The Monkey People

Ever heard the story of The Monkey People? It's a Colombian folktale.

There is a recording of the story at Rabbit Ears Radio and available at Amazon done by the late Raul Julia. He was a good actor who is best known for playing Santa Anna in The Alamo: 13 Days to Glory and Gomez Addams in the Addams Family movies.

There was a tribe of people who lived by a large lake. They were exceedingly lazy, messy and irresponsible (Reminds me of a certain bunch I've expunged from my life.).

They were so lazy, all they did was use up what was around them. they got so lazy they didn't repair their huts nor did they even till the ground.

As soon as the area was overflowing with waste and garbage, they would move off to a new spot, circling the lake.

They got increasingly lazy, tot he point where they would not even repair their huts nor search for food.

One day a mysterious man appeared and said he could solve their problem.

the people were anxious to avoid any work so they allowed the man to 'help' them.

He created a race of monkeys from leaves.

The monkeys, served the people. They cleaned, tilled the ground and fewd the increasingly lazy people.

They became so lazy they wouldn't even rise from their hammocks, preferring to remain and complain about how hard life was.

The monkeys took care of all their needs. They eventually didn't even need to leave their beds.

It continued til the people wasted away to bestial creatureswho scurried away as the 'monkey people' rose and became dominant.

The moral of the story?

What do you think?

I recoomend you order it. It's a great cautionary tale right up there with The Little Red Hen.