The Monkey and the Crocodile

On the bank of a wide river grew a jamun tree, heavy with sweet fruit, and in its branches lived a monkey who wanted for nothing. Each day he ate his fill and tossed the ripest fruits down into the water below, simply for the pleasure of watching them plop and drift away.

One day, a crocodile resting near the bank caught one of the falling fruits and ate it. It was the sweetest thing he had ever tasted. He came back the next day, and the next, until the monkey noticed him and called out a greeting. The two became fast friends, and every afternoon the crocodile would come to the tree to talk and share the jamun fruit the monkey dropped down to him.

The crocodile began bringing fruit home to his wife, who loved it even more than he did. "Whoever eats fruit this sweet every day," she said one evening, turning the idea over in her mind, "must surely have the sweetest heart in the whole forest. I would like to eat his heart."

The crocodile was horrified and refused, but his wife would not let the matter rest. She wept and sulked and stopped eating, until at last, torn between his wife and his friend, the crocodile gave in.

The next day, he invited the monkey to visit his home across the river, promising to carry him on his back through the water. The monkey happily agreed and climbed on. But halfway across the river, the crocodile began to sink lower, and the truth came pouring out of him — his wife wanted the monkey's heart, and he saw no way to refuse her.

The monkey's own heart pounded, but he did not panic. "My dear friend," he said smoothly, "why didn't you say so before we left the tree? Monkeys never carry their hearts inside them while climbing — we leave them hanging safely in our home tree, in a little pouch, so they're never damaged by a fall. Turn back, and I'll fetch it for you myself."

The crocodile, relieved to have a solution at last, swam straight back to the jamun tree. The moment they reached the bank, the monkey sprang from his back and scrambled up into the branches, safe.

"You may tell your wife," the monkey called down, no longer smiling, "that my heart stays exactly where it belongs — and that a true friend does not need to ask for it."