Short Stories for Kids - The monkey who didnt like bananas
There was a dark deep forest surrounding a tiny village. The villagers never explored the forest too deep in fear of the unknown. The trees were tall, almost looming over the village. In the depth of it all, lay a calm, almost peaceful, quaint place. There lived many animals in harmony with each other. Among them was a family of monkeys. They all loved bananas except one.
Marcus was the middle child, Eve being the oldest always tried to gently coax Marcus into trying bananas and get him to like it. June was the youngest and the mischievous of the lot. He was always getting into trouble, and he LOVED bananas. If given a chance, he would happily eat bananas for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Marcus always felt like the odd one out because he had never met or heard of another monkey who didn’t like bananas. Whenever it was banana time, he would get out of the house under the guise of playing, sleeping & would , lie that he already ate. When excuses didn’t work and he was given the banana to eat, he would sneakily pass it on to June, who was as always glad to have more bananas.
Marcus did everything he could to not have to eat bananas. He pleaded with his parents, reasoned with Eve to help him convince them. But it was all in vain
The quirky nature of Marcus was the talk of the jungle. Not only his family but every animal tried to feed him bananas. Whenever he went to play or get-togethers, he would always get asked, ‘would you like to have a banana?’ Upon polite refusal, he was always met with questions like, ‘why not? Why don’t you like bananas? Or comments like, ‘they are so good, you sure you don’t want any?’, ‘strange! I have never heard of a monkey not liking bananas’.
He was starting to be known as the ‘strange monkey’. Now instead of asking, ‘would you like a banana?’ the animals had started asking, ‘are you THE strange monkey?’
All of this saddened Marcus. Earlier he used to be a bit embarrassed or sheepishly laughed out the questions. But with the increasing talks, he felt dejected and lonely.
He rarely went out, preferring to hide out in the trees. He started spending more and more time alone in the woods. He would try climbing on the highest branch, challenging himself. He found solace in the quiet of nature.
His persistence worried his parents. They turned to Marcus’s grandma for a solution to which grandma simply answered, “Solution to what? I don’t see a problem. Tell me again, what is the actual problem ?’
“He doesn’t eat bananas! Runs so far away from it as if we have set his tail on fire wefirewe have tried everything we could but that boy! Oh that boy just doesn’t want to listen to anyone.”
Grandma laughed and said, ‘What do you want me to do?”
Dad angrily said, “We don’t know, that is why we came to you. We don’t know what to do. Everyone is talking about him, how he doesn’t eat bananas.”
Grandma sighed and asked, “Well, everyone is talking because you are giving so much importance to it. Tell me, what will happen if he doesn’t eat bananas?”
Shocked, dad said, “What do you mean? Have you ever heard of a monkey not eating bananas?”
“Well, I have never seen a parent so obsessed with a child’s dislike of ONE fruit but here we are. There’s a first for everything.” said grandma.
“But…. But…” stuttered dad.
Grandma patted dad on his back and said, “You have been so focused on his dislike of bananas that you failed to notice his love for other fruits. Not everyone is the same. You don’t like apples but do you know who likes apples?
“And who said monkeys have to like bananas just because they are monkeys. It’s like saying leaves have to be green just because they are leaves but as you see, there are many shades of leaves. “
Dad hugged and thanked grandma for her perspective.
Next few days, grandma’s words stayed with dad. He silently observed Marcus without saying anything and he was truly astonished at how correct grandma was. The first thing Marcus swiped from the fruit basket on the kitchen counter was always apples. Guavas came second best.
He also noticed how panicked and sad he got at the thought of bananas. He felt so guilty for making Marcus feel like that.
One day, he sat down with Marcus and apologized for his behavior, his insistence that Marcus eat a banana. He apologized for not realizing sooner how much it was troubling Marcus and promised to stop pestering him regarding bananas.
Marcus turned to his mother and asked, “Is it true? You truly won’t nag me for bananas anymore?”
His mother grinned and said, “Yes”
When he heard that, he was over the moon. He smiled so big and jumped on his parents to give them a hug and said, ‘Thank you mama, papa. “
Everyone smiled and hugged, taking a moment to just be.
Later his mother asked,” But Marcus, what is it about bananas that you don’t like?”
Marcus scratched his head and said, “Its texture, I guess. It just feels weird in my mouth.”
“Okay,” said his mother, dropping the topic and he went out to play.
Moral of the story:
“Some kids have texture aversions. It’s not as commonly known as we would like it to be and rather called being stubborn or picky eater”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF THIS SHORT STORY:
Manisha Sanghi - A lively mom to a witty toddler who loves baking not only stories but also cookies and cakes
WHY SHORT STORIES FOR KIDS?
Kids learn a lot of life lessons and values through the stories they hear from their parents. These stories can be read independently by children or parents can read them to kids and build conversations around different topics .For example in the story, one can talk about fussy eating, on labelling people based on preferences and what kind of effect that can have on people. This story is also a good way to talk about monkeys and their life in forests and their preference for certain types of food. Our posters, maps and flashcards are some screen free way for kids to build knowledge and have conversations and interact
