Monkey Hubris

Monkey Hubris 

 

W.B. Preston

 

 

 

          Once a monkey sat atop a tree, peeling and eating bananas, in a most unusual fashion, and tossing the peels to the ground beneath. A man walking through the jungle came to the base of the tree, and found a pile of peels laying before his feet. Bending his back and looking high into the banana tree, another peel flew from the top and landed on his face. Pulling the peel from his face and tossing it into the pile, he called up into the leaves, "Hey! You up there! Stop tossing banana peels from up in that tree!"
        
          The monkey poked his head out from behind the leaves, "Toss off!" Yelling down to the man, who by now was becoming increasingly perturbed, the monkey disappeared behind the leaves again, to send another peel sailing down at the man, who stepped aside as not to be hit with another slimy yellow projectile.

          "This is highly irregular." Thought the man to himself as he stood at the base of the tree. "You can't just leave these here, someone could slip on them and hurt themselves!" The man continued, "Why don't you come down and clean this up and we can find a proper place for all these peels!" He reasoned. A half eaten banana sailed through the air and landed directly in the center of the man's forehead. The chattering laughter of the monkey could be heard throughout the jungle.

          Now extremely upset, the man pulled the half eaten banana from his face, sat his backpack down and unzipped it. "You'll be sorry that you didn't listen to reason!" He yelled as he pulled from the pack a small axe.

          "Whatdaya think you'll do with that then?" The monkey's question echoed and went unanswered as the man wedged the axe into the base of the tree. "You'll have a hard time of that, with such a tiny axe!" But the monkey's cries were ignored, as chunk after chunk of the tree was chopped from the trunk. The monkey went on eating bananas and dropping the peels on the crown of the mans head as he chopped at the wood. Each peel seemed to enrage the man further, and he increased the speed of his chops with each insult.

          "You'll tire yourself out before you make a dent!" The monkey yelled down as the man's face turned red, and he began to sweat profusely and his clothes became damp. The afternoon, turned to evening, and the orange light of the dusk awoke the now napping monkey. "Surely he's given up by now," thought the monkey to himself. But as he poked his head out of the leaves and looked down, he saw the man chopping away still, with his tiny axe.

          "At this rate, the tree will be down in time for Christmas!" Provoking the man further, the monkey chuckled to himself, though now it was his own sweat that began to fall. Searching his perch, he looked for something to deter the man's progress, but all he had were the bananas, then his eyes settled upon the pile of peels at the base of the tree, beside the man whom chopped at the tree solidly and steadily. To his right he found a parrot, and the monkey whispered something devilish in her ear. Immediately she flew off with a smirk on her face, her blue and red feathers, gliding away over the orange and purple sky. The man's chops began to slow, he stopped and wiped the sweat from his brow. The monkey watched, hoping the man would give up and leave his tree in peace. Turning from his work, the man looked over his shoulder at the setting sun. He knew he could not work much longer and decided to give it one last go, before he had to retire. Heaving the axe up high he whacked at the trunk with the reserves of his strength and the monkey watched, hoping his plan would develop in time to save his beloved banana tree.

          Then he heard the thundering footsteps of his plan unfurling, and he leaped from his perch and watched the man turn and see the giant hippopotamus rushing towards him. Stepping back his foot landed directly in the pile of banana peels causing him to lose his balance and fall on his back, half submerging him in the mucousy pile of peels. The monkey leapt for joy on his perch, but his celebration was short lived, as the hippo slammed into the now very fragile banana tree, snapping its trunk like a twig and sending the monkey and the tree violently to the jungle floor.

          Pulling himself from the pile, the man stood and looked down upon the fallen tree. Wiping himself clean, he pulled up his axe, tucked it into his pack, flipped it over his shoulder and walked into the night whistling a tune. The monkey was furious at this, and vowed revenge, as the jungle denizens descended on his banana harvest, now easily accessible to the jungle floor creatures. The monkey's eyes burned with tears and went red with vengeance, as he flew into the nearest tree, and silently stalked the whistling man from far above, hidden in the shadows of the moon, waiting for his chance at reprisal over his newly acquired foe.