The monkeys

When I was a child, we had a dog named Bhaga, a white hare, many birds and a few monkeys. One monkey was named Madhu. I was very fond of the monkeys, but they used to bite. When a monkey starts running towards you, you have to fall down and pretend you are dead. If you act as if you are dead, if you lie down and stop breathing, then it will never, never bite you. So many times I did that when I was six years old, but a few times I was caught and the monkey would bite me. Nobody in my family escaped except my mother.

My mother was not bitten even once because the monkeys felt kindness in her. When monkeys are tame, they show affection. Always when my mother was sitting down doing something, the monkey would go and sit on her lap in a mischievous way. No matter what she was doing, the monkey would be with her, without biting. Only my mother escaped.