literature

The Greedy Monkey

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The Greedy Monkey

By Vick Thomas

One day in the rainforest, a monkey was having a painfully difficult time trying to find a banana to eat. He climbed up and around all the trees in search of a piece of that delicious yellow sweetness, but there was none to be found. It had been a tough morning of swinging and searching that left him more hungry than he was in the first place. His tummy groaned with pain, and he started to think of another way he could get a banana. Steal one? Nah. That would be mean on his friend. Keep looking? Nope. Not anymore. He was too hungry for that.

With an angrily groaning tummy, he climbed up the tree to sit and think of a solution. As he sat, one of his friends walked past with a mouth-watering banana in hand. The monkey stared, jealous of his friend. Where did he get that banana? He was sure there were none to be found. His friend hadn't opened it yet, so the monkey considered it as good as his.

The monkey thought deeply. His hungry tummy made him cunning and desperate for something to eat. His friend was getting further away, so the monkey had to act fast. He sharply picked five leaves from the tree and made his way down to his friend, doing whatever he could to get his attention. His friend was startled by the loud thud, and on reaction realised that it was his old friend, the monkey. The monkey shown his friend the five leaves and explained that he wished to swap the five leaves for the banana. At first, his friend was confused and skeptical about whether or not to take the leaves, until the monkey explained that he had more leaves than his friend had bananas, so it really was a great deal. It all made sense now, and his friend happily swapped the banana for the leaves and they parted ways.

He was so proud of himself! Five leaves for a banana was a great deal! This banana was special - the first he had all day - so he ate it next to the waterfall with pride. He pinched the bottom of the banana, twisted the nub, peeled it, and discarded the skin before chomping down. Whilst chewing, he thought of how he could use more leaves to win more bananas. He was struggling to find any in the trees, yet it seemed so easy for his friends to get them.

After his delicious snack, he went to the nearest tree and picked off all the leaves he could and kept them in a pile in a hole beside the waterfall, so that none of his friends could get them.

The next day, he carried ten leaves with him and went on the search for his friends. Soon enough, he found one of his friends sitting up in the tree with a delicious, golden banana. The monkey swung his way up to his friend and offered him five leaves for the banana. At first, his friend was slightly confused by the offer, but was convinced on how good a deal it was after the monkey explained to him that he was to give his friend more leaves than he has bananas. Immediately, his friend happily snatched the leaves and gave the monkey the banana and they parted ways.

Success! The monkey had once again triumphed in the battle for bananas! He was now left with one banana and five leaves. He ate the other banana, throwing the peel first, and got straight on the search for his other friends to gain bananas from.

Later that day, he saw another friend who was sitting with his son, daughter, and mate in the sun where there were few trees. He was carrying only one banana, soon to give it to his hungry daughter. The monkey bombarded over and explained how he wished to give his friend five leaves in return for the banana. At first, this friend was confused by the strange offer, until the monkey explained that his friend would have more leaves than he has bananas if he participated in the offer. At the thought of this, he swapped the banana for the leaves and shared them with his family, leaving him with no more bananas until he found another. The monkey made his way back to the waterfall to collect more leaves and planned on going out again on the search for more friends to get bananas from.

As days passed, the monkey continued to use his leaves to get bananas, and ate them without the effort of going to find them in the trees. He started to get more and more leaves, and was averaging out on approximately six bananas a day! All in return for exactly five leaves.

Eventually, six bananas would not fill his growing stomach, and he could not get more than that at the rate he was going on his own. So, he tracked down two of his closest friends, and explained to them his strategy for getting bananas. They were somewhat estranged by the concept, but thought it was good because it worked. Then, the monkey offered his close friends some of his leaves in return for their help at getting bananas from his friends. They were then confused about the value of the leaves compared to the bananas, until the monkey explained to them both that they would own more leaves then they currently have, and all they had to do was swap leaves for bananas. After this, they agreed to help out the monkey. For every banana they managed to get, the monkey would give them a leaf each.

They stuck to this system for many more days. The monkey gained a heap of bananas - more than he could eat by himself - and his friends were left with a pile of leaves that they didn't know what to do with. With this, he explained to the other monkeys that, if they wished, they could get bananas from him by giving him nine leaves for two bananas. At first, the other monkeys were confused, until the monkey explained to them that they would be left with two bananas instead of one - that's more bananas than they had in the first place! The other monkeys were more than happy to part ways with their extra leaves in return for two bananas.

Over a few more days, the monkey realised that he was left with even more leaves. Since he was now in a more powerful position, he asked more of his close friends to travel far and wide to get bananas from the other monkeys. For those monkeys, he swapped a banana for a total of four leaves each, and gave them two bananas in return for nine leaves. All of the monkeys were happy to participate.

Many more days past, and the monkey had grown fat and lethargic from stuffing up on bananas. He tried to climb another tree and pick more leaves - since the other trees were picked bare - but the tree collapsed from his weight dragging it down to the ground. He sat in the ditch and thought about what he could do. Soon enough, a few of his close friends returned to him, and he was happy at the thought of bananas they would bring.

