For all intents and purposes, the island of the monkeys should have been ravaged by these storms as well. However, the monkeys on this island had the blessing of the god Faarus. For each day, when the sun rose in the sky, every monkey in the village would pray upon the stone tablet of Faarus, and every night, when the sun vanished from the sky, each monkey would return to pray with the tablet once more. While many storms would form in the sea, as they approached the island they would veer off course or disappear altogether.
(Stone Tablet: Wikimedia Commons)
One day, an evil spirit came to the island of monkeys and snatched away the tablet, hiding it in a cave behind a raging waterfall. Each of the monkeys tried to pass through the waterfall, but the stream was too strong, and one by one they were washed away.
Without the tablet, the monkeys were no longer able to pray to the god Faarus. The protection from their god was lost, and soon storms ravaged the island as it those around it. Rain poured on the island all day and night, and the homes of the villagers were blown away in the strong winds. As the weeks passed, the monkeys suffered without shelter and had begun to run out of food.
All seemed hopeless, until the fateful day that a stone egg fell from the heavens onto the island. The stone egg hatched as quick as it fell, and out climbed a tiny stone monkey. The stone monkey did not stay tiny for long, for by nightfall he had grown to the size of a full grown ape.
The stone monkey spoke with the village monkeys and learned of the evil spirit who had hidden their tablet. The stone monkey quickly went to the waterfall and, due to his heavy stone exterior, was able to pass through unharmed. The stone monkey retrieved the tablet from the cave and returned to the village monkeys.
The monkeys prayed upon the tablet, and the storm dissipated from the island. Thankful for the stone monkeys help, they made him king of all the monkeys.
Author's Note: This story is based on Handsome King of the Apes in the section The Monkey King from The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhelm. This story tells of a stone monkey who is born from a stone egg. He slowly grows up, learning to walk and climb trees, until one day he becomes king of the apes by walking though a waterfall unharmed and finding a stone tablet. I added the storms and prayers to this tale to make it a little more dramatic.
Cody, from your author’s note, the original story sounds pretty interesting. I’m glad you incorporated a lot of the original story into your retelling and I think the details you added did help to make the story pop. I thought it was bizarre that a monkey hatched out of a stone egg, but I guess since he was a stone monkey this may have been the only for him to be “born”.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the addition of the drama. I could actually see this story as an animated television show for kids. I liked how all turned out well for the monkeys because the stone monkey was able to get to the tablet. And everything turned out especially great for the stone monkey because he became the kind. Great retelling. Keep it up!
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