The Monkey’s Gratitude
A monkey was on a beach with its hand stuck in a shell. One village woman threw a stone at the monkey to kill it. The fisherman’s wife asked the other woman to spare the monkey. She then freed the monkey from the shell. The monkey repaid her by stealing her child. The monkey climbed a tree and the woman feared for the safety of her child. An eagle soon appeared and tried to take the child from the monkey so that it could eat the child. The monkey pulled back a branch and hit the eagle out of the sky. More eagles appeared and the monkey did the same with them. The monkey then returned the woman’s child and thee villagers realized that the monkey had saved the child from the eagles.
Animals Incorporated
Monkey
Eagle
Origin
Naito, Hiroshi, and Masahiko Nishino. Legends of Japan. Rutland, Vt: C. E. Tuttle Co, 1972.