The Monkey and the Crocodile

Classical Stories · No. 55 — My heart? I left it back in the fig tree.

• Classical Stories
• 41 min
• Ages 8–13
• 6 chapters

About this audiobook

A clever monkey lives in a fig tree on the riverbank and befriends a crocodile who comes to rest in its shade; each day the monkey shares the sweet figs, and the crocodile carries some home to his wife. But the wife, tasting fruit so sweet, decides the monkey's own heart must be sweeter still, and nags her husband to bring it. Torn but obedient, the crocodile offers the trusting monkey a ride across the river to a grove of even finer fruit — and halfway across, unable to keep the secret, blurts out that he means to take the monkey's heart. The monkey, treading water on a crocodile's back, must think faster than he ever has.

Why it's worth a listen

A monkey and a crocodile become the unlikeliest of friends over shared river-fruit — until the crocodile's wife demands the one thing she's sure will taste sweetest: the monkey's heart. Halfway across the river, the crocodile confesses his plan, and the monkey must talk his way off a crocodile's back with the best excuse in fable history. From the ancient Jataka tales.

A question to keep

When someone you trusted betrays you, can quick thinking still save you?

Based on the book by A tale from India, published by Emma's Library original retelling

Chapters

1. The Tree Above the Silver River
2. Sweet Fruits and Sweet Words
3. The Secret in the Deep Mud
4. The Invitation to the Island
5. The Middle of the Deep Water
6. A Question to Keep