Story: The Monkey King

(The Waterfall via Wikimedia Commons)

A long time ago, there was an island called the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits. At the very center of this island was an actual mountain there was a high rock at the mountain’s peak. Inside the high rock was a very small seed that possessed the power of heaven, earth, sun, and moon. One day, the high rock split open, and a small stone egg fell out. After a few months, the egg eventually hatched and a stone ape was born.

            The stone ape learned how to adapt very quickly over time, for he was able to walk and leap. Wanting to prove his power, he shot two streams of golden light from his eyes up to the castles in heaven, scaring the Lord of the Heavens.

            The Lord of the Heavens wanted to know what had produced the streams of golden light, so he sent two of the gods to investigate. Once they had returned, the two gods told the Lord of the Heavens that he had nothing to worry about – it was just the stone ape who was showing off his power.

            Eventually, the stone ape befriended the other apes that lived on the island, but they always knew something was different about him, they just could not figure out exactly what it was.

            One day, the stone ape was playing with the other apes near the waterfall by the mountains and he slipped and crashed into one of the bigger rocks that was sticking out of the mountain. This accident easily would have killed any of the other apes, so this raised suspicion amongst them.

            “How did that not kill you?” asked one of the older apes. He walked towards the stone ape and touched his arm, which was stone cold. “You do not have flesh! Are you made out of stone?” he questioned.

            The stone ape nodded shamefully, afraid that the group of apes might guess his biggest secret.

            “He probably has a heart made out of stone, too,” said another ape. Taken aback, the stone ape quickly ran away into his cave, full of sadness. Even though he did not have a real heart, he still had emotions. The stone apes biggest fear was not being loved, for he so longed to feel loved by the apes that surrounded him. He had made it this far without having a real heart, so he could not understand why it was such an issue now.

            “Even though I have a heart made out of stone and my body is not actually flesh, I am still capable of kindness, love, and compassion. It has not been an issue until now, so please just accept me as I am,” said the stone ape.

            “You have so much more power than we do,” said the elder ape.

            “This may be true,” replied the stone ape. “But I have never used that power against you, and I never intend to.”

            The apes realized that even though the stone apes heart was made out of stone, he had never done anything wrong. Because of this, they all agreed to continue to live in peace, regardless of what their differences may be.

Author's Note: My story starts off the same way as the original story, but I took my story in a completely different direction. I wanted to go more in depth for the stone ape character, so that is the direction I took my story. 

Bibliography: "The Monkey King" from R. Wilhelm's Chinese Fairy Book; link to the reading online