Week 2 Story: The Crocodile and the Proud Primate

The Crocodile and the Proud Primate

A Retelling of The Crocodile and Monkey Jatakas

            Long ago, in a time before Man, animals ruled the jungle lands. It was a peaceful and prosperous era in which all creatures ate only plants for food. Even the mightiest of beasts, the great Lion, feasted only on fruits and nuts. But because all animals cannot reach the high branches of the fig tree, Monkey was tasked with retrieving foods for everyone to eat. With his light frame and long fingers, Monkey was able to pluck all kinds of fruits from the forest, and all of the animals were very grateful to him.

Unfortunately, with such notoriety, Monkey grew to be quite vain.

One day, he overheard a conversation between Rabbit and Owl.

“Say, Owl!” Rabbit cried, “You see all from your travels about. Who is the handsomest creature of the forest?”

Owl thought a long time before responding; “From what I can see, all of the animals in the kingdom are handsome, but surely the handsomest of all is the Crocodile, for his smile is the most wide.”

Jealous, Monkey began to swing rapidly through the forest.

“Am I not the handsomest?” he thought. “ Do I not give all creatures food to eat? Surely they can see how handsome I am. How ungrateful! Crocodile does not deserve any recognition. He merely lays about in the river all day.”

Caught up in his thoughts, Monkey misstepped and fell from a tall branch onto the forest floor, landing in the rotting remains of a nearby fruit tree. Sitting up, Monkey was struck with an idea.

“I know how I’ll get back at Crocodile! He can’t smile if he’s sick from bad fruit!” With that, Monkey returned home and waited for the next morning, when he would again share food with the rest of the animal kingdom.

Two days later, upon swinging by the river, Monkey heard his name being called. It was Crocodile!

“Please” he said, “my wife is very sick, and only you can help.” Crocodile knew of Monkey’s experience with all of the plants of the forest, and was desperate for Monkey to pluck a fruit from the Healing Tree. This Tree was sacred, and only Monkey dared climb its branches. All of the animals knew the fruits were precious to him, and called them Healing Hearts because of their shape and medicinal qualities.

“Please.” begged Crocodile, “My wife is dying and I can’t reach the branches.” Still jealous, Monkey fetched one of the fruits and returned to brag, swinging gleefully over the river on vines, flaunting his superiority.

“Look Crocodile! Am I not more strong, more swift, and more handsome?” With this he tossed the fruit from hand to hand and continued to taunt agonized Crocodile. Desperate, Crocodile stretched his nose up as high as he could, reaching and reaching for the Healing Heart. His nose grew very long, but still he could not reach. Still gloating but growing wary of Crocodile’s snout, Monkey, ever envious, opened his mouth and swallowed the fruit in one bite.

Enraged, Crocodile replied “If I can’t have a Healing Heart, I can at least have YOURS.” And with that he leapt from the water and swallowed Monkey in one gulp. And thus the peace of the forest was broken as news of Crocodile’s act spread to the other sharp-toothed animals, who, without Monkey, began to resort to eating other creatures to sate their hunger. So it was that the carnivores began to eat meat and the Crocodile’s snout grew long. And the Monkey, for his envy, vanity, and pride, obtained only an early end.

Author's Note: The two Jatakas with the similar Crocodile/Monkey dynamics stuck out to me among the many stories, as did the prompt "tell the story from the villain's point of view". Specifically I remembered the Crocodile's wife saying (rather melodramatically) that she would die if she did not get Monkey's heart. In hopes of expanding and explaining her ailment, I definitely made a few tweaks, including that of the Healing tree and food-gathering role of Monkey. I also did my best to embrace the Native American approach of integrating the origins of signature animal features and mannerisms throughout. Hopefully it's as fun to read as it was to write!

Image Info: Saltwater Crocodile in India
Source: https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Saltwater_crocodile.html

Bibliography:

The Crocodile and the Monkey's Heart

• Chalmers, Robert. Vanarinda Jataka, in The Jataka: Volume 1. http://thejatakas.blogspot.com/2017/08/0164-monkey-and-rock-in-river.html 

The Crocodile in the River

• Shedlock, Marie L. Eastern Stories and Legends. http://thejatakas.blogspot.com/2017/08/0100-monkey-and-crocodile.html