One sunny day, a monkey was sitting up in the crown of a tree, looking curiously at the land. Then he saw a garden with peach trees on the other side of the river. The peaches were glowing red and yellow in the sun. The monkey had a terrible craving for peaches! His mouth was already watering. But oh, how was he going to get across the river? But next to the peach orchard was a field of sugar cane. The monkey knew very well that his friend, the camel, loved eating sugar cane. He quickly climbed down from the tree and jumped to the camel. "Camel, listen!" he called from afar. "I've discovered a wonderful sugar cane field, that would be something for you."

"Where is it?" the camel asked greedily.

"You have to cross the river, then turn right, go straight on for a bit, turn left and then right again, and then you'll see the field."

"I can never remember that," whined the camel. "Couldn't you lead me there, you're my friend?"

"Of course, I'd love to," replied the monkey. "But how am I supposed to get across the river, I can't swim."

"I can swim," said the camel. "I'll just take you on my back and carry you across." So the monkey climbed onto the camel's back, made himself comfortable between the two humps and let the camel carry him across the river. When they came to the sugar cane field, the monkey said: "You stay here and I'll go to the peach orchard there and make sure the guard doesn't catch you. You have a good view on all sides there."

"That's very kind of you," said the camel and set off for the sugar cane. But the monkey ran into the peach orchard, climbed the first best tree and picked one peach after another. Oh, how sweet the fruit was! Oh, how sweet they smelled! The delicious juice flowed down his chin. When the monkey had eaten his fill, he returned to the sugar cane field. The camel stood there, eating, chewing slowly and taking his time. The monkey was getting bored. "We should go now," he said.

"Oh, wait a little longer, I'm not finished yet," the camel begged.

"But I don't want to wait," said the monkey, hopping from one leg to the other.

"I'm already coming, just this pipe," asked the camel. But the monkey didn't want to wait, so he called out: "If you don't come straight away, I'll call the guard."

"Don't do that," begged the camel. "He would hit me with the stick." But the monkey had had enough of waiting and shouted loudly: "Watchman, come here! There's a camel in the field. It's eating your sugar cane!"

"Please don't!" cried the camel. But the monkey ran to the river and kept on shouting the whole time. The guard heard the screaming, jumped up, ran to the camel and hit it with his stick to drive it away. The camel ran whining out of the field to the river where the monkey was standing. "Why didn't you come straight away?" said the monkey. "Then the guard wouldn't have beaten you."

"It's your fault!" whined the camel. "You called the guard."

"Me?" asked the monkey.

"Who else?" grumbled the camel. The monkey scratched behind his ear for a while and then said: "You know, camel, I don't remember calling the guard. But sometimes it just comes over me and I do things I would never do otherwise. Like some kind of illness."

"Very well," said the camel. "Come on my back now. We want to go home." The monkey jumped onto the camel's back and made himself comfortable between the humps. When they were in the middle of the river, the camel suddenly called out: "I'm going to go under for a moment."

"But no!" cried the monkey, startled. "No way! I'll get wet and I can't swim!"

"You know, monkey, sometimes it just gets the better of me and I do things I would never do otherwise. Like some kind of illness." And with those words, it dived under.

"Help!" screamed the monkey as he plopped into the water. The river was not deep and the monkey soon paddled wet to the shore. But from that day on, he never played a nasty trick on his friend the camel again.

Märchen aus Tibet, ©Fassung Djamila Jaenike, nach: D. und M. Stovickova, Tibetische Märchen, Prag, 1974, englische Fassung Lysander Jaenike © Mutabor Märchenstiftung