In a certain city was a king named Moon, who had a pack of monkeys for his son’s amusement. They were kept in prime condition by daily provender and pabulum in great variety.

For the amusement of the same prince there was a herd of rams. One of them had an itching tongue, so he went into the kitchen at all hours of the day and night and swallowed everything in sight. And the cooks would beat him with any stick or other object within reach.

Now when the chief of the monkeys observed this, he reflected: “Dear me! This quarrel between ram and cooks will mean the destruction of the monkeys. For the ram is a regular guzzler, and when the cooks are infuriated, they hit him with anything handy. Suppose some time they find nothing else and beat him with a fire brand. Then that broad, woolly back will very easily catch fire. And if the ram while burning, plunges into the stable near by, it will blaze — for it is mostly thatch — and the horses will be scorched. Now the standard work on veterinary science prescribes monkeys-fat to relieve burns on horses. This being so, we are threatened with death.”

Having reached this conclusion, he assembled the monkeys and said:

“A quarrel of the ram and cooks

Has lately come about!

It threatens every monkey life

Without a shade of doubt.

“Because, if senseless quarrels rend

A house from day to day.

The folk who wish to keep alive

Had better move away.

“For quarrels end a happy home;

And slander, friendship’s story;

White evil kings their kingdoms end;

And meanness, manly glory.

“Therefore let us leave the house and take to the woods before we are all dead.”

But the conceited monkeys laughed at his warning and said: “Oho! You are old and your mind is slipping. Your words prove it. We have no intention of foregoing the heavenly dainties which the princes give us with their own hands, in order to eat fruits peppery, puckery, bitter, and sour from the trees out there in the forest.”

Having listened to this, the monkey chief made a wry face said: “Come, come! You are fools. You do not consider the outcome of this pleasant life. Just at present it is sweet, at the last it will turn to poison. At any rate, I will not behold the death of my household. I am off for that very forest. As the proverb says:

Blest are they who do not see

Death upon the family,

Friend in trouble, stolen wife,

Ruin of the nation’s life.”

With these words the chief left them all behind, and went to the forest.

One day after he had gone, the ram entered the kitchen. And the cook, finding nothing else, picked up a firebrand, half-consumed and still blazing, and struck him. Whereat, with half his body blazing, he plunged bleating into the stable near by. There he rolled until flames started up on all sides — for the stable was mostly thatch — and of the horses tethered there some died, their eyes popping, while some, half burned to death and whinnying with pain, snapped their halters, so that nobody knew what to do.

In this state of affairs, the saddened king assembled the veterinary surgeons and said: “Prescribe some method of giving these horses relief from the pain of their burns.” And they, recalling the teachings of their science, said: “King, the blessed master of our craft prescribed for this emergency as follows:

Let monkey-fat be freely used;

Like dark before the dawn,

The pain that horses feel from burns,

Will very soon be gone.

Pray adopt this remedy before they perish miserably.”

When the king heard this, he ordered the slaughter of the monkeys. And, not to waste words, every one was killed.

Now the monkey chief did not with his own eyes see this outrage perpetrated on his household. But he heard the story as it passed from one to another, and did not take it tamely. As the proverb says:

If foes commit an outrage on

A house, and one forgives —

Be it from fear or greed — he is

The meanest man that lives.

Now as the elderly monkey wandered about thirsty, he came to a lake made lovely by clusters of lotuses. And as he observed it narrowly, he noticed footprints leading into the lake, but none coming out. Thereupon he reflected: “There must be some vicious beast here in the water. So I will stay at a distance and drink through a hollow lotus-stalk.”

When he had done so, there issued from the water a man-eating fiend with a pearl necklace adorning his neck, who spoke and said: “Sir, I eat everyone who enters the water. So there is none shrewder than you, who drink in this fashion. I have taken a liking to you. Name your heart’s desire.”

“Sir,” said the monkey, “how many can you eat?” And the fiend replied: “I can eat hundreds, thousands, myriads, yes, hundreds of thousands, if they enter the water. Outside, a jackal can overpower me.”

“And I,” said the monkey, “I live in mortal enmity with a king. If you will give me that pearl necklace, I will awaken his greed with a plausible narrative, and will make that king enter the lake along with his retinue.” So the fiend handed over the pearl necklace.

Then people saw the monkey roaming over trees and palace-roofs with a pearl necklace embellishing his throat, and they asked him: “Well, chief, where have you spent this long time? Where did you get a pearl necklace like that? Its dazzling beauty dims the very sun.”

And the monkey answered: “In a spot in the forest is a shrewdly hidden lake, a creation of the god of wealth. Through his grace, if anyone bathes there at sunrise on Sunday, he comes out with a pearl necklace like this embellishing his