 |
| © Amar Chitra Katha |
Do you know why the monkey is laughing at the crocodile? The monkey is telling the hungry croc that he has left his heart behind, on the tree he lives in, and that if the croc wants to give it to his wife, for her midday meal, then he will have to take him back to fetch it. The dumb croc falls for the ploy, turns around, and heads for the mainland. No sooner the croc touches land, the monkey leaps out, climbs the nearest tree, and swinging around, mocks the croc: "You fool, if I had left my heart behind would I be alive and sitting on your back?" The croc, feeling like an idiot, goes back to Mrs Croc, empty handed but wiser.
This comic strip is part of a popular story in Jataka Tales Monkey Stories published by Amar Chitra Katha (Immortal Picture Stories) from Bombay, India. ACK is one of the oldest comic-books on the subcontinent.
Kind of a frog and scorpion story. The moral is, never trust a primate
ReplyDeleteCharles, the Jataka Tales are popular fables from early Buddhist literature with a moral compass, much like Aesop's Fables with a "moral of the story" in the end.
ReplyDelete