The Monkey and the Crocodile
In short: A monkey rides a crocodile to the middle of a river. To get back to shore, he claims he left his heart in a tree.
¹ Based on the number of Atlas countries, capped at 10. ² Editorial suggestion for reading this page. Discover Black Horse’s question
Origin and tradition
Indian Buddhist Jātaka tradition. The Atlas record is Babbitt’s New York edition.
In Babbitt’s two-part telling, the monkey first uses the crocodile’s stated demand. If the heart is in a tree, the crocodile must go back to shore. In the next encounter, the monkey notices that the rock he jumps across each day looks higher than usual. Words help him escape once. A change in a familiar place helps him escape again. The tale belongs to the Indian Buddhist Jātaka tradition. The New York pin marks the place of publication of the 1912 edition.
Dated records and sources
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1912 · New York, United States
Ellen C. Babbitt · Jataka Tales · The Monkey and the Crocodile · Public retelling
Country pages
Fairy Tale Glossary
Origin
Black Horse. The Monkey and the Crocodile. https://blackhorsestories.com/en/atlas-tale-monkey-crocodile/