In The Beginning The Monkey King

To tell this story of living together.

In the beginning, a very long time ago,

Peace was a reality in the Kongo Basin forest

The villages of men also lived in peace

Listen to me! I, the storyteller, will tell you about peace

But one day, the land was sad

Life became increasingly difficult

The corn, watermelons, peanuts, and roots had vanished

There was nothing left to steal from the humans

Something had to be done.

The chief must speak and propose a solution

The chief must gather his people to overcome this crisis.

Among the proposals was the idea of emigration

The plan to create a new village

To consider changing the habits of his people to manage the resources wisely

Or… to go live among the humans

One fine morning, the chief left the forest to reflect far from the problem

Before sunrise, he set off on his journey

He walked for a day

He walked for a week

After a month

He arrived at a place that resembled paradise

Paradise, paradise, paradise!

Water flowed abundantly

Fruit trees were plentiful

Fields of cassava and corn

Safou and mango trees

The chief ate with great appetite

The chief rested among the trees

The chief observed the magical place closely

Then the chief saw a scene that caught his attention

The chief grew concerned

The chief, the chief, the chief

Paradise was among the humans

In paradise, there was a girl pounding bananas

Bananas in a mortar with her pestle

Around her, our friends the goats hopped

The animals wanted to eat and drink

The animals wanted to eat the bananas

So, the girl started chasing them away with her pestle

Upon seeing this scene, the chief hurriedly returned home

To tell his people that he had seen paradise

But…

Title

In The Beginning The Monkey King

Themes

circle of life

Emotions

despair | excitement | recklessness | regret | sadness

Lesson

Disregarding wise counsel can lead to regrettable outcomes.

Animals

Goat, Monkey

Characters

Monkey Chief: The wise leader of the monkey group, whose advice is ignored by the young monkeys; Young Monkeys: They reject the Monkey Chief's advice and rush to paradise, causing chaos and regret; Human Village Chief: He demands reparation after his son is injured.

Back-grounds

Kongo Basin Forest, New Paradise