THE PENNY-WISE MONKEY
:
More Jataka Tales
Once upon a time the king of a large and rich country gathered
together his army to take a faraway little country. The king and his
soldiers marched all morning long and then went into camp in the
forest.
When they fed the horses they gave them some peas to eat. One of the
Monkeys living in the forest saw the peas and jumped down to get some
of them. He filled his mouth and hands with them, and up into th
tree
he went again, and sat down to eat the peas.
As he sat there eating the peas, one pea fell from his hand to the
ground. At once the greedy Monkey dropped all the peas he had in his
hands, and ran down to hunt for the lost pea. But he could not find
that one pea. He climbed up into his tree again, and sat still looking
very glum. "To get more, I threw away what I had," he said to himself.
The king had watched the Monkey, and he said to himself: "I will not
be like this foolish Monkey, who lost much to gain a little. I will go
back to my own country and enjoy what I now have."
So he and his men marched back home.