The Lost Monkey
Once there was this young monkey. He lived in the jungle, with the rest of the monkeys. And he played with all the other monkeys just like you would expect a young monkey to. He was at that age where the adult monkeys didn’t really expect much adult behavior from him, so they didn’t really mind him playing around all day. But he was still young enough so they felt as though they needed to keep watch over him to make sure he didn’t get into too much trouble. If monkeys are good at anything, it’s getting into trouble.
It’s not widely known that monkeys can be the most thrill-seeking animals there are. They have an elaborate warning system of cries and shrieks to warn the community when predators enter into their area. Some of the jungle cats in particular are very stealthy, and enjoy eating monkeys. Especially young monkeys that haven’t quite mastered the recognition of the various warning signs.
Young monkeys are so often yelled at by the older monkeys that they sometimes miss a serious warning cry, and end up being an afternoon snack for some hungry cheetah. So you can understand how monkeys at a certain age can be particularly troublesome for the adults.
Another thing that makes things difficult is that monkeys are much more communal that other animals. On the range of sexual behavior and monogamy, monkeys are fairly promiscuous. Some scientists believe it is the safest way to protect the young, or at least their best strategy. If you are an adult monkey, and you see a young monkey, you are inclined to protect it because there’s a fairly decent chance that it may be your own kid.
So having a group of young monkeys that are old enough to play around on their own, but young enough to not quite understand the warning cries are a nuisance to the adults who just want to go about their own monkey business, which in the monkey world is to find as many bananas and have sex with as many monkeys as you can.
Once that the young monkeys grow up and discover the secret of life, namely bananas and sex, they start to lose interest in playing around, and seeing how close they can get to the cheetahs without being eaten alive.
But this one afternoon, this one particular monkey had somehow separated himself from the group. He was swing around, from branch to branch, and suddenly noticed that there weren’t any other monkeys around him. He stopped, and didn’t hear any monkey chatter or monkey cries, so he became a bit nervous, inasmuch as monkeys can become nervous. Which in reality isn’t that much. They are monkeys, after all.
So this young monkey kept swinging from branch to branch when he discovered a big clearing in the jungle. It looked as if the trees had been cut down for some reason. Being naturally curious, he decided to investigate. In the middle of the clearing, was a big hole in the ground. But not just any hole, it had been dug to a specific shape. It was a perfect square, and went straight down into the ground as far as he could see. He kicked a couple rocks in, and waited to hear them drop, but he didn’t. He suddenly wanted to remember exactly where he was. His friends would really find this fascinating. He was torn between investigating further, on his own, or going back and getting his friends. He decided to climb down into the hole, just a little bit, to see what he could find.
The sides were pretty easy to hang onto, so he climbed down a few hundred meters. It took a while, but he had a sinking suspicion something really cool was going to happen. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but the further down he climbed, the more he got excited.
Finally the hole opened up into this giant cavern. Inside the cavern were all these strange looking machines and shiny pieces of things that he didn’t even recognize, let alone know what category to put them in.
He decided to go over and play on one of the machines. There were all these dials and knobs, and wheels. He started punching them and spinning them, and the machine, if that’s what it was, roared to life. It made all these strange sounds, and started rolling around, as if on its own power.
The monkey was scared and excited at the same time. He jumped of the machine, and stood back and watched the machine go to work. The machine started digging through the side of the cavern. When it dug, the monkey noticed some really shiny stuff, again that he didn’t recognize. He scooped up a handful of the shiny stuff, and climbed back up the hole. He’d have to tell his friends about his place for sure. He’d have to just be sure to remember how he got here, so he could tell his friends about this place and come back to explore.
Because he knew that what he’d found here was amazing, and he couldn’t wait to tell all his friends, so they could all come back here and play.
To be continued…
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