THERE was a poor man in a tropical country who for many long years dwelt in a city where he suffered great privations and often went hungry. At last he left the city and built a hut far out in the country on the edge of the wilderness and dug up a piece of ground for a garden. He depended on this garden to furnish him a living, and he planted some corn and melon seeds, which soon sent green sprouts up to the light. He took the best of care of the growing melons and corn, and they throve luxuriantly.
When the crops began to mature, the monkeys from the neighboring wilderness observed the good things that were ripening in the garden, and they came daily to eat of them. The man, thinking of his own past privations and sufferings, willingly shared the product of his labor with them; and they wondered greatly what manner of person he was that permitted them to eat unmolested of his corn and melons.
One day the man lay down in the garden and fell asleep. By and by he became aware of the arrival of a troop of monkeys, but he continued to lie there as if still sound asleep. They saw him and drew near and cried out with one accord: “He is dead! Our good friend is dead! Lo, these many days we have eaten of the things growing in his garden. Therefore it is only just that we should bury him in as choice a place as we can find.”
The man heard what they said, but he did not open his eyes or stir, for he was curious to find out what they would do. They lifted him and carried him till they came to a place where two ways met. Then one of the monkeys said, “Let us take him to the cave of silver.”
Another said, “No, the cave of gold would be better.”
“Go to the cave of gold,” commanded the head monkey.
There they carried him and left him. When he found himself alone, he arose, gathered all the gold he could carry, and returned to his home. This gold, thus easily gained, enabled him to build a beautiful house, and to live in great comfort.
“How did you, who came here so poor, gain all this wealth?” asked a neighbor; and the man freely told all that had befallen him.
“What you have done I can do, too,” said the neighbor, and he hastened home, planted a piece of ground with corn and melons, and waited for the monkeys to feast there.
Everything came to pass as he had hoped. When the corn and melons ripened, great numbers of monkeys visited the garden and feasted. One day they found the owner lying in the garden apparently dead. Their gratitude prompted them to give him a worthy burial, and they carried him to the place where the two roads met. Here they disputed as to whether they should place the man in the cave of silver or the cave of gold.
Meanwhile the man was thinking: “As soon as I am alone in the cave I will begin gathering up the gold, and I will make a basket of bamboo so I can carry home a much larger amount than my neighbor brought away.”
Presently the head monkey said, “Put him in the cave of silver.”
That was such a disappointment to the man that he forgot he was supposed to be dead, and he exclaimed, “No, put me in the cave of gold!”
At once the monkeys dropped him and fled in great fright, and the man, bruised and disappointed, crept sorrowfully home.
