The Crab and the Monkey     Once a crab and a monkey  went for a walk together.  Along the way the monkey found a persimmon seed, and the crab found a rice ball, and being a very clever talker, he finally persuaded the crab to trade the rice ball for the persimmon seed.  The monkey quickly ate the rice ball.
    The crab couldn't eat the persimmon seed, but he took it home and planted it in his garden, where it began to grow.  Because the crab tended it everyday, it grew and grew.
    The tiny seed finally became a big tree and then one Autumn the crab saw that it was full of persimmons. (big juicy ones) The crab  wanted very much to eat the persimmons, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't climb the tree. So he asked his friend the monkey to pick the persimmons for him. Now, the monkey loved persimmons even better than rice balls, and once he was up the tree he began eating all the ripe persimmons, and the only ones he threw down to the crab were green and hard. one of them hit the crab on the head and hurt him badly.
    The crab was a naturally angry and asked three of his friends, a mortar and and a hornet and a chestnut , to help him punish the monkey. So these three friends hid themselves around  the crab's house one day, and the crab invited the monkey to come to tea.
       When the monkey arrived he was given a seat by the fire.  The chestnut was hiding in the ashes, roasting itself, and suddenly it burst out of the fireplace and burned the monkey on the neck.  the monkey screamed with pain and jumped up.  At that instant the hornet flew down and stung the monkey.  Then the monkey started to run out of the house, but the mortar was sitting up above the door and fell down with a thud on the monkey, almost breaking his back.
    The monkey saw there was no escape.  So he bowed down low to the crab and his three friends and said: "I really did a bad thing when I ate all Mr. Crab's good persimmons and threw the green, hard ones at him.  I promise never to do such a bad thing again.  Please forgive me."
    The crab accepted the monkey's apology, and they all became good friends again. The End Home