Storytelling to establish truth The monkey and the turtle

Once upon a time there was a remote village on the island of Mindanao

This beautiful quiet village was struck by a fierce typhoon that destroyed the village uprooting one of its banana palms

In this village there lived a monkey and the turtle who were the best of friends.

The monkey and the turtle found the banana palm and decided to share it.

The turtle was more polite The Turtle…. than the monkey and he asked the monkey to choose which part of the banana palm he would like

The monkey choose the top half because it bore ripe bananas he could eat.

The monkey thought he got the best deal. The turtle got the bottom half. In time the monkey ate all the fruit and planted his piece in the ground but it did not grow. It bore no fruit.

The turtle planted his part and in time he had a beautiful palm laden with bananas, but he could not climb the palm to get the bananas.

The turtle asked the monkey to climb the palm and get the bananas for him. Alas, the monkey climbed the palm but stayed up there and ate all the bananas.

The turtle was angry and devised a plan to get the turtle for his greediness.

What do you think the turtle did?

The turtle picked thorns and put them around the bottom of the banana palm so when the monkey came down he fell into all the thorns. Revenge!!!!

Ouch, a sore bottom!!!! It took the monkey all day to get the thorns out of his bottom. That’s why monkeys have red bottoms. He was angry and wanted to find the turtle and teach him a lesson.

An angry monkey!!!!! The turtle hid among the coconut husks left behind by the copra sellers. That’s why a turtle shell looks like a pile of coconut husks.

Now the wise old snail saw the whole commotion

He helped the monkey and the turtle calm down !

The snail helped them understand how thru’ their greed, anger and unforgiveness they had broken “Pakikisama”. The snail encouraged them to see their foolishness, forgive each other and be reconciled.

From then on the monkey and the turtle always shared their bananas.

What truths can we teach from this story? The influence of evil in our lives makes us selfish. The monkey was greedy and the turtle sought revenge and did not want to forgive the monkey. The Bible calls this problem of selfishness “sin”.

What can our listeners learn from this story? It is better to choose to be kind and caring towards one another than selfish. If we are kind and value “pakikisama” we will have many friends and be a blessing to people, building a strong community.

Our choices are determined by our values. If we love greediness, unforgiveness and anger we will have very few close friends. We can change our values by changing our choices.

Is there any problem in this idea? Yes, we find it hard to forgive, and to be kind to people who have hurt us. Is there any answer to the problem of our selfishness? Yes there is. It is called the “good news”. We can be reconciled with our enemies. How do we do that?

What is the answer? The Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ, God’s only son came to earth and died on a cross to break the power of sin (wrong choices) over our lives. He will freely give us this power if we ask him too. He asks us to confess our need of His power and to die to our own way of living and accept His way of forgiveness of our enemies just as He forgave His enemies.

We restore our “pakikisama” with God… By doing this we restore our “pakikisama” with God and our friends and enemies. This is God’s answer to our need of forgiveness of our sin and selfishness.

Who are your enemies? We can ask God now to forgive us for not forgiving those who have hurt us. He asks us to forgive those who have hurt us and then He will forgive us. Let us pray now and tell God we have forgiven our enemies and ask him to forgive us. Prayer. God is always faithful to keep His promises. He has forgiven you now and restored his “pakikisama” with you and your enemies. Go an tell your enemies, you have forgiven them.

Analysis of the story? What was the context of the story? - a village in Mindanao – what did you imagine or visualise? What memories did the story bring to your mind? Was your imagination activated? Did the story interest you? Did the story soften your heart?

What truths did you learn from this story? Do these truths relate to your everyday life experiences? Was the decision process meaningful to your culture? Did you see the difference between good and bad choices? How could the response mechanism be improved, e.g. made more appropriate to your culture?

Where does this story fit in a storyline? A good storyteller will have a well developed curriculum of truth. The storyteller will tell stories in a sequence that will develop the listeners understanding of the whole subject of the truths he/she wants to convey.

Biblical Truth this story teaches Works of the flesh Galatians 5 v Greed, envy, strife, enmity, dissension, disputes, factions, outbursts of anger. Through the disobedience of one man (Adam) sin entered the world. Romans 5 v 12. Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5 v Love, peace kindness, gentleness, self- control. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh and its passions and desires.

Biblical Truth cont’d Love and forgive your enemies. Matt 5 v 44. Jesus came to save sinners. I Tim 1 v 15. Christ conquered sin and death on the cross, so we could be free from sins power. 2 Corinthians 5 v 21 Christ reconciled us to God. 2 Cor 5 v 18 Christ’s followers love one another, value our unity in Christ, and care for one another as the Body of Christ. Romans 12 v 5. We who are His disciples are to present our bodies to Christ as a living sacrifice. Rom 12 v 1.

Topics for small group studies! This story could be told in a small group and the Biblical verses listed above could become the subject of group participation. Each person in the group is given a chance to share what is meaningful to them, from this story and which Bible verse spoke to them.