Once upon a time, a clever monkey lived in a tree that bore juicy, red rose
apples. He was very happy.
One fine day, a crocodile swam up to that tree and told the monkey that
he had travelled a long distance and was in search of food as he was very
hungry. The kind monkey offered him a few rose apples. The crocodile
enjoyed them very much and asked the monkey whether he could come
again for some more fruit. The generous monkey happily agreed.
The crocodile returned the next day. And the next. And the next one after
that. Soon the two became very good friends. They discussed their lives,
their friends and family, like all friends do. The crocodile told the monkey
that he had a wife and that they lived on the other side of the river. So
the kind monkey offered him some extra rose apples to take home to his
wife. The crocodile's wife loved the rose apples and made her husband
promise to get her some every day.
Meanwhile, the friendship between the monkey and the crocodile
deepened as they spent more and more time together. The crocodile's wife
started getting jealous. She wanted to put an end to this friendship. So
she pretended that she could not believe that her husband could be
friends with a monkey. Her husband tried to convince her that he and the
monkey shared a true friendship. The crocodile's wife thought to herself
that if the monkey lived on a diet of rose monkeys, his flesh would be very
sweet. So she asked the crocodile to invite the monkey to their house.
The crocodile was not happy about this. He tried to make the excuse that
it would be difficult to get the monkey across the river. But his wife was
determined to eat the monkey's flesh. So she thought of a plan.
One day, she pretended to be very ill and told the crocodile that the
doctor said that she would only recover if she ate a monkey's heart. If her
husband wanted to save her life, he must bring her his friend's heart.
The crocodile was aghast. He was in a dilemma. On the one hand, he
loved his friend. On the other, he could not possibly let his wife die. The
crocodile's wife threatened him saying that if he did not get her the
monkey's heart, she would surely die.
So the crocodile went to the rose apple tree and invited the monkey to
come home to meet his wife. He told the monkey that he could ride across
the river on the crocodile's back. The monkey happily agreed. As they
reached the middle of the river, the crocodile began to sink. The
frightened monkey asked him why he was doing that. The crocodile
explained that he would have to kill the monkey to save his wife's life. The
clever monkey told him that he would gladly give up his heart to save the
life of the crocodile's wife, but he had left his heart behind in the rose
apple tree. He asked the crocodile to make haste and turn back so that
the monkey could go get his heart from the apple tree.
The silly crocodile quickly swam back to the rose apple tree. The monkey
scampered up the tree to safety. He told the crocodile to tell his wicked
wife that she had married the biggest fool in the world.
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