Week 6 Storytelling : An Unlikely Friendship

Monkey painted by Ohara Kason

An Unlikely Friendship

Every Spring Monkey chooses a new tree.  As soon as the fruit started to ripen and the flowers start blossoming, he would choose his favorite tree.  He chose a different tree every year, and would eat his fill of the wonderful fruit until the tree was barren, and their was no more fruit left.

This year he chose a peach tree, with branches hanging over the ocean.  He especially liked that the fruits were shaped like hearts. He took on the peaches in his hands and started to each.  The fruit was especially sweet and juicy this year.  Satisfied with his choice, Monkey alternated between building up a place for him to sleep, and eating the delicious fruit.

As monkey was busy working, a shark started circling below.  The shark looked up at the monkey, busy eating the fruit and started thinking of an idea.  The shark did not want to eat the monkey, you see, he needed the monkey's heart to cure the king from across the sea. The king would dye within 6 month time if he did not get the heart.  The other animals could not make the journey across he water, but shark could not go onto the land and actually catch a monkey. As he circled, he started thinking of an idea.

Shark called a greeting up to the monkey. "I am tired of eating all of this salty fish," said Shark, "won't you share some of your food with me, and we can talk over a meal."
Monkey saw no danger in giving food to the shark.  He diligently picked fruits, and tossed them down to the shark.  The shark ate them all up and kept asking for more. Every time monkey would throw down another fruit, the shark would ask for more.

Although Shark was initially just trying to start up a conversation with the monkey and stall while trying to think of an idea, he found that he really liked the juicy fruit.  The decided that since he had half a years time, there was no harm in staying there with the monkey for a few week, sharing food and stories.

Every morning shark would surface between the tree, and Monkey would throw down fruit. Several month passed this way, and the two animals started to become friends.  Spring passed into summer, and summer passed into fall.  Five month elapsed this way, full of fruit and stories. Shark began to realize that he could stall no longer.

The following morning, shark told monkey a tale of the land across the sea.  The described the fruits on the tree, and told monkey of their wonder.  The animals there were greedy and would not share with Shark, but legend told that the fruits were the best in the land.

Monkey immediately took an interest in this tale.  The tree was was almost barren with fruit, and new exotic fruits sounded extremely appealing. When the shark was to far from shore for the monkey to swim back, he confessed his true intentions, apologizing to Monkey.  Shark's eyes were full of teas, for he had truly come to like the monkey and would miss his friend.

Monkey also looked sad, as well as apologetic.  He told shark that monkey do not keep their hearts in their chest.  Instead, the great spirits hold onto monkey hearts for safekeeping.  When a monkey dies, the spirit returns the heart to the physical world in the form of fruit.  Thus the lives of brave Monkeys help keep the next generation alive.  People are sad, and often bury the hearts of their loved ones, creating new trees,  and new places for the spirits to deliver hearts.

The shark was shocked and delighted at this revelation.  Shark could spare his friend and save his king at the same time!  Overjoyed, shark quickly turned around and started swimming back to the tree.  When the pair reached the shore, monkey climbed back up the tree, and threw down fruit to the shark for the last time.  Shark gathered up the fruit, promising to return and swam quickly away.

It wasn't until shark brought back the fruit and tried to heal the king the he realized he had been tricked.  Shark swam back to the tree with the fruit shaped like hearts.  There was no sign of monkey.  Monkey had already found a new tree, never to return to the peach tree.  Shark swam away slowly and sadly, for he had lost both his King, and his friend.

Authors Note
This story was inspired by The Heart of the Monkey from Lang's African Stories.  I used the same characters, the Monkey and shark, and I used the premise of the story: The shark wants the Monkey's heart.  Other than that I took a lot of liberties and changed the story.  I would definitely encourage everybody to go read the original.  It is an interesting read, and it will help you better see how it differs from my story.

Bibliography
This week's reading is from African Stories from Lang's Fairy Books.
From The Grey Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1900)