The Goat and the Monkey

Hello everyone,

    Today I am going to tell you the story of the goat and the monkey. 

    This story was told to me by my late Aunt Khatija. She loved reading and telling stories. This is one of the stories she told me. 

    In this story the monkey tries to cheat and become king. The way he is exposed is very funny. I had laughed when she had told me this story. 

    So read on find out what happens to the monkey.

THE GOAT AND THE MONKEY

    Long, long ago, the animals in the animal kingdom gathered together every year to decide who would be king that year.

    One year, the lion was the king. Now, the animals had gathered to decide who would be king the following year. After a long discussion, all the animals decided that it was the goat’s turn to be king. On hearing this, the monkey got angry, as he was expecting to be king that year.

    “I do not wish to offend you, Your Majesty,” he said, “but don’t you think that I should be king this year. After all, I have more intelligence than my friend, the goat.”

    The goat got angry at this.

    “No, no!” the goat protested, angrily. “I should be king this year. Look at me! I have such beautiful horns and such a beautiful beard. Besides, everybody has decided that I should be king, so there!”

    All the animals cheered at this. The monkey was furious, but he

knew it would be useless to argue with the animals. So he said no more. But he made up his mind to do something about it.

    Early next morning, all the animals began to gather at their meeting place. At last, everyone had arrived, except the goat and the monkey.

    Soon, the monkey arrived, but nobody recognized him! He had tied a pair of horns on his head and stuck a beard on his chin. Everyone became silent when they saw him. No-one could decide who this strange creature was. Everyone stood there staring at the monkey. As last, the king found his voice and asked, “Who are you?”

    “I am the goat, of course,” he said, “can’t you see my lovely horns and my beautiful beard? I have come to be your king.”

    The animals looked at each other, very much puzzled. At that moment the goat arrived. Everybody looked from the goat to the monkey and from the monkey to the goat.

    The goat looked at the monkey in amazement and asked, “Who are you?”

    “I am the goat. I have to come to be your king,” said the monkey impatiently.

    The goat could not believe his ears. He became angry indeed and started to argue with the monkey.

    At last, the lion silenced everyone with his loud roar.

    “There is only one way to find out who the real goat is, and that is by fighting,” said the lion. “The one who wins will be king!”

    The monkey got really frightened now. He knew that the goat had really strong sharp horns and he didn’t stand a chance against him. But he couldn’t back out now, either. If he did everybody would know that he was a liar. So he decided to go along with it.

    The lion stood them far apart. Soon, he gave a loud roar as a signal for the fight to begin.

     The goat rushed at the monkey before he had a chance to move, and gave him a real hard butt in the stomach! Ouch! That really hurt him!

    And, my, oh my! You should have seen the monkey. His beard had come off, and horns that he had tied on his head fell over his eyes! He really looked a sight!

    When the monkeys saw this, they started to laugh at him because he looked so ridiculous lying there on the ground! Suddenly, he stood up and ran away as fast as he could. So the goat became king that year after all.