EP 338: The Jellyfish and The Monkey (Ozaki)

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The Jellyfish and The Monkey

Long, long ago, in old Japan, the Kingdom of the Sea was governed by a wonderful King. He was called Rin Jin, or the Dragon King of the Sea. His power was immense, for he was the ruler of all sea creatures both great and small, and in his keeping were the Jewels of the Ebb and Flow of the Tide. The Ebbing Tide jewel caused the sea to recede from the land, and the Flowing Tide Jewel made the waves to rise mountains high and to flow in upon the shore like a tidal wave.

The Palace of Rin Jin was at the bottom of the sea, and was so beautiful that no one has ever seen anything like it even in dreams. The walls were of coral, the roof of jade, and the floors were of the finest mother-of-pearl. But the Dragon King, in spite of his wide-spreading Kingdom, his beautiful Palace and all its wonders, was not at all happy, for he reigned alone. At last he thought that if he married he would not only be happier, but also more powerful. So he decided to take a wife. Calling all his fish together, he chose several of them  to go through the sea and look for a young Dragon Princess.

At last they returned to the Palace with a lovely young dragon. Her scales were of shiny green like the wings of summer beetles, her eyes shone like fire, and she wore gorgeous robes. 

The King fell in love with her at once, and the wedding ceremony was celebrated. Every living thing in the sea, from the great whales down to the little shrimps, came in shoals to offer their congratulations to the bride and groom. 

Now for a time the Dragon King and his bride lived very happily. They loved each other dearly, and the bridegroom took delight in showing his bride all the wonders and treasures of his coral palace, and she was never tired of wandering through its vast halls and gardens. Life seemed like a long summer’s day.

Two months passed in this way, and then the Dragon Queen fell ill and was forced to stay in bed. The King was troubled when he saw his bride so ill, and at once sent for the fish doctor to come and give her some medicine. He gave special orders to the servants to nurse her carefully and to wait upon her with diligence, but in spite of all the nurses’ care and the medicine that the doctor prescribed, the Queen showed no signs of recovery, but grew worse.

Then the Dragon King interviewed the doctor and blamed him for not curing the Queen. The doctor was scared of the king’s wrath and said that the medicine she needed was not found in the ocean.

“Do you mean to tell me that you can’t get the medicine here?” asked the Dragon King.

“That’s what I said!” said the doctor.

“What do you want for the Queen?” demanded Rin Jin.

“I want the liver of a live monkey!” answered the doctor.

“The liver of a live monkey! Of course that will be most difficult to get,” said the King.

“If we could get that for the Queen, Her Majesty would recover,” said the doctor.

“Very well, that decides it; we MUST get it somehow or other. But where can we find a monkey?” asked the King.

Then the doctor told the King that somewhere in the south there was a Monkey Island where a great many monkeys lived.

“If only you could capture one of these monkeys?” said the doctor.

“How can any of my people capture a monkey?” said the Dragon King, greatly puzzled. “The monkeys live on dry land, while we live in the water! I don’t see what we can do!”

“I had the same problem,” said the doctor. “But one of your servants surely can go on shore for that!”

“Something must be done,” said the King, and calling his chief steward he asked his advice.

The chief steward thought for some time, and then said joyfully:

“I know what we must do! There is the jelly fish. He is certainly ugly to look at, but he is proud of being able to walk on land with his legs like a tortoise. Lets send him to the Island of Monkeys to catch one.”

The jelly fish was then summoned to the King’s presence, and was told to catch a monkey for its liver.

The jelly fish looked very troubled, and said that he had never been to the island, and he was worried that he won’t be able to catch a monkey.

The chief steward said, “Well if you depend on your strength you will never catch a monkey. The only way is to trick one!”

“How can I trick a monkey? I don’t know how,” said the perplexed jelly fish.

“Here’s what you do,” said the chief steward. “When you approach the Island and meet some of them, you must befriend one. Tell him that you are a servant of the Dragon King, and invite him to come and visit you and see the Dragon King’s Palace. Try and describe to him the grandeur of the Palace so as to arouse his curiosity and make him long to see it!”

