Painting by Xiang YeYoung
3 and 4
(Zhao San Mu Si)
There was a monkey keeper who had a lot of monkeys. He took such good care of his monkeys that they multiplied quickly. The monkeys and their keeper understood each other very well. The keeper took his responsibility to the monkeys so seriously that when food ran short he took food away from his own family to feed the monkeys. His family was not happy with the loss of food, so he decided to rethink his plan to feed the monkeys. He decided to tell the monkeys that he would feed them 3 acorns in the morning and 4 in the evening. The monkeys were not happy with that at all. The keeper said, “ok how about 4 in the morning, and 3 in the evening. Is that ok?” The monkeys were very pleased with this.
Translation by Xiang YeYoung and Siyi Evon