Once upon a time, a merchant was building a temple on the outskirts of a town.
Everyday, the carpenters cut wood and shaped the logs tap-tap! bang-bang! thud-thud!.
One day, a carpenter was splitting a huge log. He sawed the log – zzzzrrr! zzzzrrr!
To keep it split open, he hammered in a wooden wedge – thak! thak! THUNK!
At lunchtime, he left the wedge in the log, left with the other carpenters for lunch.
The place grew quiet…..shhhhhh.
A troop of monkeys were playing on the trees nearby – chatter-chatter! screech! whoop-whoop!
One curious monkey jumped down. He looked at the half-split log.
“Hmmm?” he muttered
He circled it – tip-tap, tip-tap.
He tugged the wedge lightly – tug-tug.
Nothing happened.
Curious and stubborn, he sat right in the middle of the split log. His tail dangled in between the two heavy pieces of wood.
He grabbed the wedge with both hands.
The monkey pulled the wedge. Ungh! Pull! creeeak…
Unghhh! Pull harder! creeaaak… scrrrape!
The wedge began to move — wiggle-wiggle… slip!
Suddenly – POP!
Out came the wedge!
And then – SNAP! SLAM!
The two sides of the log slammed shut.
“EEEKKK!!!” screamed the monkey — howl! screech! yowl! The poor monkeys tail was trapped inside the log.
When the carpenters returned – chatter-chatter! – they found the foolish monkey stuck and wailing. They finally freed the monkey.
The wounded monkey learnt an important lesson that day:
Think before you act!
Do not interfere in things you do not understand.
Curiosity without knowledge can lead to danger.
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