“But how can I get the monkey here? You know monkeys can’t swim?” said the reluctant jelly fish.

“You must carry him on your back. What is the use of your shell if you can’t do that!” said the chief steward.

“Won’t he be very heavy?” asked Jellyfish again.

“Don’t worry, you work for the Dragon King,” replied the chief steward.

“I will do my best,” said the jelly fish, and he swam away from the Palace and started off towards Monkey Island. Swimming swiftly he reached his destination in a few hours, and landed on the shore. Looking around he saw a big pine tree and on one of the branches was just what he was looking for—a live monkey.

“I’m in luck!” thought the jelly fish. “Now I must flatter the creature and try to get him to come back with me to the Palace, and my part will be done!”

So the jelly fish slowly walked towards the pine tree. In those days the jelly fish had four legs and a hard shell like a tortoise. When he got to the pine tree he said:

“How do you do, Mr. Monkey? Isn’t it a lovely day?”

“A very fine day,” answered the monkey from the tree. “I have never seen you in this part of the world before. Where have you come from and what is your name?”

“My name is Jellyfish. I am one of the servants of the Dragon King. I have heard so much of your beautiful island that I have come to see it,” answered the jellyfish.

“I am very glad to see you,” said the monkey.

“By the by,” said the jelly fish, “have you ever seen the Palace of the Dragon King?”

“I have often heard of it, but I have never seen it!” answered the monkey.

“Then you have to come. The beauty of the Palace is beyond all description” said the jellyfish.

“Is that so?” asked the monkey in astonishment.

The jellyfish saw his chance, and went on describing the beauty of the Sea King’s Palace. The monkey grew more and more interested, and as he listened he climbed down the tree slowly to hear every detail.

“I have got him at last!” thought the jellyfish, but he said:

“Mr. Monkey. I must now go back. Since you’ve never seen the Palace of the Dragon King, won’t you take this opportunity to come with me? I will be able to act as guide and show you all the sights of the sea, which will be even more wonderful to you—a land-lubber.”

“I would love to go,” said the monkey, “but how am I to cross the water! I can’t swim, as you surely know!”

“There is no difficulty about that. I can carry you on my back.”

“That will be too much trouble for you,” said the monkey.

“It’s easy. I am stronger than I look, so don’t worry,” said the jelly fish, and taking the monkey on his back he stepped into the sea.

“Keep very still, Mr. Monkey,” said the jellyfish. “You mustn’t fall into the sea; I am responsible for your safe arrival at the King’s Palace.”

“Please don’t go so fast, or I will fall off,” said the monkey.

So they went along, the jelly fish skimming through the waves with the monkey sitting on his back. When they were about half-way, the jelly fish, who knew very little of anatomy, began to wonder if the monkey had his liver with him or not!

“Mr. Monkey, tell me, do you have a liver with you?”

The monkey was very much surprised at this queer question, and asked what the jellyfish wanted with a liver.

“That is the most important thing of all,” said the stupid jelly fish, “so as soon as I recollected it, I asked you if you had yours with you?”

“Why is my liver so important to you?” asked the monkey.

“Oh! you will learn the reason later,” said the jellyfish.

The monkey grew more and more suspicious, and urged the jellyfish to tell him why his liver was wanted. Then the jellyfish, seeing how anxious the monkey looked, was sorry for him, and told him everything. How the Dragon Queen had fallen ill, and how the doctor had said that only the liver of a live monkey would cure her, and how the Dragon King had sent him to find one.

“Now I have done as I was told, and as soon as we arrive at the Palace the doctor will want your liver, so I feel sorry for you!” said the silly jellyfish.

The poor monkey was horrified when he learnt all this, and very angry at the trick played upon him. He trembled with fear at the thought of what was in store for him.

But the monkey was a clever animal, and he thought it the wisest plan not to show any sign of the fear he felt, so he tried to calm himself and to think of some way by which he might escape.

