World classic, retold in simple Mandarin
The Monkey and the Crocodile
猴子和鳄鱼
The Monkey and the Crocodile (猴子和鳄鱼, Hóuzi hé èyú) is a set of fables, retold in simple Mandarin as 3 short stories with audio for learners at about HSK 1 (Beginner).
Retold from the Panchatantra and Jataka tales of India: a quick-witted monkey shares his fruit with a crocodile, until the crocodile's wife wants something far more precious than fruit.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — A warm storyteller who sets the scene.
- Monkey · 猴子 — A quick, cheerful monkey who loves to share his fruit and can think fast.
- Crocodile · 鳄鱼 — A big, gentle crocodile who loves fruit and is afraid of his wife.
- Crocodile's Wife · 鳄鱼太太 — A proud, sulky crocodile who gets what she wants by pretending to be ill.
3 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: Sweet Red Fruit
红果子好甜
A friendly monkey shares his sweet red fruit with a hungry crocodile. But the crocodile's wife hears about the monkey and wants something far worse than fruit.
Free to read
Chapter 2: The Ride Across the River
河上的路
Monkey hops onto Crocodile's back for a visit across the river. Halfway there, Crocodile admits why he really invited him.
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Chapter 3: The Heart in the Tree
树上的心
Safe up in his tree, Monkey has a few things to say to Crocodile. Can a broken friendship be mended?
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Key words in The Monkey and the Crocodile
Behind the story
This fable comes from India. It appears in the Panchatantra (in Chinese, 五卷书), a collection of animal stories that teach clever thinking, and in the Jataka tales (本生经), Buddhist stories about the Buddha's earlier lives. Both collections are very old, well over a thousand years.
In Chinese the story is called 猴子和鳄鱼. Its lesson is simple: a real friend tells the truth, and quick thinking can get you out of danger. It also suits beginners, because the same few words keep coming back.
Did you know?
- Panchatantra means "five treatises" in Sanskrit. Its Chinese name, 五卷书, means a book in five volumes.
- Tales from the Panchatantra traveled from India through Persia and the Arab world and on to Europe, so versions of its animal stories are found in many countries.
- In Chinese, 心 means both "heart" and "mind", which is why the word shows up in so many phrases about feelings and thinking.