Healing Gardens

Setting: southeastern Asia Time: Just after the beginning of time. Scene: In the beginning, bananas were found under the earth, and when ripe, would pop up to be eaten. The monkeys in Asia found the convenient location of the bananas to their liking and they ate the bananas freely. The birds and the trees watched overhead in great dismay, as the monkeys grew fatter and fatter. “We have to work for our food, finding worms and small insects all day, so why do the monkeys have it so easy?” said the bird to the trees one day. “Good question, and if you haven’t noticed, the monkeys have become quite lazy since everything is literally at their feet,” the tree replied. “Well I am sick and tired of watching those fat little monkeys crawl around this land and eat the day away. All the other animals in the kingdom work for their food, and it’s about time the monkeys do too.” And so the trees and the birds devised a plan to teach the monkeys a lesson. The next night, while all the monkeys were asleep under the trees, the bird flew down and scooped up all the bananas in the land. They then brought them up to the tops of the trees and cackled at their devious work. “Oh this will really get them,” cried the birds. “They won’t know what to do when they wake up and find their breakfast missing!” Then the tree said, “I will hang these bananas from the tops of my branches, for all of the monkeys to see. Being as they are so fat and lazy, they won’t be able to do a thing about it. All that will happen to them is that they will starve.” But the trees and birds were sorely mistaken. The next morning the monkeys were devastated to find their delectable bananas had disappeared. They cried and cried while the other animals laughed at their misery. “What should we do?” one monkey asked. “We must show them that we are monkeys of a revolution! We cannot go down like this my brothers! We will fight for our bananas, that’s right!” In the next few days the monkeys worked their fat off by running laps around the trees, and jumping from place to place. Finally, they were in good enough shape to climb the tree and receive their bananas. As the first monkey mounted the base of the tree, he slowed but consistently climbed up the tree. When he reached the top, he plucked a banana and shouted with great relish, “Victory is mine! One small step for monkey, one giant leap for monkeykind!” And in the days that came to pass thereafter, the monkeys began to search from tree to tree for their beloved bananas, and this became an everyday occurrence. Soon the monkeys thought nothing of it. And this is how bananas became a fruit that grows at the tops of trees. This story was about perseverance and dedication. The trees and the birds saw the monkeys’ weakness and used it to teach the monkeys a valuable lesson. In the end their plan worked successfully because the monkeys learned how to overcome their obstacle.