monkeys

The Monkey and the Crab by Ryan Aoto, adapted from the Japanese folktale The Monkey and Crab Battle. This is a LibraryCall Recording. One day, a monkey walked down to the riverbank. There, he saw a crab holding an omusubi, a ball of rice wrapped in seaweed. The monkey’s first thought was to run over and steal the omusubi for himself, as he was both hungry and greedy. The crab was smaller than him, so he shouldn’t have much trouble. Just as he was about to run over, he noticed the crab’s sharp claws. “I would not want to be pinched by those,” the monkey thought.

El Oso, La Mona Y El Cerdo Erase una vez un oso que llevaba muchos años ganándose la vida bailando en las plazas de los pueblos y las ciudades. Sobre todo los días en que se celebraba algo o había fiesta mayor. Sus amos tocaban el tambor mientras el bailaba, le hacían dar unos pasos aquí para allá y mientras el bailaba, pasaban la gorra entre el publico para que la llenasen de monedas. El publico lo admira atentos, y le aplaudían, así fue como el animal llego a creer firmemente que era un gran bailarin.

This story is called The Crocodile and the Monkey, a traditional story from India, retold by W.H.D. Rouse. This is a LibraryCall recording. Once upon a time, there was an enormous river that was both deep and wide. In this river there lived a crocodile. I don’t know whether you have ever seen a crocodile, but you should know that they’re very long, twice as long as your bed. They’re covered with hard green and yellow scales. They have flat, wide snouts, and huge jaws with hundreds of sharp teeth.

This is a story about a very unusual boy, and an even more unusual monkey. The boy was out of the ordinary as boys go, because he didn’t like chocolate. No, not at all. Not even one little bit. And I must say, I’ve never met a boy like that. Not in my entire life.

It was Shrove Tuesday, otherwise known as pancake day. The City Mayor was sitting up in his bed eating his breakfast – a big pile of pancakes with black caviar and sour cream, washed down with champagne. As he took another silver-spoonful of caviar, his mobile phone rang. How he hated it when people called him while he was still at breakfast! He was about to throw his phone out of the window when he noticed that the call was coming from the Chief Of Police. “Oh dear,” thought the Mayor. “He probably wants to miss our card game.