Unfortunately, they explained to the monkey that they were unable to get any bananas because the other monkeys were struggling to find any. Not only this, but they were also growing hungry as they didn't have enough leaves to swap for bananas. What a dilemma this was; the monkey was too fat to get leaves, and the other monkeys were too leafless to get bananas. It seemed like it was about time he give it all up and start searching for bananas himself. However, he was greedy, fat, and cunning, and explained to his close friends the solution.

The monkey told them he would ask two more monkeys to climb the trees and pick the leaves from them, and the monkey would give them a leaf each out of every five they picked, leaving three for himself. At first, the new monkeys were unsure about this, until the monkey explained that they would actually be left with more leaves than they have now if they done this for him. Soon enough, they were pleased to be a part of the ordeal.

The monkey had another idea. From this moment the monkey would sit beside the water and manage the leaves and bananas, instead of doing the trade. After all, somebody needed to run the scheme. He felt as though the stash needed a close eye kept on them at all times.

Even more, the monkey decided that he would now give his friends in the immediate area six leaves for their bananas, and would give them two bananas for an amount of eleven leaves. On top of this, he offered to give more of his close friends some more leaves in order for them to travel even further to get bananas. He would give these unknowing monkeys three leaves for each banana they gave him.

The monkey was now enjoying a pleasurable life. He had all the bananas and all the leaves he could ask for, without having to do any work. And of course, all of the other monkeys were pleased because they could also get some of the bananas and leaves in order to survive.

However, the next day, the monkey's close friends delivered the sad news that some of the monkeys were growing thin from lack of bananas, and they didn't have enough leaves to get more from him. At this point, the monkey was tired from sitting next to the waterfall eating bananas, and explained to his close friends that if the monkeys wanted more leaves, they would have to find more bananas for them. He didn't feel as though he was to blame for the fact that they were low on leaves and bananas. With that, he continued to rest next to the waterfall and eat more and more bananas, whilst getting more and more fat.

The next day, some of the monkey's other close friends disturbed him and explained how it was getting more difficult to find leaves as the trees were starting to die out. The monkey was getting irritated as he was finding it difficult to relax with his leaves and bananas because his close friends kept on disturbing him with bad news. Quickly, he explained to them that they should give every monkey one less leaf for each banana they gave him. The monkeys thought this was a good solution. It made a lot of sense to give their friends less leaves for the bananas considering they were running out of leaves. So, they parted ways and continued to pick leaves and swap bananas.

Another day passed, and the monkey was getting furious with the disruptions. His close friends nervously approached him to explain that, because the trees were dying from lack of leaves, there were less bananas to be picked. Most of the monkeys in the rainforest were without leaves and bananas for themselves, and some monkeys had been found dead from starvation. The monkey rampaged and claimed that he can't be to blame for the fact that the monkeys weren't pulling their weight and finding enough bananas. He dismissed his close friends, and they desperately tried to find more leaves to bargain with.

A few more days had passed, and the monkey was feeling rather ill. He had completely lost the ability to move, and could see the horizon as there were no more trees to obscure the landscape. Far away, he could see all of his close friends running over to him, probably with more bad news, he thought. He was too fat to feel angry with them at the moment.

Soon enough, all of his close friends gathered around. Each of them explained to the monkey that there were no more trees in the forest as they were stripped of their leaves and could no longer survive. Because of this, there were no more bananas left either. A lot of the monkeys had died out, and the rest were dying of malnutrition. Not only this, but all of the other animals were ill or dying because there were no more trees to be found. His close friends had hoped the monkey would share some of his remaining bananas, but the monkey dictated that he had rightfully gained those bananas, and would keep them for himself to eat.

They were quick to react, and angrily stated that it was not fair that he would not share his bananas. They said it was his fault that the rainforest was dead, and there were no more monkeys, bananas, or leaves left for this scheme to continue, therefore he should be kind and share what he had left. The greedy monkey would not do this, as he loved bananas far too much. Instead, he explained to the monkeys that he was to die soon, and that he didn't need to care about their welfare of his friends since he would be gone from the wasteland soon enough. This only aggravated the monkeys even more, and they demanded a reason why he allowed such a catastrophe to occur.

The monkey simply explained that he was just living his life to the full. He had lead a happy life of doing nothing but enjoying his favourite food, all while everyone else had to deal with the stress. Soon after, the fat monkey died, leaving nothing behind but a few banana peels and rotten leaves.

Eventually, the remaining monkeys turned on each other in a bloodthirsty fight for survival. An animal that was naturally suited to eat the natural fruits of the trees became frustrated from hunger. The only food left to eat was each other, instead of eating the delicious golden fruit that the trees offered. In the end, there was only one cannibalised monkey left in the wasteland, and he was left with no bananas, leaves, or friendly monkeys. He thought of the times before the leaves, and remembered how simple it was. Yet, in the end, it was he that participated in the scheme, rather than just refuse to take part and just look after himself and loved ones. For that, he was just as much to blame as the greedy monkey, and all the others who participated in the catastrophe.




 
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