A southern pig-tailed macaque
Credit: Reuters Photo
A monkey had two tails. One tail was good. It helped the monkey swing from the branches of trees by coiling itself around the branch and gripping it tightly, allowing the monkey to swing without fear of falling on the ground.
The good tail also wrapped itself around other animals when they were feeling sad, as though it was hugging and consoling them. The good tail stopped the nut from rolling far away from the squirrel, when it slipped out from the squirrel’s paws.
It caressed the pigeon when a thorn was stuck in its wings, making it cry in pain. It brushed away a leaf stuck between an eagle’s feathers.
Everyone liked the good tail. Animals always smiled when the good tail went about its business of doing good. The good tail always looked smart, cheerful, neat and tidy.
The other tail was naughty. It looked unkempt, it was always grumpy and had dirt smeared over it, as it was constantly up to some mischief. When the monkey swung from the branch of the tree with its good tail, the naughty tail pushed a squirrel off the tree. The squirrel fell down and hurt her paw. For days she nursed a bruised paw and was unable to do her daily chores or play with her friends.
When the monkey sat and ate an apple, the good tail sat quietly behind the monkey. The naughty tail covered a giraffe’s eyes. The giraffe banged its head against the branch of a tree and ended up with a big bump on its head.
The naughty tail thumped the parrot sitting on the branch. The parrot fell down on the ants crawling on the ground and nearly crushed twenty-five ants. After that accident the ants were scared to venture out from their anthill for days.
When the monkey slept under a tree, the good tail too slept peacefully. The naughty tail shoved mud over a sleeping deer. The mud entered the deer’s nose, making it sneeze continuously for half an hour.
The naughty tail lifted a few worms from the ground and dropped them into the rabbit’s burrow. It took the worms two weeks to get back home. By then their family members had given up on them, assuming they had been eaten by a bird.
The naughty tail tied a stone to the squirrel’s bushy tail. As the squirrel scampered up the tree, the stone weighed it down, making the squirrel fall back and hurt herself.
The naughty tail brushed a snail under a large rock. The snail lost its way for days. Until another snail helped it get out from beneath the rock.
Every animal was tired of the monkey’s naughty tail. So was the monkey. It had tried everything to keep the naughty tail in control. Whenever the monkey scolded the naughty tail, the words rolled off the naughty tail, like water off a duck’s back.
The monkey made a plan that would help it in its mission of making the naughty tail good. The monkey bought a red bow for the good tail. The monkey tied the bow around the good tail. The good tail looked absolutely cute. Everyone praised the bow.
The naughty tail was jealous of the pretty bow.
A day later the monkey inserted a long blue feather inside the bow. Now the bow looked even more cute and the good tail looked cuter. The good tail was constantly receiving flattering comments from the animals in the jungle.
The naughty tail was very jealous. It too wanted the bow. “Can I have a bow too?” the naughty tail asked the monkey.
“Naughty tails cannot have pretty bows,” the monkey replied.
So eager was the naughty tail to get the bow that it decided to copy the good tail’s behaviour. When the good tail helped the squirrel, the naughty tail did the same. When the good tail helped the ants, the naughty tail did the same. When the good tail slept quietly, so did the naughty tail.
Soon the naughty tail looked neat, tidy and well-groomed, as it had stopped playing in the mud and doing mischief. It had also shed its sullen look.
Everyone had started liking the naughty tail too. Now the monkey had two good tails.
Both with pretty red bows. Both with long blue feathers stuck inside the bows.