“In the tree?” the crocodile asked, suddenly understanding the import of the monkey’s feverish babble. “Don’t worry, we’ll just go back to the tree and get it. We won’t be that late.”

So the crocodile turned around and swam back to the tree. When they reached the bank the monkey dashed off get his heart.

He climbed and climbed until he reached the highest branch. Then he just sat there sniffing the dusky breeze.

After a time, the crocodile grew tired of waiting and called up to the monkey, “Have you found your heart yet?”

As soon as his shout had spread thin over the empty spaces between sand and trunks, the jungle was suddenly filled with merry sound. Chuckles turned to roars, tweets turned to cackles, giggles turned to hoots.

“Oh, crocodile,” the animals laughed, “have you found your heart yet?”

At last the crocodile realized the manner in which he had been tricked. He sank down into the mud while the animals persisted taunting and teasing.

The monkey stayed up in the tree and never came down again. Due to his cleverness, he enjoyed many mango seasons after that.

But the crocodile didn’t. At least, not so much.

The storytellers’ tradition

The story of the monkey and the crocodile was first written down centuries ago in Sanskrit by Vishnu Sharma. It is said that he told this and forty-two other tales to three young princes to teach them all there is to know about ruling and the ways of human nature. Previously the king’s sons were uneducable. The king sent for one teacher after another, calling on the brightest and best of the land, and still the princes remained dull as ever. “How is this?” the king cried out in exasperation. “ I have hired five hundred men and not an ounce of your knowledge has seeped into these thick skulls. What shall I do? I cannot hand over the throne to such imbeciles!” And the five hundred teachers said, “ Call in Vishnu Sharma. He is thoughtful and creative and surely will see what should be done.”