A monkey in the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve and Wildlife Sanctuary, 151 square miles of protected forest, lakes and mountains between the Anamalai and Nelliampathy hills in the Palakkad District of Kerala, southwest India, some 25 miles south of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. For more information, and some wonderful photos and video, see Parambikulam Tiger Reserve.
ONCE upon a time a powerful King of a great nation set his heart on capturing a little kingdom far away. He gathered his troops and marched for many miles before pitching camp in a forest.
As the King’s men filled nosebags with peas for their horses, a sly monkey came down from his tree and stole two great handfuls of peas. On his way back up, however, he let a pea fall. Much vexed, the monkey tossed aside all his other peas and went searching for the one he had dropped; but his search was in vain, and not daring to linger he scurried back to his branch empty handed.
All this was seen by the mighty King, who called his captains together and said: “I will not be like this monkey, who lost so much to gain so little. Let us return to our own country, and be thankful for our blessings.”
Précis
According to legend, a mighty Indian King gathered his troops and went to conquer a small country. On his way he saw a silly monkey toss away a handful of peas just to recover a single dropped pea; realising he had been about to run the same risk, he returned home determined not to lose so much for so little. (60 / 60 words)
