Summary
The Clever Monkey is a classic folktale from West Africa told by Rob Cleveland. One day two greedy jungle cats discover a large piece of cheese. They want to share the piece of cheese but cannot decide how they can divide it fairly. A very clever little monkey loves cheese as well and when he sees the two cats arguing over the cheese, he uses this opportunity to trick the jungle cats into allowing him to eat practically all of the cheese. Unfortunately for the two cats, they never realize that they were completely tricked by a very clever monkey.
Analysis
This timeless folktale shares valuable life lessons in character values about sharing by overcoming greed, being resourceful, and learning how to judge who is trustworthy and who isn’t. The jungle cats simply allow their greed to get in the way of sharing. They are more concerned about getting the biggest piece of cheese and their lack of trust enables the monkey to trick them into foolish decisions. Their greed ends up leaving them with much less than what they started with because a very clever monkey used their greed against them and by the end of the story, he is the one who has the last laugh.
Illustrations
Questions
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