rab And The Monkey

There was once a crab who lived in a hole on the shady side of a
mountain. She was a very good housewife, and so careful and industrious
that there was no creature in the whole country whose hole was so neat
and clean as hers, and she took great pride in it.

One day she saw lying near the mouth of her hole a handful of cooked
rice which some pilgrim must have let fall when he was stopping to eat
his dinner. Delighted at this discovery, she hastened to the spot, and
was carrying the rice back to her hole when a monkey, who lived in some
trees near by, came down to see what the crab was doing. His eyes shone
at the sight of the rice, for it was his favourite food, and like the
sly fellow he was, he proposed a bargain to the crab. She was to give
him half the rice in exchange for the kernel of a sweet red kaki fruit
which he had just eaten. He half expected that the crab would laugh in
his face at this impudent proposal, but instead of doing so she only
looked at him for a moment with her head on one side and then said that
she would agree to the exchange. So the monkey went off with his rice,
and the crab returned to her hole with the kernel.

For some time the crab saw no more of the monkey, who had gone to pay a
visit on the sunny side of the mountain; but one morning he happened to
pass by her hole, and found her sitting under the shadow of a beautiful
kaki tree.

'Good day,' he said politely, 'you have some very fine fruit there! I am
very hungry, could you spare me one or two?'

'Oh, certainly,' replied the crab, 'but you must forgive me if I cannot
get them for you myself. I am no tree-climber.'

'Pray do not apologise,' answered the monkey. 'Now that I have your
permission I can get them myself quite easily.' And the crab consented
to let him go up, merely saying that he must throw her down half the
fruit.

In another moment he was swinging himself from branch to branch, eating
all the ripest kakis and filling his pockets with the rest, and the poor
crab saw to her disgust that the few he threw down to her were either
not ripe at all or else quite rotten.

'You are a shocking rogue,' she called in a rage; but the monkey took no
notice, and went on eating as fast as he could. The crab understood that
it was no use her scolding, so she resolved to try what cunning would
do.

'Sir Monkey,' she said, 'you are certainly a very good climber, but now
that you have eaten so much, I am quite