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Here are 63 traditional stories from world folklore about our nearest relatives: monkeys and apes. As with many tales about other animals, those about monkeys and apes sometimes reflect what we as humans admire about ourselves. However, the stories more frequently embody features that we dislike. Whether they depict monkeys and apes as annoying or clever pranksters, imitative nuisances and troublemakers, loyal and wise friends, or heroic and noble characters who sacrifice themselves for others, the selections in this anthology about our closest primate kin can tell us much about ourselves and what it means to be human.
List of contents
Table of ContentsPreface
Purpose
Organization
Adaptation Techniques
Supplemental Analyses: Commentaries
A Note on Monkeys Versus Apes
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Some Meanings of Monkeys and Apes
People and Animals
Perceptions of Monkeys and Apes in the Ancient Western World
Some Views from the Middle Ages Through the Modern Era
Disquieting Simians in the Middle East
Mesoamerica and South America
Mixed Portrayals in South Asia
Major Monkeys: Old Monkey of China and Hanuman of India
Conclusion and Invitation to the Reader
The Middle East and India
The Origin of Monkeys
The Greedy Monkeys
The Monkey and the Necklace
The Monkeys Assigned to Water the Trees
The Vile Monkey and the Patient Buffalo
The Brahmin and the Monkey
The Heroic Monkey's Self-Sacrifice
The Monkey Who Outwitted a Water Ogre
The Lessons of the Meddling Monkey and the Unheeded Bird
The Story of Prince Rama
The Monkey and the Elephant
The Monkey and the Mirror
The Monkey Prince
The Men Who Became Monkeys
The Children Who Were Turned into Monkeys
How the Langur Got Its Tail
The Monkey Husband
The Monkey Nursemaid
The Sultan's Daughter and the Baboon
Africa
The Monkey and the Shark
Monkeys and People
The Monkey and the Jackal
The Fiddling Monkey
Why Old Baboon Has That Kink in His Tail
Old Jackal and Young Baboon
Leopard and Monkey
The Baboons and ||Xabbiten||Xabbiten
The Boy and the Baboons
The Truthful Monkey
The Woman, the Monkey, and the Child
How Twins Entered the World
How the Tail of the Colobus Monkey Became White
Western Europe
An Aesop Sampler
The King of the Apes
The Ape and the Fox
The Lion and the Ape
The Monkey and the Fox
Jupiter and the Monkey
The Monkeys and Their Mother
The Dancing Monkeys
The Monkey and the Dolphin
Voltaire
Candide, the Girls, and the Two Monkeys
Tibet, Korea, Southeast Asia, and China
The Two Monkeys
The Monkeys Saved from Death
The Monkeys and the Moon
The Monkey's Judgment
Why Monkeys and People Do Not Live Together
The Adventures of the Monkey King
The Cruel Rich Couple
Japan and the Philippines
The Fox, the Otter, and the Monkey
Raw Monkey Relish
The Monkey, the Crab, and the Persimmons
The Monkey and the Wise Boar
The Monkeys and the Dragonflies
How Children Became Monkeys
The First Monkey
The Story of a Monkey
The Monkey and the Turtle
The Caribbean, South America, and North America
Irraweka and the Flood
How Monkey Became a Trickster
The Fox and Monkey Thieves
The Woman and the Monkey
The Monkey Who Begged for Misery
The Monkey Girl
The Signifying Monkey and the Lion
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Terry L. Norton is professor emeritus of education at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where he taught courses in literacy education and children's and adolescent literature. He lives in Rock Hill.
