Once upon a time, there was a clever monkey. He lived on a
beautiful island, in an apple tree. One day, a crocodile swam
to the island. ‘I’m hungry,’ he said.
So the monkey threw a red apple to the crocodile. The
crocodile munched and munched. The next day, the
crocodile came back. ‘Please, may I have two apples?’ he asked. He ate one and gave
one to his wife.
The crocodile went to see the monkey every day, to listen to his tales and eat his
apples. He wanted to be clever, just like the monkey. The crocodile’s wife had an idea.
‘Why don’t you eat his heart? Then you’ll be clever, just like him!’
The next day, he said to the monkey, ‘Come to my house! We’ll have lunch together, to
thank you for the apples.’
But when he arrived, the crocodile snapped and said, ‘Monkey! I want to eat your heart,
so I can be as clever as you!’
The clever monkey thought quickly and said, ‘But… I haven’t got my heart here. It’s on
the island, in the apple tree.’
They all went back to the island. ‘Wait here, and I will get my heart,’ said the monkey.
The monkey quickly climbed the tree and sat at the top. ‘Oh, Crocodile. You are
greedy. Of course you can’t have my heart. And now, you can’t have my apples!’ And
the clever monkey laughed and laughed!
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