Misadventures in the Land of Fables #53
I was tempted to pretend this fable had ancient origins, something from south-east Asia, or the Panchatantra perhaps, where monkeys are in abundance. It doesn’t. But it might have done. I hesitate to dub it an original for that same reason. There are too many stories about the moon. Or maybe there are not enough.
This one is a simple tale of misplaced ambition. A monkey gets the idea the moon is close enough to touch and resolves to take it as a gift for his troupe.
I recall a children’s book in which a loving father climbed a ladder and brought the moon home to his son. I remember this story because my brother-in-law, an engineer, objected strongly to its affirmation of the pre-scientific point of view, and maybe to the high standard set for proofs of parental love. My objection would be directed it at the whimsicality of the metaphor but, aimed at children, I was inclined to give it a pass. It may have resurfaced twenty years later.
The immediate inspiration was a number of Japanese paintings of monkeys reaching for the moon. (The example included above could be an illustration of the last scene of the fable.) The images have a quaint, classical tranquility, but the association of the curious, audacious, tree-dwelling ape and the elusive, inconstant moon provoked my imagination.
You can read it here: ‘The Monkey and the Moon‘
Let me know your thoughts.
