Monkey and the Drought
Alice Edui
Salim Kasamba
There was severe drought across the land. Bushes and trees dried up. Rivers stopped flowing.
There was no water and no food. People, cattle and wild animals grew thin.
Many of the monkeys who lived in the hills died of hunger.
One day, a female monkey decided to look for a place where there was no drought.
Monkey travelled for many days.
She passed bushes, climbed hills, and crossed valleys.
Finally, Monkey arrived at a place called Tirkol.
At Tirkol, Monkey found different kinds of fruit and a flowing river.
She was very happy.
Monkey stayed there. She ate plenty of fruit. She grew fat and shiny.
She swam in the river every day.
After some time, Monkey decided to return to the hills. She wanted to see who had survived the drought.
She took fruit and followed the path she had used before.
When she reached the hills, the surviving monkeys came to welcome her.
Everyone wanted the fruit she brought.
They asked her, "Where is this wonderful place? We want to go there too."
Monkey told them about the goodness of Tirkol and agreed to take them there.
All the monkeys moved to Tirkol. They ate fruit, drank water, rested and grew fat.
They swore never to return to the hills.
The monkeys who lived in Tirkol soon discovered that monkeys from the hills had moved to their territory.
The Tirkol monkeys worried that the fruit would disappear.
So they decided to chase away the monkeys from the hills.
One day, the monkeys from the hills were at the river drinking water.
The Tirkol monkeys attacked them with canes. They wanted to chase them away.
But just before they started fighting, an elderly monkey hung down from a branch.
He asked the monkeys, "Why do you want to fight? There is enough food for all of us."
All the monkeys realised that this was true.
And so, since that day, monkeys from the hills and monkeys from Tirkol have lived together without fighting.
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 and the Drought
Author - Alice Edui
Illustration - Salim Kasamba
Language - English
Level - First paragraphs
© African Storybook Initiative 2016
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
Source www.africanstorybook.org
