Monkey eats his own tail (Colour-in)
Mozambican folktale
Horácio José Cossa

Once upon a time the rabbit was a great friend of the monkey.

1

One day the rabbit said, "Let's go for a walk and look for something to eat." The monkey agreed, but it was a trap for him!

2

They went to a field of maize and started to eat it.

3

But the clever rabbit had spoken to the owners of the farm, to catch the monkey and show him he was foolish.

4

The clever rabbit started shouting, "Robbers! Robbers! Your maize is all gone!" And he jumped up and ran away.

5

Suddenly the owners appeared and found the monkey trying to run away. But he has a long tail and it was stopping him.

6

The owners followed him, shouting, "Stop! Stop! We saw you, you are the monkey."

7

But they caught him and started beating him.

8

He couldn't stand the pain so he said, "I was with my friend Rabbit. He is the one who invited me."

9

But the owners cut his tail off and told him, "Go and tell your friend that we cut off your tail!"

10

Then they went to the rabbit's house and cooked the monkey's tail to eat. The rabbit invited the monkey for lunch.

11

At the end of the meal the rabbit asked the monkey if he knew what he had eaten. The foolish monkey answered, "No I don't!"

12

The rabbit told him that he had eaten his own tail and then ran away. And from then on they became enemies!

13
You are free to download, copy, translate or adapt this story and use the illustrations as long as you attribute in the following way:
Monkey eats his own tail (Colour-in)
Author - Mozambican folktale
Adaptation - Ingrid Schechter
Illustration - Horácio José Cossa
Language - English
Level - First sentences