“The Fox and the Monkey”『狐狸和猴子』

By Tien-Lun Kung; Translated by Evelyn Lee

~^.^~~☆~^.^~~☆~^.^~~☆★★ ~^.^~~☆ ☆~^.^~

Once there was a small island situated in the middle of a river. On the island there was a peach tree full of delicious peaches. The fox was drooling over the peaches but could not cross the river and the monkey was also drooling over the peaches and had no way of reaching the fruit either. The fox and the monkey had a meeting discussing how they could build a bridge over the river, so they could pick the peaches and divided into two parts for equal shares.

The fox and the monkey worked very hard to carry a big log long enough to reach the island from the river shore. They built a narrow bridge wide enough only for one passenger at a time. The fox said to the monkey, “Let me go over there first, then you come after me.”

The fox went over the bridge to the small island with the intention to eat all the peaches by himself. He pushed the wooden bridge away from the island and into the river. After this thoughtless act, the fox laughed and said, “Mr. Monkey, please go home, I don’t think you are lucky enough to taste the delicious peaches!”

The monkey was choked with anger and he laughed to scorn and said’ “Ha Ha! Though you can eat all the peaches by yourself, you are unable to come back here ever!”

The fox was full of anxiety, after he heard this he had no other way but to plead with the monkey, “Dear brother monkey, we were good friends before, please help me to think of a way to get out of here!” Without one word of reply, the monkey walked away.

The simple story taught us a lesson that selfish people often think they are the smartest people and they can get more benefit than anyone else. They never realize that the end result of selfishness is hurting themselves. The famous saying, ‘”To hurt others you hurt yourselves.” In a society if everyone become more selfish by the day, then the bridge of “Trust and respect” between different people would be destroyed and ruined. Finally, everyone become very lonely and had nowhere to go. We destroy ourselves in the trap of selfishness.