The Monkey and the Merchant
Once upon a time, in a rich port city on the shore of the deep blue seas, there lived a cunning merchant. This merchant had gathered a great fortune by selling the rare cloths and spices he brought from distant lands. He also had a lovely but extremely imitative monkey that he never kept away from his side. The monkey watched its master's every move with great attention and took great delight in imitating exactly what he did. On a hot summer morning the merchant boarded a wooden ship with his purse full of gold, to set out on a new trading voyage. Settling on the deck, the merchant took out his gold coins, which glittered brightly all day long, and began to count them one by one.
The monkey, watching him from a corner, engraved in its memory how the man gripped the coins with his fingers and weighed them merrily. As the voyage went on the sea grew rough, and the weary merchant fell into a deep sleep with the purse at his bedside. The clever monkey seized the chance, crept up silently, snatched the heavy purse of gold and climbed to the top of the mast. Sitting in the shade of the sails, the lovely animal opened the purse and began to take out the gold, just as its master had done during the day. The monkey first threw one gold coin onto the wooden deck of the ship, then dropped the other into the surging waters of the sea. As one coin fell into the sea and one onto the deck, the jingling sounds mingled with the noise of the waves and echoed.
The sailors on the ship watched this strange sight with astonishment, but did not dare to interfere with the monkey. Woken by the noise, the merchant saw that the purse at his bedside was empty and raised his head in horror. When he saw that half of his only fortune had been lost in the depths of the deep blue waters, he began to lament helplessly. Though he shouted, "Stop, do not do it!" the monkey smiled at its master and hurled the last coin into the sea as well. When the purse was completely empty, the monkey came down merrily and laid the empty purse in its master's lap. The merchant, who had given up to the sea half of the fortune he had won by cunning, looked at his imitating friend and understood the mistake he had made. Showing off before others and boasting of an unjust gain one day makes a person face losses at the most unexpected moment. What comes with the wind goes with the flood.