Dendu and Leko

Every day, I deal with Tom and Jerry in my house. The house becomes a chaos during the weekends and holidays with everything thrown around and with lots of noise. Yes, I am talking about my children. When they were in their midst of their usual battle, I once called out “Zala dabu kentong soptu na” (literally means your bums may get burnt like the monkey) to my son when he tried to imitate his sister. He looked at me quizzically until I told them the story of the monkey and the hen which goes like this…

Once in a far away hill lived a monkey by the name Dendu and a jungle fowl, leko. They had a small hut with a wooden stove at the corner where they cooked their meals and kept themselves warm during the cold nights.

Dendu went out into the fields beyond the hut and grew potatoes while leko stayed back and did the household chores. They lived in perfect harmony.

Every day at mid day Dendu returned from the fields and leko served him hot, delicious meals. Dendu saw the clean hut with everything in order though he liked to mess around while he was home. One day, after a satisfied lunch while he was returning to the field, a thought crossed his mind, “my friend serves me good meals and keeps our small hut clean but there is nothing compared to what I am doing in the field; with the blisters from constant use of spade”. As he dug the field, his thoughts kept pondering over his earlier thought. After chains of thought, justifying their share of work, finally he arrived at a decision that they would shift their place.

In the evening, while gathering around the hearth, Dendu put forth “why don’t you go to the field and while I remain back to keep our house from tomorrow”. “Ok” replied Leko in submissive way thinking Dendu might need to take rest after working for such a long time.

The next day early in the morning, Leko left for the field and worked hard. At midday, she left for lunch and she found the house in a mess. Dendu looked embarrassed as there was nothing to eat for their lunch. Leko did not enquire further and went back to the field with her rumbling stomach.

In the evening Dendu told Leko, “I was busy entertaining Ap Tsagay and moreover I was not well so I could not cook anything. From tomorrow I will go back to the field”

The next day while strolling out for work Dendu thought “why was I not able to do what she did? It seems she might be having someone to help her. Let me go and check her out.” He rushed back to their hut and positioned himself behind the hut to peep through the hole. He saw Leko busy at work. She first swept the floor flapping her wings and did the same to all the corners of the hut. Within minutes the hut appeared clean and when it was about lunch time, Leko first put on the fire in the oven to prepare their lunch. She then placed a pan on the oven and added some butter in it. Then she flew and landed on the beam above the hearth. Positioning herself on the beam over the pan, she laid an egg and then picked up the shell from the pan. Witnessing all that Dendu got very furious and he thought,”for the whole day I   work hard and at the end of the day, she feeds me her shit and her spit.”

That evening, Dendu again pretended sickness and wanted to stay back home the following day which Leko consented without any arguments.

The next day Leko went for work but after sometime she got worried about her sick friend and returned. She did not want to startle her friend so she came behind the hut when she saw what Dendu was up to. Dendu flapped his hands and tried to sweep the floor but nothing worked out. He looked out and saw the sun at its zenith. Realizing that it was almost lunch time, he lit the fire and put the pan like he saw his friend. When the butter got heated, he climbed on the beam over the hearth and then tried hard to lay egg but instead excreted and the hot butter splashed over his buttock. Out of pain he quickly sat on the floor and rubbed his bums to clean off the oil but instead it became worst that the hair over his rear area fell off.

By seeing this funny sight, Leko could not stop her laughter and tears fell from her eyes. She rubbed her eyes till it became red.

Thus, we see monkeys without hair on their rear area while the jungle fowl have red eyes even today.