The Monkey Dance
The Musical Monkey is caught in this story. Do you think he will end up on the dinner table? Or will he have yet another trick up his sleeve? Well, he hasn't got a sleeve, but if he did, he might have a trick up it.
An amusing and lively story for younger listeners.
The Monkey Dance
Dedicated to Kylie and Draven who support Storynory on Patreon.
Hello,
This is Jana,
And I’m here with another story about the musical Monkey. If you’ve heard our other monkey stories, you’ll know that he plays his guitar, and plays lots of tricks too! These stories come from Brazil, and they are probably most suited to our younger listeners. In this tale, the monkey almost ends up on the dinner table - listen on to find out what happens.
Once upon a time, ages and ages ago, people ate fruits and nuts. Then there came a time when the fruits and nuts became scarce. So people had to try meat. Then they began catching the various beasts to see which ones were the best to eat. They soon found that some tasted yummy, and others not so nice.
The ox was very good to eat, and so were the sheep and the armadillo.
Then one day, a man thought that he would try to taste the monkey.
The monkey was playing his guitar. “Lee, lee, lee, lee, lee lay, lee lay, lee ray, lee ray.” The man came close to him and said, "Come here, little monkey, and let me hear your music. I enjoy it very much." All the time, the man was coming closer and closer to the monkey. Finally, just as he was about to stretch out his hand and seize the monkey, the monkey gave a sudden leap and swung away into the treetop.
After that, every time the man heard the monkey playing the guitar, he would come close and try to catch him. Finally, the monkey grew so afraid of the man that he gave up playing his guitar altogether. For a long, long time, he did not play it. But one day, he woke up and thought, "Is life worth living without music? I need to practice my guitar, or I will forget how to play!"
He hid in a hole in the ground where he played his guitar. He did not think that the man would hear him, but the man had very sharp ears and heard the guitar strumming. "Hmmm," he thought, "Delicious music!"
As the monkey had finished his music practice, he started to come out of his hiding place. But oh! He saw the man! Quickly, he crawled back—so far back that the man could not reach him. And there, he lingered in the dark, waiting a long time for the man to go away. The hours passed by, the sun rose high in the sky, and the man became hot.
"Come on, Monkey, I haven't got all day," he complained.
But the monkey stayed put.
At last, the man left to find a drink and the monkey took his chance to escape from the hole. So the man did not catch him - this time.
After that, the man tried harder than ever to catch the monkey. One day, as luck would have it, he found the monkey napping. So he shut him up in a box and carried him to his house. At home, he told his children that they would try something delicious and different for supper.
The man put a big pot of water over the fire, ready to cook the monkey. Then he went away to collect more fuel. The monkey, trapped inside the box, began to strum his guitar and sing:
"Lee, lee, lee, lee, lee lay, lee lay, lee ray, lee ray."
The children soon came crowding around the box. The monkey heard their excited chatter and called out:
"Oh children, don't you wish that you could see the monkey dance?"
The children replied that they wished they could.
"This box is so small that there is not enough room for me to dance here," said the monkey. "Do let me out, and I'll show you how well I can dance."
So the children opened the box and let the monkey out into the kitchen. He played on his guitar, "Lee, lee, lee, lee, lee lay, lee lay, lee ray, lee ray," and he danced about the room. Then he said, "Why Children, you have nothing at all to cook in that pot over there. Let’s put something into the pot to cook."
The children thought it best not to mention what the pot of water was actually waiting for, so they let the monkey fill the pot as he liked. He put into it some little dry sticks and an empty coconut shell. Then he said, "Oh children, I can’t dance anymore. It's too hot for me in this room."
The children begged him to dance some more.
"If you open the door a little bit so I can have more air to breathe, I'll show you a new dance," said the monkey.
The children opened the door. At that, the monkey danced and pranced over to the door and sped out of the house away to the treetop. That was the last they ever saw of him. He moved to another part of the country after that experience.
When the man came home with fuel for the fire, the children did not dare to tell him that the monkey had escaped. Instead, they let him think that the sticks and the coconut shell in the pot were the monkey. He built a big roaring fire under the pot, and soon it was boiling merrily. After the pot had boiled a while, he called the children to come to supper with him. The children let him taste first. He fished a hard stick out of the pot and bit into it. "This monkey's leg is dry as an old stick," he said as he made a wry face. Then he fished the empty coconut shell out of the pot. "Not much meat in this," he complained. "Sorry, kids. Boiled monkey is not worth the bother. We won't be having monkey meat again for supper.”
And that was the story of the Monkey Dance, read by me, Jana, for storynory.com
And I’m delighted to dedicate this story to Kylie and Draven in Houston, Texas. Their Dad, Chris tells us that they listen every night, and must have heard our story, the Golden Fish, a hundred times. Kylie who is in Kindergarten is starting to read out some of the words herself. Well done Kylie! The family supports us on Patreon and we are very grateful. Thank you!
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For now from me, Jana, at Storyory.com, Goodbye