A forest was high on a mountainside. It was very cold. The rains had come suddenly and it had become even more miserably chilly.
In the forest lived a troop of monkeys. All the animals were miserable with the cold, the wind and the rain, but the monkeys suffered the most perhaps. They had neither nest nor cave nor burrow to give them shelter and warmth. They sat on the branches of trees or under them and got more and more wet! They shivered and their teeth chattered. They were truly in a pitiable condition!
Near the tree where they sat was a tree with Gunja fruits. The Gunja fruit is red and bright. Now one of the monkeys thought he was very intelligent. He had been to a village and had seen people there sitting around a fire and warming themselves. The fire glowed red and bright. Looking at the fruit he thought it must definitely be what those villagers used to keep themselves warm.
He told the other monkeys. They collected some of the fruit and making a pile they blew on it hoping to get fire and warmth. But no matter how hard they blew on them, there appeared no fire out of the fruits.
On a tree near by, a bird sat huddled inside its nest, warm and dry, watching the monkeys. She was very amused at them. After a while, she called out, “Hey! You really are idiots! Those are Gunja fruits, not embers. They will not give you warmth.”
“What do you know about it,” called back the monkey, “I have seen this in a village. You have never been outside the forest, so you know nothing. You mind your own business and keep quiet!”
By then, the bird had got really interested in the antics of the stupid monkeys. So, she hopped down to take a closer look. From the shelter of a large leaf, she watched them blow on the Gunja fruits again and again with no result. She was giggling at their folly. “You know, you’ll be better off if you find a cave or the hollow of a tree. It will protect you from the rain and you won’t feel so cold either. You are really very foolish to keep trying to get fire out of the Gunja fruits!” she commented.
The monkeys were getting more and more irritated with the bird’s advice. They were cold and wet. The fire was not lighting up. And the bird was giving them unnecessary advice! “Who asked you? Calling us fools! ” asked one of the monkeys, “I’ll teach you a lesson!” he said. Grabbing the irritating bird, he dashed it on the ground and killed it.