The Monkey Who Wouldn't Listen

It has been said that monkeys are not noted for their wisdom, and in Mungo's case at least the saying was true. He was always getting into one scrape after another and he never seemed to learn. Or listen, which was why he never learned anything except the hard way.

One day, Mungo was hungry. "Leonard" he said, to his friend, a rather fine lemur by the name of, well, Leonard. "Leonard, let us go and find some fruit."

Leonard was an easy-going lemur and he was always happy to find some juicy fruit for munching with his monkey friend. The two set off, ambling along the forest floor and looking for a sweet snack. But Mungo wasn't interested in the usual fruits. Apples, bananas, oranges, had them all before. No, he wanted something new. Something exciting. They met a parrot on the way and Mungo asked if he'd seen any new fruit, any exciting fruit, any fruit that a monkey had never eaten before in their life. The parrot looked puzzled. "But monkey," she squawked, "sure it's not wise to eat a fruit you don't know? Don't know? Squawk."

Parrots are terribly repetitive animals but Leonard thought she had a point. After all, there were juicy and sweet X hanging right in front of them. But Mungo was set. His way was the right way and so on they went.

Soon the two friends came to a new bush. The berries were bright and red. Gleaming like tiny rubies. Mungo reached for a berry - this was new and exciting! Surely he was the wisest monkey of all to have held out for this.

"Wait!" a voice squawked from above them. The parrot, circling back over the monkey and his friend had spotted them just as they were about to eat. "Wait! Those berries are terrible poisonous. Terrible poisonous! Squawk!"

"What are you wittering on about parrot?" Mungo said, crossly. "They're perfectly fine and shiny."

"My friend ate a berry just yesterday and was terrible sick. Terrible sick! Squawk."

"Silly parrot." Mungo reached for the fruit again. "Monkeys and parrots are completely different. What's poisonous to a silly creature like you would be delicious to a wise monkey like me." He ate the berry. It tasted a little funny, but Mungo wasn't ready to turn aside from his plan. Leonard frowned as Mungo reached out again.

"No!" A passing Orangutan rushed up, striking the berry from Mungo's hand. "Don't eat those! My brother ate two of those berries and for three days he was shivering in pain."

"I think you should listen to him, Mungo" said Leonard. But Mungo wouldn't listen. He ate another berry.

The Orangutan walked off in disgust as Mungo reached for a third.

"Stop!" cried the old monkey who was crossing the clearing. "Those are poisonous. My uncle ate five of those berries and he was so sick he fell out a tree and died."

Leonard had listened to the parrot and the baboon. He hadn't touched the bush, but now, scared, he backed right away. "Come on Mungo, let's go." he said. But Mungo wouldn't be moved. He reached for a fourth berry. Leonard gave up and went home. All the animals left the monkey who wouldn't listen. It was up to him what he did and if he wouldn't listen then he couldn't be helped. Mungo chewed the fourth berry slowly. It still tasted a little funny, but he wouldn't be tricked by those silly animals. It was his way, and it was right. Nobody else would... Oh. Oh. Oh dear.

The rumbling in Mungo's tummy wasn't at all nice. It wasn't at all. Oh. Oh dear. All of a sudden Mungo ran as fast as he could for a tree to hide behind. And well, those berries came right back up the way they went. Along with everything Mungo had eaten since the night before. And over the next three days poor Mungo learned exactly why he shouldn't have eaten those berries. But yet again, Mungo learned it the hard way.