The Filial Monkey chapter 2

Back at his shelter, Jack couldn’t sleep. The next day, he asked an old man in the town about the cave on Eagle Rock. The old man told him that the cave was an ancient burial site. Legend had it that a long time ago, there was a famous senator from this area. After his death, people built a path on the mountain to place his coffin in the cave. To prevent grave – robbers, they shaped the entrance of the cave like a narrow ledge and then destroyed the path. So, even the most skilled thieves couldn’t get in.

Realizing that there might be a senator buried in the cave, Jack couldn’t help but think about the possible treasures inside. Greed took over him, and he started to have the idea of robbing the grave. But looking at the steep mountain, he had no idea how to get in.

One day, while Jack was working with a group of men to pull a boat, he noticed some stones being thrown at them from the mountain. Looking up, he saw a group of monkeys playing on the cliff. These monkeys were very agile, climbing on the rocks as if it was nothing. An idea struck Jack: he could use these monkeys to get the treasures from the cave.

So, Jack made a wooden cage with a trapdoor and some mechanisms at home. Then he took it up the mountain. It didn’t take long for him to find the monkey group. In this sparsely – populated mountain area, people regarded monkeys as smart animals and rarely hunted them.

Jack scattered some corn around the cage and then went down the mountain. The next day, when he came back, the corn was gone, so he scattered more. After doing this for more than ten days, he finally put the corn inside the cage and waited nearby. Soon, a female monkey with a young monkey and a baby monkey hanging in her arms swung over on a branch. After observing for a while, the three monkeys jumped into the cage to eat the corn. By accident, the young monkey triggered the mechanism, and the door closed automatically. The female monkey let out a wild cry. Jack quickly walked up and covered the cage with a black cloth. Since monkeys are afraid of the dark, they quieted down. Jack then carried the cage back home.

When he got home, Jack removed the cloth. Carelessly, he was scratched by the female monkey. He grabbed the female monkey and killed her with a single blow. Seeing their mother’s blood, the two young monkeys were terrified. They closed their eyes and huddled together. Jack knew that adult monkeys were too wild to train, so he skinned the female monkey. Just then, a passing merchant saw the fresh monkey skin and bought it from Jack for three dollars.