Last updated on March 6, 2022 by Roger Kaufman
The monkey as judge – a brilliant fable Asia
In the past, when almost all animals still ran around freely and only a few of them lived with people, a dog and a cat lived in a scholar's house.
One day the scholar received a freshly baked cake as a gift. Since he had to leave the house for a few hours, he placed it on a board hanging on the wall for safety.
The Cat had watched the scholar carefully, and as soon as he was out the door, she jumped onto the wicker chair that was standing by the window, from there onto the table, and from there she dared the long jump onto the board.
The nail that holds the board with a Bamboo braid only poorly connected, was not able to cope with this onslaught. The board with the cake and the cat fell to the floor with a rumble.
The Dog had stretched out sleepily in the sun and waited for his master to return. He jumped up in fright at the sudden noise and rushed into the room.
When he saw the fragrant cake in the cat's clutches, he jumped towards her and wanted to snatch it away from her. The Cat defended himself with a hiss and gave her housemate a strong blow on the nose. The dog yelped.
A monkey was doing gymnastics over the garden wall and looked curiously in through the window. “Why are you two arguing in such beautiful weather?” He asked amused.
The dog barked angrily, “That good-for-nothing thieving cat has stolen our master’s cake!” - "Mind your own business?" the cat meowed angrily.
“While you were dozing lazily in the sun, I was really struggling. I earned the cake hard!”
“Impudent, selfish beast,” growled the dog, “do you think you can eat the cake alone? It belongs to our Lord, so I have a right to it too.”
"Stop arguing!" said the monkey. “Isn’t the cake big enough for both of you? I see a scale sitting there on the table. I will divide you the spoils into two equal pieces.”
The cat and dog agreed. They watched excitedly as the monkey broke through the cake and placed one half on one scale and the second half on the other.
One of the scales fell down. “The piece is probably a bit too heavy,” said the monkey with a serious expression, crumbled off a few crumbs and put them in his mouth with relish.
The dog and cat watched expectantly as the bowl slowly rose again. “"Now it is good!" cried the dog. "No!" The monkey said sternly. “The piece of cake is still a little too heavy. I should not be accused of being an unjust judge.”
With these words he broke in small He took off a piece of the cake and let it go into his mouth. But he had taken too much, because now the other scale was sinking.
The monkey mumbled a few incomprehensible words and began to break off the second piece, crumb by crumb, and shove it comfortably into his mouth until the two scales gradually came closer again. At the last moment he took too much of the larger piece of cake again, so that it now became smaller than the other and the scales rose. He had to get his work done Start again.
This process was repeated until one scale pan was completely empty and the other had only a small piece left.
Then he got angry and scolded the dog and the cat: “Are you quarreling over such a ridiculous little thing and trying to use me as a referee?
“You should be ashamed! So that there can finally be peace, I’ll eat the piece of cake myself.”
He put the last bite into his mouth and swung out of the window. The dog and the cat looked after him in surprise. “Now that’s what you get!” hissed the cat. “Why were you so stingy?” growled the dog and trotted back to his sunny spot. “You can’t rely on anyone anymore,” he grumbled and fell asleep again.
Source: An Fable from Asia