“The doctor means to cut me open and then take my liver out! Why, I shall die!” thought the monkey. At last a bright thought struck him, so he said quite cheerfully to the jelly fish:

“What a pity it was, Mr. Jelly Fish, that you did not speak of this before we left the island!”

“If I had told you why I wanted you to accompany me, you would certainly have refused to come,” answered the jelly fish.

“You are quite mistaken,” said the monkey. “Monkeys can very well spare a liver or two, especially when it is wanted for the Dragon Queen. If I had only guessed what you were in need of. I should have presented you with one without waiting to be asked. I have several livers. But the greatest pity is, that as you did not speak in time, I have left all my livers hanging on the pine tree.”

“You left your liver behind?” asked the jelly fish.

“Yes,” said the cunning monkey, “during the daytime I usually leave my liver hanging up on the branch of a tree, because it gets in my way when I am swinging from tree to tree. Today, listening to your interesting conversation, I forgot it, and left it behind when I came with you. If only you had spoken in time I could have remembered it, and could have brought it along with me!”

The jellyfish was very disappointed when he heard this, for he believed every word the monkey said. The monkey was no good without a liver. Finally the jelly fish stopped and told the monkey so.

“Well,” said the monkey, “we can fix that. I am really sorry about your trouble; but if you will take me back to the place where you found me, I will be able to get my liver.”

The jellyfish did not at all like the idea of going all the way back to the island again; but the monkey assured him that if he would be so kind as to take him back he would get his very best liver, and bring it with him the next time. So persuaded, the jelly fish turned towards Monkey Island once more.

No sooner had the jelly fish reached the shore than the sly monkey landed, and climbing up into the pine tree where the jelly fish had first seen him, and looking down at the jellyfish he said:

“So many thanks for all of your troubles! Please give my compliments to the Dragon King on your return!”

The jellyfish was confused by this speech and the mocking tone in which it was uttered. Then he asked the monkey if it wasn’t his intention to come with him after getting his liver.

The monkey replied laughingly that he couldn’t afford to lose his liver: it was too precious.

“But remember your promise!” pleaded the jellyfish, now very discouraged.

“That promise was false, and anyhow it is broken!” answered the monkey. Then he began to jeer at the jelly fish and told him that he had been deceiving him the whole time; that he had no wish to lose his life. Which he certainly would have done had he gone to the Sea King’s Palace, instead of persuading the jelly fish to return under false pretenses.

“Of course, I won’t GIVE you my liver, but come and get it if you can!” added the monkey mockingly from the tree.

There was nothing for the jelly fish to do now but to repent his stupidity, and to return to the Dragon King of the Sea and to confess his failure, so he started slowly to swim back. The last thing he heard as he swam away was the monkey laughing at him.

Meanwhile the Dragon King, the doctor, the chief steward, and all the servants were waiting impatiently for the return of the jelly fish. When they caught sight of him approaching the Palace, they hailed him with delight. They began to thank him profusely for all the trouble he had taken in going to Monkey Island, and then they asked him where the monkey was.

Now the day of reckoning had come for the jellyfish. He quaked all over as he told his story. How he had brought the monkey halfway over the sea, and then had stupidly told the monkey his mission; how the monkey had deceived him by making him believe that he had left his liver behind him.

The Dragon King’s wrath was great, and he at once gave orders that the jelly fish was to be severely punished. The punishment was a horrible one. All the bones were to be drawn out from his living body, and he was to be beaten with sticks.

The poor jelly fish, humiliated and horrified beyond all words, cried out for pardon. But the Dragon King’s order had to be obeyed. The servants of the Palace each brought out a stick and surrounded the jelly fish, and after pulling out his bones they beat him to a flat pulp, and then took him out beyond the Palace gates and threw him into the water. Here he was left to suffer and repent his foolish chattering, and to grow accustomed to his new state of bonelessness.

From this story it is evident that in the old times the jellyfish once had a shell and bones, but, ever since the Dragon King’s order was carried out on their ancestor, his descendants have all been soft and boneless just as you see them today thrown up by the waves high upon the shores of Japan.

