The Monkey and Girl in the Fire

Once upon a time there was this village that had a large river running right on the edge of the village. Around this river, the soil was very fertile and the people of the village planted a bunch of crops near the river. The crops grew abundantly year after year. Across the river there was a jungle full of monkeys who really wanted to eat the crops. Every time the monkeys crossed the river and entered the crop field they became very scared and frightened by the children of the village.

One monkey named Henry decided he was going to come up with a plan to become friends with the children so that he could eat the crops and not get scared away. Henry spent a week making a long garland of flowers filled with all different kinds of flowers that were a variety of bright colors. The garland of flowers smelt so good and the smell of the flowers began to spread across the village. Henry crossed the river with the garland and went into the field of crops. As the children began to approach him to scare him off he showed them the flowers. The children soon became amused with the flowers and the monkey.

One girl, named Jenny, was very amused with the monkey and promised to marry him within the first day of meeting him. Word of this soon spread around the village and the parents of Jenny became very angry. Their daughter was marrying a monkey and that was not okay in this village or anywhere else. The father of Jenny grabbed his gun and headed into the crop field and shot the monkey.

The monkey seemed to be dead and instead of burying this monkey the dad decided to burn him. The family and the village set up a burning area to burn the monkey. The fire began to grow and the orange and yellow flames were shining in the night sky. When they finally placed the monkey on the fire there was a weird feeling in the air. The daughter of the family decided to make a distraction and pointed up at the sky and said, "Look!" All at once the daughter jumped into the fire and something very strange happened. Everyone heard a large banging sound and as everyone around the fire blinked, the monkey and Jenny were gone. There were no remains of the monkey or Jenny. It seemed like they disappeared in an instant. The members of the village searched for the monkey and the daughter but did not find anything. There was no sign that they escaped and no sign that they died in the fire.

Ever since the monkey and the girl disappeared, it is known around the world that in this village you can hear the monkey and the daughter running through the crop field at night. The children of the village have heard what seem to be the monkey and Jenny singing, dancing, and even chanting things about fire. There have even been some sightings of the monkey and the daughter running through the crop field. The farmers will sometimes find flowers and garlands strung all throughout the crop field. The people believe that the monkey and Jenny are living happily every after, visiting the village and crop field at night and disappearing during the day. Even today, a hundred years later, the monkey and Jenny are still visiting the village and going in the crop field.

Santal: The Monkey and the Girl

Bibliography: Folklore of the Santal Parganas by Cecil Henry Bompas (1909).

Author's Note: The original story is centered around the Santal people. The Santal people are an indigenous people who live in India. This specific story is based on The Monkey and the Girl. The plot is very similar to the original story, but there are some differences in the way the stories end. At the end of the original story, the little girl then leapt up onto where the monkey was being burned and died alongside the monkey. Her family was very angry but said that she must have had the monkey's soul so they accepted the fact and went home. This was a very sad ending that left the family missing their beloved daughter.I decided to make the end of this story a little more happy and mysterious by making the little girl jump up onto the fire and then disappear with the monkey. The monkey and the girl Jenny just disappeared and were never actually seen again but they were heard in the crop by the children of the village. This mysterious ending allows for the readers so imagine what the monkey and the girl may be doing. Are they dead? Are they living in a different world? Are they happy? That is all up to the discretion of the reader.