The animals in the forest chose the tiger as their king because of his great strength. But they knew he was so full of pride that he often did stupid things. He was not a very sensible fellow, so they frequently played tricks on him.
One day, the tiger was resting under a tree when he heard the sweet song of an insect. He looked up and saw a troop of monkeys and thought it was one of them who sang. So, he very sweetly asked them who the singer was.
The monkeys knew it was Shalymmen, the insect, who sang. But a mischievous young monkey replied, “It’s my sister singing.” The tiger announced he would marry the singer. The monkeys were dismayed. One of them whacked the little monkey who had made the stupid remark.
“She’s lazy and stubborn, sir,” they replied, “She’s not a fit wife for you. Besides she’s too young.”
But the tiger was adamant. So, the wedding was fixed for the full moon night a week later. As soon as the tiger had gone, the monkeys got together to discuss how to get out of this situation.
“We have to find a solution. The wedding has to be held and we have to make sure that we do not get caught or the tiger will kill us!” they said. Finally, they decided to make a bride of clay.
Within a week they had made a figure. Then they loosely placed the clay head on it and dressed it beautifully. Finally, they put a veil over it so that the tiger might not see it. They laid out a lavish spread for the bridegroom.
On the night of the wedding, the tiger arrived, dressed gorgeously and carrying a bag of betel leaves and nuts. He presented it to his veiled ‘bride’ as a wedding gift.
“Why is she so still and silent?” he asked.
“She’s too lazy sir,” said the little monkey. He took the basket and hooked it on the clay figure’s arm.
“She may have fallen asleep,” said the monkeys and suggested, “Just pull the string of the bag and she will wake up.”
The tiger pulled the string and the head of the clay figure fell off. The tiger was aghast! The monkeys chattered and wailed and shrieked! “You’ve killed her!”
They attacked the tiger. The tiger fought back fiercely, but he was no match for a huge troop of wild and ferocious monkeys. They nearly killed him. Finally, he managed to escape and ran for his life. Since that day, tigers have never gone near monkeys!
