6E English Language

The New Sequel of: Three Monks No Water

After the fire in the temple, the three monks realized that they needed to work together in order to live with each other. They found their ways and lived harmoniously together in the peaceful temple. The young monk was in charge of taking care of the garden and cooking meals, the fat monk had to keep the temple clean, and the skinny monk had to do the most tiring job -fetching water. Although his job was hard, the skinny monk wouldn’t argue about it, since he knew the other monks had their own responsibilities as well, and the skinny monk was the quickest to climb up and down the mountain to the temple.

With their new lifestyles, the three monks lived together for almost a year. One day, when the monks were meditating and praying, they heard a knock on the temple door. The skinny monk went to see who it was. When he opened the door, he saw another monk outside. The monk was quite short, even shorter than the young monk, he also wore a purple robe. “I’ve been travelling for a month, I’m exhausted and thirsty, would you mind if I stay here for a few nights? I could help you cook,” said the short monk. The skinny monk invited him into the temple and asked the young monk and fat monk if he could stay. “Of course you can! In fact, you could live here with us, we don’t mind doing a bit of extra work,” the young monk said with a smile. The short monk thanked them as they introduced themselves and their jobs in the temple. There was a problem though, the short monk drank a lot of water and used a lot of it for cooking and washing vegetables. There wasn’t enough water for the garden, but the skinny monk refused to fetch water five times a day, so the young monk had no choice but to fetch water as well.

One day, when the young monk was fetching water with the skinny monk, he suddenly fainted! The skinny monk quickly rushed up the temple with the young monk in his arms yelling, “Help! Help! He fainted!” The fat monk told the skinny monk to put the young monk in bed to let him rest. The young monk was too tired from fetching water every day, so he felt very ill. Neither of the monks knew how to help him, so the fat monk decided to search for a doctor. He would need to leave for a week in order to find a good doctor, so he told the short monk to take care of the garden and clean the temple. He didn’t think the jobs would be hard, so he accepted gracefully. The short monk worked very hard the first day, and the fat monk left, but he found out how little time he had to complete all his tasks. He needed to make meals for the monks, clean the temple, fetch water, and take care of the garden. He also needed to meditate and recite the scriptures too! The short monk decided not to fetch water since he thought the plants didn’t need it, so he focused on cleaning the temple and cooking. On the second day, the short monk did the same, but the plants slowly got drier and drier. The rest of the long week was a complete disaster. Because the short monk didn’t go to the garden often, birds started to eat the crops! So the short monk needed to chase them away. Meanwhile, the skinny monk was quite upset as well. “It’s not fair, the young monk and fat monk get a break from working, and I deserve one too! I know, I can just tell the short monk to fetch water for me, I can pretend to hurt myself so he will believe me,” thought the skinny monk. After the skinny monk told the short monk about his “injury”, the short monk felt sorry for him and decided to help him as well.

At the end of the week, the whole temple was a mess. The floors were dirty, there was dust everywhere, the water vat barely had any water, and the garden was completely destroyed by the birds. When the fat monk came back with the doctor, they were both shocked. The short monk was running around frantically trying to clean the temple. The fat monk led the doctor to the young monk and gave him the medicine. Afterwards, the fat monk, the short monk, and the skinny monk had to fix the temple. But first, they needed to take care of the garden and the birds. After some thinking, they decided to make a scarecrow to chase away the birds for them. They searched for materials outside the temple and quickly made a scarecrow and placed it in the garden. Then the fat monk instantly started to clean the temple, the skinny monk went to fetch water for the garden, and the short monk planted new seeds, hoping they would grow quickly so he could cook healthy food for the young monk. A week later, the young monk started feeling better, so he went to see how his garden was doing. Luckily, the vegetables were healthy, the temple was clean and the water vat was full. He thanked the short monk for taking good care of everything, but the short monk admitted that it was actually the fat monk and the skinny monks’ help that made the temple so neat. In the end, they learned that they shouldn’t always rely on others, because everyone has their own jobs to do. They learnt that they should be responsible for their own tasks and should commit to doing them as well.