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