Week 10 Reading A: The Monkey and The Crocodile

The Monkey and The Crocodile

My favorite part of the story, when the monkey out wits the crocodile in an unexpected way
Source: The Baldwin Project

• Summary: 
• In this story, the setting is a river that is home to a lot of crocodiles and on the banks of the river there are massive trees that are homes to monkeys. One day a mother crocodile and her son were watching the monkeys and she said to her son that she wanted to eat a monkey heart. The son was confused about how he was going to catch the monkey because monkeys did not go into the water and he did not travel on land. He told his mother this and she said that he needed to use his wit and brain. After thinking on ways to catch a monkey, the little crocodile noticed that a particular monkey wanted to go across the river to the island that had ripe fruit. The little crocodile approached the monkey and told him that he would take him across the river to the fruit on his back. The monkey, lusting after the ripe fruit agreed. About half way across, the little crocodile asked the monkey how he liked the ride. The monkey told him it was good. Suddenly, the crocodile dove underwater and the monkey asked what he was doing. The crocodile told him his plan and the monkey told him that he left his heart in the tree. The crocodile demanded that he go back and it. When they arrived back at the monkey's tree, the monkey climbed high and the crocodile could not get him. The monkey then moved to a different tree further down the river.
• The little crocodile, still in search of his mother a monkey heart, eventually found the monkey's new home. For days, he watched the monkey and noticed that everyday he went across rocks in the river to the island with the abundant fruit trees. One day the crocodile decided he wait until night and he would lay on the rock to catch the monkey. Now the monkey was smart and he immediately noticed that the crocodile was on the rock so he decided to trick him. He began talking and acted confused that the rock would not talk back to him. The crocodile then thought that the rock must talk back to him and he responded. The monkey then called the crocodile out. The monkey then acted defeated and told the crocodile to open his mouth and he would jump in, knowing that when crocodiles had their mouths open they closed their eyes. The monkey then jumped over the crocodile and ran up his tree. The crocodile appreciated the monkey's wit and decided to leave him alone.
• My ideas:
• For this story I would make the mother crocodile have a larger role in the story. Maybe making her work with her son and them eventually catching the monkey. With this I would want to provide some background information. Why did the mother crocodile randomly decide she wanted to eat a monkey heart? Was it some form of revenge? Did something happen to the dad crocodile? I feel like adding detail would make the story more dramatic. Also why did the mother crocodile not help her son? I found this odd. She just told him to get her one and did not help at all. I feel like adding detail and changing the storyline a little could go a long way. Maybe I could make a story that a monkey killed her husband and she wanted revenge on that monkey. 
• Bibliography: "The Monkey and The Crocodile" from the Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbit