Once upon a time there was a monkey, small and stupid. All day long she did nothing but jump from branch to branch.
“Be careful,” the big monkeys told her, “it won’t be long before you fall!”
But the monkey did not want to listen to anyone. She climbed the tallest trees and jumped onto the thinnest branches.
One day she climbed a tall tree. Suddenly the branch under her broke off, and the monkey fell into a thorny bush, and a long sharp thorn stuck into its tail.
- Oh, oh! How painful! - the monkey cried, and everyone saw that she was also a coward.
Just at that time, a barber was walking through the forest and carrying his razors in his knapsack. The monkey was happy:
- Help me, please, cut off the tip of the tail with a razor along with this nasty thorn.
The barber took out a razor, just brought it to his tail, and the monkey screamed:
- Oh! This will hurt! – and jumped to the side. The barber cut off almost the entire tail of the monkey. The monkey saw this and cried:
- Look what you did to my tail! Give me back my tail or give me your sharp razor!
The barber could not return the monkey's tail and gave her his razor.
The monkey runs further through the forest, waving a sharp razor.
Suddenly he sees an old woman collecting brushwood. And the twigs are thick and long. There's no way the old lady can break them.
The monkey wanted to show off his sharp razor, so she approached the old woman and said:
- Look at my razor. You can split the brushwood with it in no time.
The old woman was delighted, well, she could split the brushwood, but the razor was unsuitable for this task - it quickly became dull.
– What have you done with my sharp razor! - the monkey got angry. - Give me back the razor or give me your brushwood!
The old woman could not return the sharp razor to the monkey and gave her her brushwood.
The monkey put the brush on his back and galloped on.
Suddenly he sees the housewife baking rice cakes in the yard. The monkey wanted rice cakes. She approached the hostess and began to look. But the housewife’s brushwood is damp and doesn’t burn well.
– Better take my brushwood, it’s completely dry! - suggested the monkey.
The hostess was delighted, took the bundle and threw it into the fire. The fire lit up and the cakes began to brown. And when the brushwood burned down and the hostess took out the cakes, the monkey shouted:
- What have you done with my brushwood! Give it back to me or give me your cakes!
The hostess could not return the brushwood to the monkey and gave her her cakes.
The monkey grabbed them and ran on. She ran and ran and met an old man with a large copper gong. The monkey wanted to have such a gong, and he said:
“Old man, I have some delicious rice cakes.” Give me your gong for them.
“Okay,” the old man agreed, “we can change.” The monkey grabbed the gong, climbed to the top of the tree and started hitting the gong.
– I am the most beautiful monkey in the world! - shouts. “I have the most wonderful gong in the world!” Bom! Bom! I had a tail, I traded it for a razor. She exchanged the razor for brushwood, and the brushwood for cakes, and for the cakes she received this wonderful gong! Bom! Bom! Bom!
The monkey hit the gong so hard that he could not resist and fell into a thorny bush. The monkeys laughed loudly and from then on began to call her the tailless Bom-Bom.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru