Once upon a time, the monkeys had a short and puny tail. One day, a monkey named Martin asked his mother, “Why do monkeys have short and small tails? It is ugly and unattractive.” His mother didn’t knew it and answered, “Our simian god gave us this tail. Don’t ask those silly and foolish questions. Hey! Help me to cook the banana soup.”

Martin was very curious about this question. He prayed to the god, “Why do you give us short tails?” The god didn’t respond. “So strange.” Martin thought. It was an unimportant question but Martin wanted to know the answer. He asked Naughty DeDe, his younger brother. “DeDe, why do we have small tails?”

DeDe said, “Brother, you always ask this. You are so silly.”Martin was very demoralized. He couldn’t find an answer. “No one knows the answer.” So, Martin wanted to find the clever doctor Jim. He picked up a box of banana cakes and some banana juice into a bag. He was already to go to Monkey Tree House, the place where Jim lived.

He left Monkey Land and took a taxi to Mo Mo Countryside. He landed on a big garden. This garden’s master was Miss Lee. The garden was full of carrots and grapes. How wonderful! He smelled at the little flowers near a tall tree. Suddenly, Miss Lee yelled and caught Martin, “You steal my carrot!!!” Martin felt scared.

He cried, “No, I will not steal your carrots!” However, Miss Lee didn’t believe him. She shouted, “Come with me to the police office.” Martin ran away as quickly as he could. He ran to Mr Wong’s little hut and ran inside. It was so hot and sticky. On the wall, there were a lot of old pictures. One picture planted a little monkey who wore

a black shirt. It was Mr Wong’s grandfather. There was a little bed and a small bookshelf. There were lots of books on the bookshelf. One book’s name was “Peter’s Long Tail”. Martin was glad to find this book. He read the book. “Oh! How lucky I am! I find a book ! It will tell me how to make my tail longer!”

“Peter’s adventure

Story by Angela Wong

Photos by Candy Chan

Writer’s word: Peter is a monkey with a long tail. He had short tail before. But how can he turn a short tail into a long tail? It is a great story for the monkeys who like to have a lengthy tail.

Peter had a short tail. But he didn’t like his tail. He asked his mother, “Why do we have a short tail?” His mother couldn’t answer him. Also, his god and younger brother could not answer him.

He felt strange and left his home. He wanted to find Doctor Jim. But on the way he met mad Miss Lee. She said he stole her carrots. So, Peter ran away to Mr. Wong ‘s house . He found this book and read.

“Oh! I am Peter. His adventure is so similar to me.” Then, a monkey jumped out from the book. It had the same face and ears as Martin. “Hello! My name is Peter. I want to have long tails. Do you want to?” “Yes, do you know how to have a tail?” “Drink this medicine and you will have a long tail. It is from Jim.” Then, Peter drank some of the liquid and his tail became long.

Martin drank a little of the medicine, then his tail became long, too. “There is half of the medicine in the bottle, how can we use it?” Peter asked. Martin said, “Er…… I thought we can share them with our villagers.” “Good idea.” The next day, two young monkeys stickled a piece of notice on the wall.

Notice:

If you would like a long tail, please come to Banana Mall. I and my friend Martin will let you to drink a little medicine. Then, you will find that you already have a long tail! If you have any questions, please call us. Our phone number is 2567 1000.

From,

Peter

The next morning, a lot of monkeys went to Banana Mall. They all drank medicine and had long tails. And how about the monkey god? No one believed it anymore because it could not make their dream come true. Oh! I forgot to tell you about Doctor Jim. He now moved to a dark forest to live. Did you know why? It was because too many people knew he was a very clever monkey so many monkey wanted his autographs. He was too busy. Are you interested in Mr. Wong’s book? Peter threw away this book because he didn’t want to be a part of the book. Peter and Martin became good friends and always talked together. Sometimes, they shared their bananas. And then, it was the ending. The monkeys had long tails forever.