In long-past times there lived in a hill-place a troop of five hundred
monkeys, which, when the corn was ripe, devoured the crops. The men who
lived in that place assembled and began to take counsel together,
saying—
“Honoured sirs, what shall we do, seeing that the monkeys endanger the
corn?”
Some of them held that the monkeys must be killed. But how were they to
set about doing that? All the trees which stood around the place must
be cut down, one Tinduka [185] tree only being allowed to stand. And a
hedge of thorns must be drawn around, and the monkeys must be killed
inside the enclosure, when they climbed the tree in search of food.
Accordingly all the trees growing around that place were cut down, only
one Tinduka tree being allowed to stand; and that tree was surrounded
by a hedge of thorns, and a watchman was set there, with orders to give
notice as soon as the monkeys assembled.
Now one day when the Tinduka tree had put forth flowers and fruits, and
these had grown ripe, the monkeys said to their chief—
“O chief, as the Tinduka tree is ripe, let us go to it and eat.”
Thereupon the chief, with a troop of five hundred monkeys, climbed the
Tinduka tree, and they began to devour the fruit. The watchman brought
word to the men who dwelt in that place, saying, “Honoured sirs, all
the monkeys have climbed up the Tinduka tree and are feeding. Do ye do
what ought to be done.”
Then in all haste the troop of men who dwelt there, with clenched
fists, and armed with bows and arrows and battle-axes, betook
themselves to the Tinduka tree and began to cut it down. Fear came upon
the monkeys, and they sprang to and fro on the tree. But the chief sat
still and did nothing. The monkeys said to him, “O chief, wherefore do
you sit there tranquilly, while we are running to and fro in the pangs
of intolerable misery?” He replied in a verse—
“The busy and the idle are like unto each other. The ends of the tree
are many; let food be taken by him who is intent upon his life.”
At that time one of the monkey-chief’s young ones, a captive in the
village, was sitting absorbed in thought, leaning his cheek upon his
hand. A good monkey came that way, saw the young monkey thus absorbed
in thought, and said—
“O friend, why do you sit there thus absorbed in thought, leaning your
cheek upon your hand?”