The Monkey & The Forbidden Fruit

CHAPTER 1 Our story took place long ago before recorded history and the time of human civilization, in the area that we know as the Congo Basin in the middle of Africa. Animals roamed the land freely. Everything was as close to perfect as it could be. The land provided everything the animals needed to survive. Other than the necessary killing for food territory, and survival, everything lived in peace and universal balance. There was no one king of the jungle. Every individual species had its own leadership and social order within its tribe. Most of the animals did not understand the concept of “somewhere else,” or “other lands”. The savannahs, forests, and jungles were all there was to them and this was fine. For all they knew, life didn’t exist anywhere else but where they were. It was nearly sunset and Prime, a young chimp, was swinging from limb to limb through the dense tropical forest, trying to get back with the rest of his band before the nocturnal hunters came out in search of food. Normally, young chimps aren’t supposed to venture far away from the band, especially alone. Prime, on the other hand, was different from the other chimps. He was an adventurous and curious chimp. He took every opportunity to venture off to different places in the forest. His brothers and sister, however, were home bodies. They stuck close to the band and dared not to go off into unknown territory. As Prime was nearing the band, he happened to look down on the forest floor and noticed a bright object that was unfamiliar to him. Figuring he had a little time before it got completely dark, he dropped down to investigate. At first he walked circles around it and observed it closely. He then took a stick off the ground and poked at the bright object. Nothing happened. It looked to him like a fruit of some sort, but he had never seen it before. He knew that he could not take it around others because they would know that he had been somewhere that he shouldn’t have been. He thought for a second but the suspense was too much; he had to taste it. He took the stick and poked a hole through it then sucked some of the juice to get a taste. It was amazing! He had never in his whole life tasted anything as delicious as this mysterious fruit! After sucking some more juice out, he took a bite. “What kind of fruit is this?” he asked himself. Realizing that it was getting dark, he held the rest of the fruit in his mouth and rapidly swung back to the band where the rest of the chimps were. Upon returning, he found the elder shaman chimps going through their nightly praise ritual with the rest of the band. Since they were so involved in the ritual, no one noticed Prime sneaking back in Prime joined the rest of the younger chimps who were in the process of preparing their sleep nests for the night. The youngsters, tired from their tasks, were ready to sleep-- all but Prime, that is. Poking at Oki, his pal to get his attention, he whispered loudly, “Hey, Oki!” “Prime, what do you want?” Oki asked, looking over from his sleep nest. “It's time to sleep. Can it wait until tomorrow?” “No,” Prime replied. “I got something to show you. I can’t let anyone else see it.” Prime convinced Oki to come over to his nest. “Well, what is it?” asked Oki, moving over to where Prime was, ready to go to sleep. Prime then retrieved the fruit from a leaf he had hidden it under. “Have you ever seen a fruit like this?” Prime wanted to know. “Nope,” Oki said with an obvious lack of interest. He halfheartedly looked at the mysterious fruit. “Is this it?” “Here, taste it!” Prime said excitedly, handing the fruit to Oki. “It tastes better than anything I’ve ever tasted!” “Prime, I bet it does,” replied an unenthusiastic Oki. “But I think I’ll pass. Besides, you know that we are not supposed to eat things that we don’t know about. You haven’t even asked the elders. That fruit could be forbidden.” Prime responds “I ate a piece of it,” Prime replied, disappointed at his friend's lack of interest. “I’m perfectly fine. Besides, do you do everything that the elders say?” “Uh, yeah,” Oki yawns. “That’s why they are elders. They’ve been around much longer than us. They know everything; we are supposed to do as they say. “Prime, you know I’m your friend, right?” Prime nods. Oki patted him on the back. “Well, friend, you should get rid of that fruit and get you some sleep,” advised Oki. “You remember what happened last time you found something new? You brought a bee-hive back and almost got us all stung to death. Your mother spanked you so hard; the lions were feeling sorry for you. Sleep tight my friend.” Oki yawned again as he climbed back into his sleep nest. Soon he was fast asleep. Prime lay in his nest, but he could not sleep. He took another bite of the mystery fruit and gazes up at the bright moon lighting up the African sky. “Hmm, what does Oki know?” he thought to himself. “Better yet, the elders either. If the fruit is not bad, why is it forbidden? They’ve probably never even tasted anything like this. I must find where this came from. If the elders get a taste of this, surely they won’t think it’s a bad thing. Who wants to eat yams and nuts all the time? Not me.” Eventually, the sound of the night put Prime to sleep.