Lallu, the crocodile took a juicy mango for his wife. She liked it very much. He told her, his friend, Mangu, the monkey who lived on ǡ mango tree had given it. “Does he eat a lot of mangoes?” his wife asked.
Yes, of course. He loves mangoes,” said the croc.
“In that case, his heart must be very juicy,” said the wife.
“What do you mean?” asked the croc.
“Get him to our home on my birthday. We’ll kill him and eat his juicy heart” said his wife, smacking her lips.
The next day was her birthday. She reminded her husband not to forget to get his monkey friend home. She was dreaming of eating the juicy heart of the monkey.
Mangu was happy to see his friend, the croc. “Would you like to have more mangoes?” he asked.
The crocodile smiled. “Friend, I’ve come to invite you to my home for lunch,” he said.
The crocodile gave the monkey ǡ ride on his back as he swam homeward. ‘What will have for lunch?” asked Mangu.
“My wife wants to have your juicy heart for her lunch,” confessed the crocodile.
“Is that so? Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I would have brought the heart with me,” said the monkey.
The crocodile was surprised to hear this. “Why, don’t you have your heart with you?” he asked.
“You have seen the tall coconut tree, next to mango tree, haven’t you?” asked Mangu.
The crocodile remembered having seen the coconut tree.
“Monkeys leave their hearts on the top of that coconut tree. We have to reach up to the top to get our hearts,” explained Mangu.
Meanwhile, the crocodile’s wife became impatient and came to look for her husband and his friend.
The crocodile told her that Mangu had left his heart on the coconut tree.
“There are plenty of monkey hearts there on the tree. Why don’t you join us? Both of you can have ǡ monkey heart each,” said Mangu.
The wife smacked her lips at the thought of double hearts. Juicy hearts. She accompanied her husband who swam towards the coconut tree, with Mangu riding on his back. Soon the party reached the other shore. Mangu jumped on to the land and ran up the coconut tree. The two crocks followed him. Soon the monkey was on top of the tree. “Will you catch? I’ll drop it,” said Mangu. Both crocodiles nodded their heads and waited below the coconut tree ready to catch.
Then Mangu plucked ǡ huge coconut and threw it down. The coconut hit the wife on her head. As she fell, another coconut came down with great speed and hit the crocodile on his nose. With the nose bleeding the crocodile dashed to the water, with his wife closely behind. The two swam away never to be seen again.
The coconut tree laughed. “So, you leave your heart here?” he asked jokingly.
“I may leave my heart on ǡ tree, but I carry my brain with me,” said the monkey laughing. The mango tree also joined him in the laughter.
