The Crab and the Monkey

Once a crab and a monkey went for a walk together. Along the way the monkey found a persimmon seed, and the crab found a rice ball. The monkey wanted the crab's rice ball, and being a very clever talker, he finally persuaded the crab to trade the rice ball for the persimmon seed. The monkey quickly ate the rice ball.

The crab couldn't eat the persimmon seed, but he took it home and planted it in his garden, where it began to grow. Because the crab watered it carefully every day, it grew and grew.

The tiny seed finally became a big tree, and one autumn day the crab saw that it was full of beautiful persimmons. The crab wanted very much to eat the persimmons, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't climb the tree. So he asked his friend the monkey to pick the persimmons for him.

Now, the monkey loved persimmons even more than rice balls, and once he was up the tree he began eating all the ripe persimmons, and the only ones he threw down to the crab were hard and unripe. One of them hit the crab on the head and hurt him badly.

The crab was angry and asked three of his friends, a mortar and a hornet and a chestnut, to help him punish the monkey. So the three friends hid themselves around the crab's house one day, and the crab invited the monkey to come to tea.

When the monkey arrived he was given a seat by the fireplace. The chestnut was hiding in the ashes roasting himself, and suddenly he burst out of the fireplace and burned the monkey on his neck. The monkey screamed with pain and jumped up.

In an instant the hornet flew down and stung the monkey with his tail. The monkey tried to run away, but the mortar was hiding above the door and fell down with a thud on the monkey, hurting his back.

The monkey saw there was no escape. He bowed down to the crab and his three friends and said, "I did a bad thing when I ate the Crab's delicious persimmons and threw the unripe ones to him. I promise never to do such a bad thing again. Please forgive me!"

The crab accepted the monkey's apology, and they became friends again. The monkey learned his lesson and never again cheated anyone.