The Monkey and the Elephant

After a heavy lunch, a little monkey took a nap between the branches on the top of a tall tree.

 

Suddenly, he was awakened¹ by a kind of desperate cry for help. Opening up his eyes, the monkey found a stout² mantis³ tightly holding a delicate branch with his saw-like forelimbs.

 

The insect was crying for help, as a black bird at a not too far distance was preparing to attack him. Without hesitation⁴, the monkey jumped over and frightened away the bird.

 

"Thank you very much for saving my life, Mr. Monkey," the mantis said, "When I discovered I was followed by a bird, I realized that if I moved, the bird would attack me immediately. If I stayed there without moving, the bird would attack me immediately. If you had not come in time, I would have already been murdered. I deeply appreciate your big favor and don't know how to pay you back."

 

"It is my pleasure," the monkey replied pleasantly, then jumped to another tree to look for fun. "Saving a small creature's life is wonderful. I'll keep doing things like that as much as possible," The monkey said to himself elatedly as he was leaping through the abundant leaves and branches. When the monkey rested at a coarse branch, he suddenly heard another cry, and it was more than one cry.

 

Following the direction of crying, the monkey quickly found four small birds crying in a nest. They cried because they were desperately⁵ hungry. "I think I'll die if Mom does not bring food home soon," one baby bird cried to the other ones and the other three ones responded with the same crying.

 

At this moment, the mother bird flew back. Amid cheers, the large black bird comforted her babies, "Sorry, my dear children, I did not bring you any food this trip. A little while ago, I was almost sure to catch a stout mantis." If a naughty monkey had not interfered⁶, that mantis would have made a good meal for my kids. Anyway, I'll keep looking for food for you."

 

The mother bird hastily kissed each of her children and flew away on her mission again, leaving those hungry little ones powerlessly crying.

 

Having quietly overheard the birds' conversation, the monkey was upset. He was totally confused. He stopped a mother to bring food to feed her hungry children. Was he wrong or right? Since he could not get the right answer, he jumped down on the ground. He went to consult with the most knowledgeable⁷ elephant.

 

"You didn't don't do anything wrong." The authoritative⁸ elephant replied the money. "In the world, nobody can take care of everyone."

 

The elephant is right. Any good thing still has an opposite side effect. A Chinese philosopher said, "As long as we have done what we should, we can not expect approval from everyone."

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