The Monkey’s Plunge

By Charles Schnell

Charles, no longer a Blogger-on-Staff but a consummate writer, still contributes short stories. “The Monkey’s Plunge” is his latest parable-ish fable submission.

On top of the hill in the middle of the forest the monkey meditated with his master in the master’s temple. The aged master, having two ounces of wisdom for every one wrinkle, imparted perhaps the most profound piece of wisdom he could to the monkey at the end of their meditation session. This was it: “Do not chase after the glitter, the riches, or the fame, my monkey. Those are all gold, but who needs gold when you can have God?”

The monkey replied, “Why can’t I have both?”

“If you allow your heart to fill with gold, there will be no room left for God,” said the master. “But, if you fill your heart with God, you will never need gold. You will still want it on occasion, which means you must be careful, for the second you let gold in, God gets pushed out.”

“So, what are you telling me to do? Run from the gold?”

“Run from the gold, monkey. Run to God.”

“Yes, master,” the monkey said, not completely comprehending his master’s words. With this, the monkey left the temple and returned to the city to continue on with his life.

An hour had not even gone by before the monkey forgot his master’s teachings for the day.

The week that followed had been no ordinary week, for the monkey had finally been discovered. The monkey was getting famous, as he had always wanted. Fans wanted to meet the monkey wherever he went. They asked for autographs on the most random and unexpected of objects. In addition, his earnings skyrocketed. He started buying things he had always wanted.

In fact, the monkey grew so busy that he had to cancel his weekly session with his master. This is the first time he had ever cancelled. When the monkey came to see his master to tell him, the master sighed, shook his head, and only had this to say, “Remember: Be careful, my monkey. Run from the gold. Run to God.”

This final message from his master went into the monkey’s right ear and out of the left. He hurriedly walked through the jungle back to the city; he had a dinner reservation.

Almost a whole year passed without the monkey coming back for his meditation session. He grew so involved and integrated into city society that he had forgotten about his wrinkled master. He even made a few self-righteous and conceited decisions along the way.

It was at this point when the monkey realized that his situation was changing again. The city no longer loved him. In fact, its people started to turn against him. They didn’t like the monkey anymore. They grew jealous of the monkey. They grew to hate the monkey. They wanted the monkey gone. So, as if right out of a cartoon, they grabbed their pitchforks and flaming torches. The monkey was chased from the city.

But that was not enough; they wanted him gone for good. Gone gone. They chased the monkey throughout the jungle. Taking advantage of the vines to swing on and the branches to jump to, the monkey managed to avoid his ex-fans for a fair amount of time. But, eventually, they cornered the monkey at the edge of the waterfall.

The monkey had no choice but to take the leap of faith and dive head first into the lake below the waterfall. The monkey’s plunge caused a huge splash, convincing the people he was gone gone. The people peacefully returned to the city, taking their pitchforks, torches and hatred with them.

Meanwhile, the monkey was still in the lake under the waterfall. He felt relieved. He felt safe. But, his feelings of relief and safety quickly turned into confusion as the current of the lake pushed him into the connecting rapids. The rapids tossed and turned him for many miles. The fearful monkey could not do anything but close his eyes, continue his record of involuntary summersaults, and pray that the pain would end soon.

He eventually stopped moving. He was still underwater, and the rapids were still roaring by him, but he was no longer being carried down the river. Then, he realized why he had stopped moving: he felt a hand grabbing onto his arm. The hand started pulling him out of the river. Trapped underwater, he had no clue as to whom the hand belonged and prepared for the worst.

The master eventually pulled the monkey fully out of the water. The monkey was more relieved than ever to see that it was his master, not his enemy. After taking a minute to catch his breath and shake the water off his fur, the monkey looked his master in the eye, trying to muster the words “I’m sorry” but was not successful in getting them out.

Instead, the monkey said, “Now I know.” His master gave him a look of inquiry, so the monkey clarified: “Run to God?”

The master nodded, took the monkey’s hand, and escorted him back to the temple. “Run to God, monkey.”

Editor: Luke Langlois