The Story of the Dragon and the Monkey.

 

Once upon a time there was a dragon who was friends with a  monkey….

A clear, sunny day somewhere in the universe. A snorting dragon is flying through the sky, his emerald-coloured tail twirling behind him.

Suddenly the dragon hears a ‘whooshing’ sound. The dragon turns. Then turns again. Nothing.

The ’whooshing’ sound now is getting nearer.

‘What can it be?’ wonders the dragon as he holds his mighty wings aloft.

The dragon opens his eyes wide in amazement.

A monkey is flying toward him, his gangly arms flapping madly to keep him afloat.. The monkey is grinning from ear to ear.

“How’ve you been, dragon?’ laughs the monkey as he flaps around in the sky (doing a monkey version of a doggy paddle).

‘Oh. It’s you,’ says the dragon, “a flying monkey! What next!’

The dragon snorts at the monkey and flies off.

The monkey follows the dragon across the sky.

Finally the dragon rests on a cloud, a giant puff of cotton wool in a cobalt blue sky.

The monkey flies over to him. The monkey is still grinning.

“I thought I better teach myself to fly if I wanted to see you again,’ grins the monkey. “It’s not that difficult really,’  he continues as his arms begin to give way to exhaustion. “May I rest a while?’, pants the monkey.

The dragon nods his head.

The monkey sits next to the dragon on the cloud.

The two sat silently for a long time, neither able to speak (although the monkey was probably very tired).

As if by magic, the dragon pulls an envelope out of the cloud and hands it to the monkey.

‘Here,’ says the dragon.

The monkey takes the envelope and tears it open.

Inside are dozens of fragrant rose petals.

“You grew these!’ exclaims the monkey. “Thank you.”

The monkey folds the envelope shut and places it behind his ear.

“I’ll be off now. See you around, dragon. Thanks again for the petals.”

The dragon sits there silently unable to look the monkey in the eye.

The monkey smiles at the dragon.

“One day, dragon, this cloud will sail away with you on it. You should come back down to earth. Besides, you can’t grow roses up here!”

With that, the monkey catapulted off the cloud and back to his home.

The dragon watched with remorse as the monkey disappeared beneath the clouds.