Jacob's critique of "The Monkey and the Fox"

THE MONKEY AND THE FOX

The Monkey and the Fox is an Aesop fable retold by Eric Carle. It was published by Orchard Books in 1988. The setting of the story opens up in the steaming jungle with all of the animals gathered around. Tragically, the beloved old king of the jungle had died. Among the animals present, they needed to elect a new king as wise as the old one.

The main characters in this story are the Monkey and the Fox. The Monkey smoothly preformed as an imposter of the king, but had no sense at all. The Fox was very wise, not being tricked by the Monkey's impersonation of the old king, but he slyly served as a traitor to the new king.

The rising action of the story begins with the Fox earnestly desiring to remove the Monkey from his position because he was an unwise king. A little while after the Monkey became king, the Fox noticed a trap set in the forest and thought of a plan to get rid of the imperious Monkey. One day he slyly strolled up to the king and bravely declared he had spotted something strange in the forest. The nosy Monkey swooped off with the Fox to inspect the tantalizing curiosity which the Fox had talked about.

The climax occurs when the Monkey reaches for the banana in the middle of the net which falls over him. He was caught! The towns people, who had hidden in the bushes, jumped out, seized him, and carefully carried him to their zoo. During the next day, the Fox visited the zoo. Furiously the king exclaimed, "You traitor. You have betrayed your king."

"No." Sneered the Fox, "You have betrayed yourself."

The lesson of this story shows that a king who falls for the first trap set for him can’t serve his animals well. And that is the truth.

Being opposite in character, the Monkey and the Fox, unveils for us the nature of humans. In this story the Monkey was foolish and the Fox was wise, but yet they were both proud. The Fox showed pride by thinking he knew what was best for the animals, but yet he was not loyal to his king. The same can be true with people. The Monkey thought he would make a exquisite king, foolish though he was. Being wise does not mean you won't make mistakes. We need to be careful not to think to highly of ourselves less we also become foolish. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise. Proverbs 12:15