THE MONKEY AND THE CAMEL
Singing Monkey              Donkey   


Now, my mini-gorillas, this is the final story I will share.  It teaches one of the most valuable lessons by far that you can learn.

Once upon a time there was a monkey named Pico.  He was an extremely good singer.  He could sing anything imaginable, from rock to rap. He was one of the most talented singers throughout all of the world.  Every year there is a competition called "The Singing King."  Whoever wins this award is by far the most prestigious person ever.  It is the most sought after award, and people and all kinds of animals train for years to perfect their voices in order to win this award.  

Since Pico was already a wonderful singer, he was trying to decide what song would be best to sing at the competition.  He wanted a song that would really stand out and that the crowd could relate to.  Pico had finally decided he was going to sing the song "Womanizer" by Britney Spears.  He thought the song would really emphasize his extremely wonderful vocals.  

For several months, Pico would practice.  You could hear him singing, "Womanizer, Woman-womanizer, you're a womanizer!"  Every single day it got better and better.  Some people even told Pico that he sang the song so well, that he should invite Britney Spears to come watch the performance.  So he sent her an invitation.

Finally, the day had arrived for the big show!  Pico was really nervous!  He decided to forget the nerves, and get up on stage and do what he had been practicing.  As he got on stage, he just let it all go!  He was singing like crazy!  The crowd was going insane! Everyone loved it, except for one animal.  A camel, by the name of Jimbo, was quite frustrated.  Jimbo was known for always trying to have attention.  When he noticed Pico was getting all the attention, he was furious.  He was trying to come up with a way to impress the crowd, even though he wasn't even in the competition.  Jimbo didn't even know how to sing.  He had never taken a voice lesson or singing class in his life.  However, he thought he could still win the crowd over.

When Pico was done performing, Jimbo decided to immediately run up on stage and start singing "Toxic" by Britney Spears.  However, the crowd was actually really disgusted with the fact that Jimbo couldn't let Pico have all the attention.  Jimbo sounded absolutely horrible.  The crowd started booing and shouting things.

Britney Spears actually made it to the competition and she was really upset with Jimbo.

"Jimbo! Get off the stage! You are the worst singer I have ever heard!!"

Other people from the crowd began throwing things at Jimbo.  One person threw a basketball at Jimbo's head, while others threw apples and oranges.

Pico was upset as well, because he had spent so much time, and worked so hard.  All he wanted was for everyone to respect him and be happy for him.  However, the camel had to try to destroy that.  The crowd, however, was obviously not very pleased - and neither was Britney. The moral of this story is to never try to outdo someone out of jealousy.  It doesn't help, and it makes you look bad in the process. Being jealous can make you do certain things that you will regret in the future.  Always remember to be happy for others when they achieve greatness, for if you don't, you will never achieve greatness yourself.  

Author's Note:  I kept the main characters the same: a monkey and a camel.  However, I did give them names: Pico and Jimbo.  In the original story, the monkey was actually a dancer.  I changed it so that the monkey was actually a singer.  Instead of just being at an animal convention, which was the setting for the original story, I made it a singing competition called "The Singing King."  I kept the moral of the story the same though.  I really liked the moral of not being jealous.  I think everyone goes through the feeling of being jealous, but a lot of time they just don't act on it.  However, jealousy can be felt at any time, especially when someone is successful at something, and you are not.  It is something that you just have to work on and realize that you are not the very best at everything, and to applaud others for their greatness. I also put Britney Spears in the story, just to add a little something to it.  I thought it would be fun if she attended, considering she was the singer of the songs in the story. Also, at the end, in the original story people beat the camel with clubs.  In this version, people throw a basketball and fruit at the camel. 

Bibliography Information:
Story Title: The Monkey and the Camel
Book Title: Aesop’s Fables
Book Author: Laura Gibbs
Year: 2002
Web Source:  The Monkey and the Camel

Image Information:
This is a picture of a Singing Monkey. This picture was found on the flicr.com web site.  It was uploaded on May 20, 2008.

Image Information 2:
This is an image of a Donkey. This was found on the ShastriX blogspot.  It was done in January of 2006.

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