Thursday, April 2, 2009

Grandfathers' Tales (Tails)

I was told this story recently. It’s quite interesting and all of us have a moral to draw. This is the story of the cap seller and the monkeys, and here it goes ….

Once a cap seller was walking along the forest and decided to rest under a tree after lunch. He placed his caps near his head and went into deep slumber. When he woke up, he noticed that his caps were missing and was quite upset. He soon realized that some monkeys had played a trick on him and found the monkeys wearing the caps and sitting atop a tree. He thought of a plan to retrieve his caps and enacted the same. He showed his fist to the monkeys and they repeated the act after him. He clapped and they all clapped back. Finally, he took out his cap and threw it on the ground, and the monkeys followed suit. Happily, he collected all the caps, mocked at them and went away.

Some years later, another cap seller happened to pass by the forest, and done by the heat, decided to take rest under a tree. Like his cap seller grandfather in the earlier incident, he too fell into deep slumber, and after sometime realized that all his caps had been taken away by the monkeys. The grandson soon recollected the experience shared by his grandfather, and decided to play the trick on the monkeys. The grandson showed his fist and the monkeys repeated it. He clapped and they all clapped after him. Finally, he took out his cap and threw it on the ground. The leader of the monkeys jumped down and slapped him hard on the face and said ‘Do you think we are nuts? Do you think, only you have a grandfather who shared his experience?’.

26 comments:

Amit said...

Experience teaches u everything in life...good one...a nice fable :)

naperville mom said...

had fun:) and I thought only we share stories with our grandfathers...:)

Debra Lynn Shelton said...

Good one! I remember reading that story as a child. But the moral to your version of the story is great. It's kind of like George Bush, our wise EX! president said, "Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice and, um, we won't get fooled again." What a genius.

(BTW: I mention LEC in my latest article. You can click on it directly from my blog.)

Sucharita Sarkar said...

LOL. Had heard the first part, but the twist-in-the-tale was a new thing for me.

Sylvia K said...

I love it! What a great fable! Like naperville mom, I thought only we shared stories with grandparents! Learn something every day.

Eskimo Bob said...

I loved that story when I was a kid - and I love the new spin on it now. What insight did you get from it?

Mine would be - carry the hats in a monkey proof bag. Or have monkey paws made into a necklace to discourage any monkey from stealing.

Ugich Konitari said...

Wonderful story. Greatly enjoyed.

Dont know about other monkeys, but we've been having an onslaught of monkeys in our building area, and nothing you carry in your bag is safe if you are travelling in the area. They smell, they plan, they sneak up and grab stuff and disappear with the stuff, baring their teeth at us in a diablical grin...

After caps, one doesnt know what will be targetted next ....

Saritha said...

Lol i liked the twist.
There is one rhyme in hindi ak kava payasa thaa.In that the crow puts stones in the pot so that the water comes up and it will drink it.Now when i told this to my daughter she said why didnt the crow put a hole to the pot to drink the water.I think level of intellegence increases by generations.
Enjoyed reading it......

hitchwriter said...

Although I have heard this... still I laughed on reading it !!!

thanks for rekindling a few memories !

Sriram said...

This post took me back to my school days. I first heard this story from my English teacher.

Great post. Thank you for sharing with us.

June Saville said...

My father used to say 'You can't put old heads on young shoulders'. Your story reminded me ...June in Oz

Kavi said...

Ah the monkeys and the caps.

corporate metaphors include the proverbial 'monkey on your back' to 'what hat are you wearing'!!

I guess the monkeys and headgear are pretty much mainstream !!

Thanks for sharing sir !

Anuradha Rawat said...

thats a nice one...
i sure am going to share it with my grandchildren someday... :)

nsiyer said...

Hi Hopeless Romantic. Better to learn from others' experiences sometimes.

Naperville mom, that was a nice comment.

Debra. I read yours and will post my comment. Thanks.

Hi Sucharita, its always the twist that is interesting.

Grandparents can be great story tellers, Sylvia.

nsiyer said...

Eskimo Bob, your sense of humour is just fantastic. I have always enjoyed your way of putting things.

Hello Ugich Konitari. Monkeys can be devastating. I remember when in the south, one needs to guard the prasadams that one receives from the priests. A little carelessness and all your belongings disappear.

Yes, Varunavi. Chid is the father of man.

nsiyer said...

Hello Hitchwriter. You need to sahre some more stories. Thanks.

Hi Sriram, thanks for sharing your comments.

Thanks June, that's well said.


Thanks Kavi. Yeah! monkey one someone else's back. Will look funny see the monkey ride.

nsiyer said...

Thanks, Anuradha. I am sure knowing you, your grandchildren will have a lot to hear.

Giri Vasan Guinness said...

I understood the moral of the story - "Dont ape. Even apes dont"

nsiyer said...

Thanks Giri for sharing your moral.

Sharmistha Guha said...

Oh what a funny epilogue to the monkey tale!!!
Many years back I had quite a close brush with a monkey.
One sunday, I woke up to find a monkey sitting on my dressing table barely 3 ft from where I lay. I screamed in horror, and the monkey, in typical monkeyish style, bared its teeth, as if giving me a cheeky grin, picked up a cream container, jumped onto the window, threw the cream-box and jumped out!!! I almost had a heart attack!!!

nsiyer said...

Thanks SGD, your experience is similar to my wife's. She saw the fellow sitting on our dining table and eating bananas. She too screamed when the monkey took to its heels.

Greener Bangalore said...

hahaha heard this b4.....but still its hilarious everytime...thx for reminding it sir.....

priya said...

Lovely reminder of an oft heard story during kiddie days... the twist to the tale made even more interesting reading, Sir.

I'd read that before somewhere... but reading it in your post felt refreshing.

Do try and churn out more of such long lost lores that'll bring on a smile for sure.

Unknown said...

This is hilarious...very funny!!

Aditi Mehta said...

Hehe.. a nice one.. This is what experience teaches everyone..

Pradnya Raje said...

Too good Sir