1.  The Monkeys and the Watermelon

            One day the King of Monkeys found a watermelon from a farm and carried it to his home in the jungle.  He had never eaten a watermelon before, so he had no idea which part of the fruit he should eat.  He could easily find out the answer by asking the other monkeys.  But he did not do so.  He was afraid to ask questions.  He thought his monkeys would laugh at him and say how ignorant he was.  

            As he was sitting in the house with the watermelon, an idea came to him.  At once he summoned a dozen of his monkeys to come before him.

            When the dozen monkeys had gathered before him, the King said, “I’ve found a watermelon.  I cannot eat all of it.  I want to share it with you.  But before eating it, you must tell me which part of the fruit we should eat.  Do we eat the skin, the flesh or the seeds?  I know the answer, of course, because I ‘m your King.  But I want to test you to find out how knowledgeable you are.  The first monkey to give me the correct answer will have two shares of the fruit.” 

            The monkeys began to scratch their heads.  They scratched and scratched but they did not know which part of the fruit should be eaten….the skin, the seeds or the flesh.  You see, none of them had ever eaten a watermelon before.

After some time, a young red-faced monkey stepped forward and said, “O King, I’ve never eaten the fruit before, but I think I know the answer.  We cannot eat the skin.  We cannot eat the seeds.  I think we can eat the red flesh inside the fruit because it is juicy.” 

“The little monkey is wrong, O King,” said an old monkey.  “I have not eaten a watermelon before, but I have seen people eating the fruit.  They eat the seeds.  They open the seed shells with their teeth and eat the white flesh inside.  So when we eat watermelons, we eat only the seeds!

“Yes, we eat only the seeds,” said the other monkeys in chorus.  They thought the old monkey’s answer was the better one.  They also thought it was better to agree with the old monkey than with the young and inexperienced one.  

Now the King was pleased.  He thought he had got the right answer at last.  He stood up and said, “The old monkey is right. We eat only the seeds.  The flesh is useless and should be thrown away.  This young monkey has given us a silly answer.  As a punishment, let him eat all the flesh of the fruit!” 

The King then cut open the fruit and shared the seeds with his monkeys.  The old monkey had two shares.  As for the disgraced young monkey, the King ordered him to eat all the red juicy flesh as a punishment!

My dear reader, did the young monkey enjoy the punishment?

                        2.  Rusty and Mini

            Andrew has a brown dog.  He named it Rusty.  Rusty is about two years old.  He is very naughty and playful.  He likes to chew shoes, especially Andrew’s.  One day, Andrew came back from school and left his new shoes outside the door.  The next day, only one shoe was left.  The other one had been chewed to pieces.

            Rusty has another game he likes to play.  He likes to chase the cat next door.  Every afternoon, Rusty waits for the neighbour’s cat, Mini, to come out.  As soon as Mini walks out of the gate, Rusty gives a loud bark and dashes out of the house to catch the neighbour’s cat.

            Mini seems to like the game too.  On seeing the dog coming, she jerks up her tail, turns and dashes towards a pong-pong tree about fifty metres away. 

            The chase begins.  Mini runs as fast as she can without a backward glance.  Rusty runs just as fast.  He is right behind Mini, barking all the time.

            Mini reaches the pong-pong tree just in time.  Nimbly, she climbs up the tree and sits on a branch. 

            “Meeeooow,  Meeeooow!  Naughty Rusty, you cannot catch me!” teased the cat.

            “Bow-wow-wow!  Bow-wow-wow!  I can catch you if you dare to come down,” replied Rusty.  He jumps and jumps, but just cannot reach the cat.  Tired of jumping, Rusty runs round and round the tree, barking angrily.

            Feeling safe in the tree, Mini watches Rusty quietly and calmly.  She enjoys watching Rusty running and jumping below her.  After some time, Rusty has had enough of the antics and walks away.  This is the opportunity Mini has been waiting for.  As soon as Rusty is a little distance from the tree, Mini jumps down.

            Rusty has been waiting for Mini to come down from the tree.  Barking happily, he goes after the cat with renewed vigour.  The cat jerks her tail up and dashes back to her house, with Rusty right behind her.  Both reach the gate almost at the same time.  Mini jumps through a gap in the gate and disappears into the house, leaving the dog barking furiously outside.

            “Bow-wow-wow!  Bow-wow-wow!  I dare you to come out,” barks the dog.  But Mini does not want to play anymore.  She has had enough of the running for the day. 

            The chasing game is over for Rusty.  With his nose in the air, he walks back to his house, proud that he has chased a cat. 

3.  The Bird Nest

    One afternoon May Pin was playing in her garden when she saw a small bird flying into the hedge.  It had a long blade of dry grass in its beak.   "The bird must be making something," she said to herself.  "I'll go and find out." 

    She tiptoed to the hedge to look for the little bird.  To her surprise, she found it standing beside a ball of dry grass.  She took a closer look and found that the ball of grass was a bird nest!

    "So this is what the bird has been making," she said. 

    Running into the kitchen, she called out excitedly, "Mother, Mother, I've found a bird nest in the hedge.  Can I take the nest out?"

    "No, dear," said Mother.  "It would be very cruel of you to do that.  Leave the nest alone and the mother bird will lay eggs in it."

    May Pin wanted to see the eggs.  Once a day, she tiptoed to the hedge and looked at the nest.  She hoped to find eggs in it.  She did not have to wait long.  On the third day she found something in the nest.  It was a tiny egg.  It was like a hen's egg but very much smaller and spotted. 

    "Mother, Mother," May Pin said excitedly, "there's an egg in the nest.  Can I play with it?"

    "No, May Pin," said Mother.  "Leave it alone.  In a week or two, a baby bird will come out of it."

    Two days later, May Pin found another egg in the nest.  She was very thrilled.  She visited the nest every day, but was careful not to go too near it.  She did not want to frighten away the mother bird in the nest. 

    About two weeks later, May Pin was thrilled to find  two baby birds in the nest.  She ran to her mother.  "Mother! Mother! There are two baby birds in the nest.  Come and see them," she shouted. 

    Mother came and both of them watched the baby birds. 

    "They are so tiny and helpless," said Mother.

    "Look, their eyes are closed," said May Pin. "And look at the mouth.  It's so big!"

    "The big mouth is useful.  The mother bird can put the food into     
it more easily," said May Pin's mother                                          

    Suddenly they heard the cries of a bird.  They looked up and saw the mother.  It was chattering loudly and angrily as if scolding the two busybodies: "Go away, go away!  Don't frighten my babies!"

    "The mother bird is coming back to feed the babies.  Let's not disturb them anymore," said Mother.

    May Pin visited the two nestlings every day.  They were hungry all the time.  They swallowed all the food their mother put into their months.  They grew fast.  Within ten days their feathers were full and their eyes opened.  A few days later.  They flew away.                                                                                 

    May Pin was sad for she liked to watch the nestlings.

    "Don't worry," said Mother.  "The baby birds will grow big.  They will come back and make their own nests in the hedge.  If you don't disturb the birds, more will come and make their nests in our garden."

    Since then May Pin has found more nests in the garden.  She visits them often.  She likes to look at the nestlings opening their big mouths and crying for food.  But she is always careful not to disturb the mother feeding the babies.

Written by David Tan Bee Young

You can find the above stories  in New Way Readers 3B