1.1 Panchtantra - The Monkey and The Wedge

The Monkey and the Wedge

Once upon a time there lived a King. He was rich, kind and prosperous. However, he had no son who could become heir to his throne. 

When the King was blessed with a son after many years, he held a grand feast. The priests who came during the celebration asked the King to build a temple in his state to thank God for blessing him with the son. 

So the King consented and soon the temple construction began.  The masons, sculptors, carpenters, painters began working. They gathered everyday during the noon time to take their meal.

One day while the workmen were taking their meal, a troop of monkeys came. The monkeys were very naughty and started playing with various tools which were used by the workmen. 

One of the carpenter left a wedge in a large log he was working on. One of monkeys from the troop jumped on that log of wood. He saw the wedge inserted in the log and became curious about it. Driven by curosity, he began trying hard to pulled it out. The wedge came out suddenly and the slit log coalesced. The monkey's tail was caught in the log before he could think of running away.

The helpless monkey shrieked and cried loudly in pain as his tail was flattened in the log. Soon his family gathered around to help him.

Hearing the loud cry, even the workmen came around. They tried to rescue the monkey. They worked together -tugged and pulled over, and set monkey free. The monkey ran away leaving his tailed waggled between the logs. The monkey became tailess and eventually died in pain.

Moral: Do not interfere in other people's work.