The End

Source: ⁠The Japanese fairy book by Ozaki, Yei Theodora

Edited by Dustin Steichmann 2026

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EP 329: Getting Even in Gomba; The Dog And The Leopard; The Leopard, The Hare, And The Monkey (Baskerville)

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Getting Even in Gomba 

There was a battle going on around the village of Gomba. 

In the village there was a lame man who had never walked. Every morning he was carried out into the sunny courtyard and every evening he was carried back to his house; but the battle was raging, and no one remembered the lame man. As he lay in his house he saw a blind man passing by, and a sudden thought struck him. He called to the blind man: 

“Come here, my friend, I have something important to tell you.” The blind man groped his way with his long stick till he stood before the lame man, who said: 

“Listen, my friend, no one has remembered us during the battle, and assuredly we shall die, you who are blind, and I who am lame; but I have a plan; Take me on your back, and we will escape from the village. I will be eyes to you, and you shall be feet to me.” 

The blind man agreed to the plan and hoisted the lame man on his back, and they escaped from Gomba. When they reached safety the blind man said : ” Give me a reward, for I have saved your life.” 

But the lame man said, ” Not so, it was I who saved yours.” They spoke hot and angry words to each other, and at last they decided to take the case to the Chief’s Council. But when the Chief heard it, he said: There is no case; the lame man was eyes to the blind, and the blind man was feet to the lame, both have saved their lives, which in itself is a great reward. The words are finished.” 

And now this has become a proverb in Uganda. When two men quarrel and both of them are in the right (or in the wrong) the people say, ” It is a case of the Quits of Gomba.” 

The End

THE DOG AND THE LEOPARD 

Once upon a time a leopard who had several cubs hired a dog to be a nurse to them, but she was very unkind to the dog, who was miserable. The dog was always thin and hungry, she only ate what was left over when the leopard and her cubs had finished a meal, and that was never much. One day when the leopard was out visiting, and the dog was left at home with the cubs, she found some bones in a corner  and fell upon them ravenously. One of the cubs crept up to look, and a bone hit him in the eye and put the eye out. When the dog saw what she had done she was very frightened and ran away into the forest. She ran on until she came to the house of the old wizard, and then she thought, “I will go and have my fortune told.” 

So she went into the house and told the wizard what had happened. Now, the old wizard told fortunes by cards, and his cards were bits of buffalo hide, sewn over with cowry shells and beads. He got them out of his goatskin bag and was just going to tell the dog’s fortune when he saw the leopard coming down the forest path, and he whispered to the dog: 

“There is the leopard coming, climb up into that basket which hangs from the roof and lie very still.” 

So the dog climbed up into the basket in which the wizard kept the bananas he was ripening for beer, and lay quietly down. In a few minutes the leopard arrived, and poured out her story to the wizard. “Tell my fortune,” she said, “that I may know if I shall catch my enemy.” The wizard took out his cards and spoke.” You will catch your enemy in the spring rains, if she goes out in the rain you will catch her. In the sunshine she will be safe, the rain will be her downfall. I speak to those that are above, I speak to those that are below, let her who has ears hear, let her who hears understand.” The leopard thanked the wizard and gave him a beautiful white hen as a present, and went away home to her cubs. When the dog came down from the basket the wizard asked: 

“Did you understand my warning ?” And the dog said, “I understood, sir; I will never go out in the rain.” 

The months passed, and one day when the dog was out in the forest a heavy shower came on. The spring rains had begun. The dog ran in the direction of home, but suddenly she saw an anthill by the road side from which the ants were beginning to fly. The dog stopped for a moment to eat a few, and then, as the succulent creatures poured out of the anthill, she lapped them up with her tongue and forgot all about the wizard’s warning, and did not see the leopard creeping down the path. The leopard sprang upon the dog and killed her. 

And from that day leopards and dogs are enemies, and a constant battle rages between the tribes, for the leopards remember how a dog blinded a cub, and the dogs remember the vengeance of the mother leopard in the spring rains. 

