THE STRING OF PEARLS

from More Jataka Tales

One day the king went for a long walk in the woods. When he came back
to his own garden, he sent for his family to come down to the lake
for a swim.

When they were all ready to go into the water, the queen and her
ladies left their jewels in charge of the servants, and then went down
into the lake.

As the queen put her string of pearls away in a box, she was watched
by a Girl Monkey who sat in the branches of a tree near-by. This Girl
Monkey wanted to get the queen's string of pearls, so she sat still
and watched, hoping that the servant in charge of the pearls would go
to sleep.

At first the servant kept her eyes on the jewel-box. But by and by she
began to nod, and then she fell fast asleep.

As soon as the Monkey saw this, quick as the wind she jumped down,
opened the box, picked up the string of pearls, and quick as the wind
she was up in the tree again, holding the pearls very carefully. She
put the string of pearls on, and then, for fear the guards in the
garden would see the pearls, the Monkey hid them in a hole in the
tree. Then she sat near-by looking as if nothing had happened.

By and by the servant awoke. She looked in the box, and finding that
the string of pearls was not there, she cried, "A man has run off with
the queen's string of pearls."

Up ran the guards from every side.

The servant said: "I sat right here beside the box where the queen put
her string of pearls. I did not move from the place. But the day is
hot, and I was tired. I must have fallen asleep. The pearls were gone
when I awoke."

The guards told the king that the pearls were gone.

"Find the man who stole the pearls," said the king. Away went the
guards looking high and low for the thief.

After the king had gone, the chief guard said to himself:

"There is something strange here. These pearls," thought he, "were
lost in the garden. There was a strong guard at the gates, so that no
one from the outside could get into the garden. On the other hand,
there are hundreds of Monkeys here in the garden. Perhaps one of the
Girl Monkeys took the string of pearls."

Then the chief guard thought of a trick that would tell whether a Girl
Monkey had taken the pearls. So he bought a number of strings of
bright-colored glass beads.

After dark that night the guards hung the strings of glass beads here
and there on the low bushes in the garden. When the Monkeys saw the
strings of bright-colored beads the next morning, each Monkey ran for
a string.

But the Girl Monkey who had taken the queen's string of pearls did not
come down. She sat near the hole where she had hidden the pearls.

The other Monkeys were greatly pleased with their strings of beads.
They chattered to one another about them. "It is too bad you did not
get one," they said to her as she sat quietly, saying nothing. At last
she could stand it no longer. She put on the queen's string of pearls
and came down, saying proudly: "You have only strings of glass beads.
See my string of pearls!"

Then the chief of the guards, who had been hiding nearby, caught the
Girl Monkey. He took her at once to the king.

"It was this Girl Monkey, your Majesty, who took the pearls."

The king was glad enough to get the pearls, but he asked the chief
guard how he had found out who took them.

The chief guard told the king that he knew no one could have come into
the garden and so he thought they must have been taken by one of the
Monkeys in the garden. Then he told the king about the trick he had
played with the beads.

"You are the right man in the right place," said the king, and he
thanked the chief of the guards over and over again.

Next: THE THREE FISHES

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THE GIRL MONKEY AND THE STRING OF PEARLS