Week 11 Story: The Patient Monkey
The monkey and the buffalo both lived in the same forest. The buffalo was much larger than the monkey. Despite the size difference, the buffalo still went out of his way every day to harass the monkey. The buffalo often trampled the monkey and rammed him with his horns, but the monkey did nothing to try to stop it. One day, a cow asked the monkey, "Why do you let the buffalo bully you? You have a family of hundreds of monkeys that could help you put an end to the buffalo's torture." The monkey replied, "I don't see a need to make someone else suffer just so that I can be happy." The cow then asked, "Why don't you just escape the buffalo then?" The monkey responded, "This is my home. I cannot just leave my family." The cow replied, "If you were the one bullying the buffalo, it would be more acceptable because you can't really do the buffalo any harm on your own. Since it is the giant buffalo that is targeting you, your life is at risk because the buffalo could easily kill you! How is it fair for you to not fight back?" The monkey replied, "This is probably just a karmic debt I need to repay." The cow then asked, "What if the buffalo was also torturing another monkey? Would you let him bully the monkey or would you stop him? Either way you would be inflicting suffering upon someone." The monkey replied, "Well, considering the author of this story isn't the Buddha, she probably doesn't have the correct answer, so I would rather her not try to answer this question as if she has the wisdom of Buddha." The cow accepted this answer as the cow and the monkey looked over the hill to see the buffalo running up to come harass the monkey.
Story Source: Story Source: Twenty Jataka Tales by Door Inayat (1939)
Author's note: In the original story, "The Patient Buffalo", the monkey was bullying the buffalo. The buffalo could have easily shaken off the monkey and been done with it, but he didn't want to cause the monkey to suffer for his own happiness. In this story, the cow is asking the questions and poses some scenarios that are more complicated than in the original story.
Hello Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI laughed when you included some fourth wall humor into the story. I think the story would be a little easier to follow if you split the dialect into paragraphs. I also like how you flipped the bullying of the story. The change in animal made me think of Karma and how this could be because in the past he was the animal that tormented the bull. Maybe you can do something like its an on going cycle. Overall, I really like your twist and enjoyed the story
Hi Sarah!
ReplyDeleteI like how you turned the rolls around for the monkey and the buffalo from the original story. It gives you more to think about if the bigger creature is the bully. I also thought it was funny that you included in there that the author of the story didn’t have the answers to the complicated questions that the cow was asking. Good job with this story!
Hi Sarah!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your story. I like how you turned the roles around in this story. I also appreciate that in the Author's note you explain the plot for those of us who haven't read the story (since there's so many options for these next few weeks). I really appreciated it since I haven't read this story. I think the story was well-written, I don't really have any suggestions for you, other than you could always add more description to make us visualize the story in our minds. Fantastic job!