The End

THE LEOPARD, THE HARE, AND THE MONKEY 

Once upon a time a leopard and a hare lived together in one house. One day the leopard said, “Let us go to the village and steal goats.” The hare did not want to steal a goat, but he wanted the leopard to go and bring some meat, so he thought of a trick, and agreed to what the leopard said. They started out in opposite directions, but the hare soon doubled back and followed the leopard who crept up the hillside towards a goat which was grazing by itself, and sprang upon it. Then the hare shouted, and the leopard, thinking the goatherds had seen him, dropped the goat and ran away. 

The hare dragged the goat under some bushes, and after waiting till all was safe and quiet, took it home. The leopard was very surprised and rather sulky. When the meat was nearly cooked the hare went outside the house and shouted. The leopard thought the herds men had followed them, and he dashed out, and fled to the forest, and did not return till the morning, by that time the hare had eaten up all the meat, but he told the leopard that the herdsmen had come and taken it all away. 

This happened several times, till a monkey, who had watched them, told the leopard of the hare’s trick, and that evening, instead of running to the forest, he only ran a little way and came back, and found the hare just sitting down to feast. Although he was very frightened, the hare managed to slip past the leopard and jumped into an anthill which had a large hole in the top. He crouched down and was just out of reach of the leopard’s paw. The ants make their home of very hard red earth, so that no storms or rain can wash it away, and the leopard knew better than to risk breaking all his claws trying to dig out the hare, so he shouted: 

Foolish creature, I will fill up the hole with fire and burn you inside it; do not think you shall escape my vengeance.” He called to a crow who was sitting on a tree nearby, “Come and guard my prisoner while I collect firewood.” 

But the crow never does anything for any one, he is too disagreeable; and besides, he did not see why the hare should be burnt in the anthill, so he answered: “I can’t sit in the sun, the dust gets into my throat and makes me hoarse. I can’t guard your prisoner, find someone else.” Just then the monkey who had told the leopard of the hare’s trick came along. 

“Oh, my dear friend!” said the leopard, “come and guard the wicked hare who you helped me to catch. I am going to burn him in the anthill.” 

So the monkey sat on the top of the anthill while the leopard went to collect firewood. 

As the monkey sat there he heard the hare munching something. “What are you eating?” he asked. 

“The white ants are swarming, and I am eating them as they come up,” said the hare. “I have never eaten such beautiful ants, they are a miracle of creation.” 

“Give me some,” said the monkey, “Lean down into the hole,” said the hare. “I bear no malice, and he who eats alone has no joy. I will give you a handful.” The monkey leant down into the hole, and the hare threw a handful of dust up into his eyes. The monkey sprang back and rolled off the anthill, and the hare jumped out of the hole and ran away. The crow, sitting on a nearby branch, laughed until his throat ached. The monkey wiped the dust out of his eyes and looked ruefully at the anthill. 

“What shall I do when the leopard returns?” he asked the crow. 

“Put colocynth seeds into the hole,” said the crow, ” and put some rubbish on them, and tell the leopard you have begun to build a fire for him.” 

So the monkey did this, and when the leopard came back with the firewood, he piled it up over the hole and they set it alight. A colocynth seed gave a loud pop! 

“What is that?” said the leopard. 

“One of his eyes is burnt,” said the monkey solemnly. 

Another seed gave a pop! “That’s his other eye” croaked the crow. But now the seeds were all thoroughly hot, and they all began popping together, and the crow burst out laughing, and the monkey swung himself up into the tree and laughed until his sides ached, while the leopard fumed with rage, for he knew the monkey was playing some trick. He had to wait until the fire burnt out and the smoke blew away before he could look down into the hole, and then he saw only ashes and twigs and knew that the hare had escaped. 

And from that day leopards have hated monkeys, and kill them if they meet them in the forest ; and the monkeys sleep high up in the trees among the branches that are too slender to bear the leopard’s weight, if he should think of climbing up in the night when he goes out hunting. 

The End

Source: ⁠The flame tree and other folk-lore stories from Uganda by Baskerville, Rosetta Gage (Harvey)

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