The Clever Boar and Monkey

The Clever Boar and Monkey

The Clever Boar and Monkey (賢い猿と猪) is one of Japan’s many folktales.

Synopsis

In the province in Shinshin there was a man who travelled around making a living by taking a monkey and around and making it do tricks.

One day he returns home angry, saying he needs to sell the monkey to the butcher. He is too old now to do tricks and so he should make a last little bit of money off of the monkey. His wife begged him not to but she could not change his mind.

The monkey having overheard this, snuck out of the house to talk to a Boar who was known for his wisdom. He asked the Boar what he should do as he was now too old to perform for his master.

He asked if the family has a baby and after finding out they did he said he would steal the baby from the family and the monkey would come and rescue it from him.

The next day the baby was stolen and the husband and wife look in admiration as the monkey chased down the boar and brought back their child.

The butcher was sent away and from that day the monkey lived in peace and was never hit again.¹

Footnotes

1. Ozaki, Y.T. (2015) “Japanese Fairy Tales” USA: Cavalier Classics.

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