Once upon a time, a clever monkey lived in a mango tree. The mangoes were ripe, yellow and sweet. He enjoyed life and was a very contented monkey.
One sunny beautiful day, a crocodile swam up to the tree and told the monkey that he had travelled a long distance and was in search of food as he was very hungry.
The monkey was kind and offered him a few ripe and sweet mangoes. The crocodile enjoyed them very much and asked the monkey whether he could come again for some more fruit. The monkey was generous and he happily agreed to give mangoes to his new found friend, the crocodile.
The crocodile returned early the next day. The monkey gave him a few mangoes which he enjoyed eating. Soon the crocodile visited the monkey everyday. The two became very good friends. They discussed their lives, their friends and family.
The crocodile told the monkey that he had a wife and that they lived on the other side of the river. So the kind and generous monkey offered him some extra mangoes to take home to his wife. The crocodile's wife loved the mangoes and made her husband promise to get her some every day.
Meanwhile, the friendship between the monkey and the crocodile became stronger.
The crocodile's wife started getting jealous. She wanted to put an end to their friendship. She frequently questioned her husband about the monkey and his family. She pretended that she could not believe that her husband, a crocodile could be friends with a monkey. Her husband tried to convince her that he and the monkey were true friends but she pretended not to believe him.
The crocodile's wife thought to herself that if the monkey lived on a diet of mangoes, his flesh would be very sweet. So she asked the crocodile to invite the monkey to their house for lunch.
The crocodile was not happy about this. He tried to make excuses.
One day, she pretended to be very ill and told the crocodile that the doctor said that she would only recover if she ate a monkey's heart. If her husband truly loved her and wanted to save her life, he must bring her his friend's heart.
The crocodile was terrified. He did not know what to do. He loved his friend but he could not possibly let his wife die. The crocodile's wife threatened him saying that if he did not get her the monkey's heart, she would surely die.
So the crocodile went to the mango tree and invited the monkey to come home to meet his wife.
He told the monkey that he could ride across the river on the crocodile’s back. The monkey was happy to visit the crocodile’s home and meet his wife.
As they reached the middle of the river, the crocodile began to sink. The frightened monkey asked him why he was doing that.
The crocodile explained that he would have to kill the monkey and take out his heart to save his wife's life.
The clever monkey told him that he would gladly his heart to save the life of the crocodile's wife, but he had left his heart behind on the mango tree. He asked the crocodile to hurry and turn back so that the monkey could go get his heart from the mango tree.
The silly crocodile quickly swam back to the mango tree. The monkey quickly climbed up the tree to safety.
He told the crocodile to tell his wicked wife that she had married the biggest fool in the world.