天方夜谭英文故事：The Monkey Advisor

Long ago there lived a poet. He always searched a calm place for composing new poems. One day he went to a forest nearby to find a calm place. At one place he thought, "It is the best place for me to write poems." The place was quiet and surrounded by trees full of flowers. So he sat there and began to think. 

 

When he was trying to write a poem there entered an evil sprit with anger. The place was very calm. So the sudden entrance of the devil made him frightened. The devil asked the poet. “Eyee....! Who are you?" 

 

In a fierce voice. The poet was stunned¹ for a while on hearing the voice. The face was so ugly that he was afraid to look at the face. When the devil opened his mouth, fire came out and his eyes seemed to be balls of fire. The poet was so frightened that his tongue stammered² . 

 

A little later again the devil spoke³, “How dare you enter our place" on hearing the roaring of the devil the poet said “I am am an innocent poet, I want to write poem in a lonely and calm place. So I came here. I didn’t know that this place was yours. I don’t have any bad aim “If you give me a little time, I will quit the place". 

 

But the bad devil was not ready to hear his voice and began to curse him, “I won’t excuse you. You made a big mistake. You should be punished for that. So you will turn into a monkey from now." 

 

All of a sudden the poet become a monkey, grey in color. The devil saw the monkey poet and said, "Oh! Ha! You shall be like this for many years." 

 

Then he left the place. The monkey poet cried and cried for a while. But he could not do anything except weeping. As he got hungry he began to eat the fruits and nuts and sleep on the trees like real monkeys. He could not talk and write poems as he did earlier. 

 

He walked on the earth and leaped on the trees for days. One day he reached a seashore and luckily found a ship which was ready to leave. The monkey poet in no time jumped on to the ship and moved here and there over the top. The passengers saw the monkey on the ship and started to shout. "Monkey! Monkey!! Any one come and throw this away". 

 

They said with fear. One of the passengers quickly came forward and threw him into the sea. 

 

Some passengers shouted,"Kill him! Kill!." 

 

Now the captain of the ship came there and saw the monkey struggling on the water. He was a kind-hearted man. So he asked the passengers "No! No, you don’t worry about the monkey. It will not harm you. This poor creature looks strange. I can manage him. 

 

The Monkey poet was safe. He thanked the captain for his timely⁴ help. Then he sat in a corner silently without any misbehaviour. Finally the ship reached a port - that was Baghdath. 

 

With a little smile, it thanked the captain . It jumped from the ship and wandered on the roads of Baghdath. 

 

Just then he heard the news that the king wanted a good Advisor⁵ to him. To get selected all had to write a letter of worthy⁶ words. The best letter writer shall be given the post of the Chief advisor. The Monkey poet also wrote a letter to the king and participated in the competition. He wrote a letter of fine message. When the king read the letters, he very much liked the monkey's letter. So he ordered the writer of the letter to be brought before him soon. 

 

The courtiers came with the news to the monkey poet who sprung before the king at once. The King saw the monkey with wonder and said "This poor monkey! You all say this creature wrote the letter!". 

 

One of the minister said “This is true my lord. It was written by the Monkey Lord" All the courtiers and the crowded public around the king, cheered the monkey. 

 

They wondered, "He can't talk. But how can he write a letter of such a quality. The monkey stood before the king majestically⁷. But the king wanted to test the monkey and asked it to write the same letter now with the same words. 

 

The monkey poet readily⁸ took a pen and a paper and started to write the same letter so fast. The king and the others were in great surprise on his way of writing. They said "This is not an ordinary monkey. The king turned back and called his daughter. She was a princess of magical powers. In no time she found that he was not a monkey…he was a poet of intelligence. She said that he had been cursed by some evil spirit. 

 

The Princess chanted some mantra and removed the curse on the monkey. In a few minutes the monkey poet changed to a real human poet. The poet smiled happily at the courtiers and they cheered him. The pet thanked the princess for her help. 

 

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