A long winding river found its way through a beautiful piece of forest with trees. Everywhere islets with lush vegetation. Two crocodiles lived there, a mother and her son. "I'm hungry, really hungry," Mother Crocodile said. "Have an appetite for heart, for monkey heart." 'Yes, monkey heart. I really want that now too.' 'A nice dinner with fresh monkey hearts. That would be nice! But I don't see any monkeys' Mother Crocodile said again.
Boink! A coconut fell from a nearby tree. A monkey climbed that tree! 'Mother' whispered the son, 'I see a monkey in that tree. "A nice monkey in that tree over there with a lovely heart." "But how shall we catch it?" "I have an idea."
'Mister Monkey! Mr. Monkey!' cried the crocodile son from the river. 'Hello, Mr. Crocodile. What are you doing here?' asked the monkey who climbed higher up the tree. 'I'm just swimming around. We crocodiles like to swim. Yesterday I came to that island in the middle of the stream and, you know, there are the largest, ripest and sweetest bananas in the country. Nice big yellow bananas. We crocodiles don't eat bananas. Do you monkeys like bananas?'
'Oh, I like bananas. I prefer that one. But how do I get to that island? I can not swim.' 'That's no problem. Come sit on my back and I'll take you there. I have nothing to do today, I'm just swimming around. Let's go to that banana island.'
'That's very kind of you. I like going there.' The monkey climbed down and jumped on the crocodile's back. "Hold on tight," said the crocodile. He slowly swam towards that island. "I like this," said the monkey.
The crocodile gets a nice appetite…
But the crocodile suddenly dived under water. The monkey held on well but could no longer breathe and could not swim. Then the crocodile resurfaced with a coughing and gasping monkey on its back.
'Mr Crocodile, why did you go into hiding? I can't swim, can I?' 'Because, Mr. Monkey, I'm going to eat your delicious heart. Monkey hearts are our favorite food. They are delicious!' 'Do you want to eat my heart? If only I had said it. My heart is still in the coconut tree.'
"Don't you have your heart with you then?" 'No, because I don't want it to get wet. My heart is safe there. If you want my heart take me back to shore and I'll get it for you.' So the crocodile swam back to shore. The monkey jumped off him and climbed the tree. “Aha, yes, my heart is here. Exactly where I left it. Come on up, Mr. Crocodile, my delicious monkey heart is here for you. Climb up.'
"Mr. Monkey, you know crocodiles can't climb, right?" 'Oh yes, forgot! But I will solve that problem. I'll tie a rope around your front legs and we'll hoist you up together.' 'Fine! Yes, that's fine.'
The monkey jumped down and tied a rope around the crocodile's front legs. "Are you ready, Mr. Crocodile?" 'Yes. Let's go. I'm hungry for a monkey heart.' Together with all his monkey friends, they pulled and tugged on the rope until the crocodile dangled halfway up the tree. 'Onward, monkeys, even further. I can't reach the heart like that. Pull me up!'
But the monkeys did nothing and sat on a branch laughing at the crocodile. 'No, Mr Crocodile, we're not pulling you up any further. Just hang in there.' The crocodile looked up and saw the top of the tree. And when he looked down he saw the ground and monkeys laughing at him.
'I want to go down! Let me down now!' "We'll only let you down if you promise not to eat any more hearts from us." "But I love to eat monkey hearts!" 'OK. No problem. You just stay here floating on that rope. Weeks, months, we don't care.'
'No, no, wait a minute, please. Well, then I promise never to eat monkey hearts again.' "Down with it!" And the monkeys suddenly let go of the rope. The crocodile fell to the bottom with a thump. He dove into the water and swam as fast as he could to his mother. "Where are the hearts?" she asked. “Mother, I don't like monkey hearts. Just do mouse tails or frog legs….'
Source: Lao Folktales (1995). Translation and editing Erik Kuijpers.
I like stories like this, Erik. They are very similar to European fables with a moral message as well.
What Tina says. I also had to think of the Thai stories I read. For example “the lion and the mouse” or “the woodcutter and the forest fairy”. A translation :
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The forest fairy and the woodcutter
(literally: เทพารักษ์, Thee-phaa-rák, a guardian spirit)
Once upon a time there was a woodcutter who went into the forest to chop wood for sale. As he bent to cut down a tree at the edge of a deep current, the ax slipped from his hand and fell into the water. So he dived into the water and searched for the ax for a long time. But try as he searched, he could not find his axe. There he sat sadly under a tree, "I don't know what to do next"
The forest fairy, the ruler of the forest, appeared and asked the old man, “What is the reason that you are sitting so sad by the water?” The old man said, “I dropped my only ax into the water. No matter how I search, I can't find it. And without an axe, I cannot chop wood to sell and thus provide for my own living.” The forest fairy told him, “don't worry, I will find that ax for you.” She then dove into the water and emerged with a golden axe, “is this your axe?” she asked.
The woodcutter saw that it was not his ax and said “no”. Then the forest fairy dived into the water again and picked up a silver ax, "This is it, isn't it?". The woodcutter said, "No." The forest fairy then emerged with the iron axe. The woodcutter recognized his ax and said, "That's my axe!" The forest fairy saw that the man was telling the truth and therefore said, "You are honest and of integrity, that is why I also give you the golden and the silver ax". And with those words the forest fairy disappeared back into the forest.
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Source: Thai and English text op http://www.sealang.net/lab/justread –> The fairy and the woodcutter