Monkey didn’t like him very much. He was just a selfish, loud and lonely mouse. Even so, he didn’t deserve to be treated as badly as he was. Monkey felt guilty for not doing anything to stop it. Instead, he just watched from afar. But what could he do? He was just a simple monkey and they were cruel, brutal lions.

He probably would never have done anything if he hadn’t overheard a conversation between two lions, beneath the tree where he was sleeping. It was there that the old king of the jungle, badly wounded from a fight that he had lost, was talking to a younger lion. He told him that it was all part of his strategy to demonstrate his power and strength to the others. That is why he attacked frightened, lonely, little animals who had nobody to defend them. He also said that he did it in front of other animals to scare them and make them his accomplices. After all, they would never dare to admit that they had been there if they had done nothing to stop the attacks.

Monkey reacted furiously in his tree because, while he may be many things, he could never be an accomplice to such wrongdoing. That day, he decided that he was going to do everything he could to put an end to the reign of terror. Of course, he was never going to be able to fight a lion, so he would have to use his intelligence.

The first thing he thought to do was to make sure that no little animals were alone in the jungle, so he decided to find a way to make friends with the mouse. It wasn’t easy, because the mouse was shy and didn’t talk much, but he found the perfect excuse to talk to him when he realised that he had hidden some bananas under some stones that he could no longer reach. The mouse was the perfect size for the job and so he helped Monkey. Monkey could not thank him enough. He realised that the mouse wasn’t so strange after all but just needed a little time to make friends. Once they had made friends, it turned out that the mouse had so many skills and Monkey had no problem in introducing him to his group of friends.

His second idea was to help the mouse overcome his fear, so he trained him. He began by showing him drawings of lions and tigers. The poor mouse trembled at just the sight of them! But, with time, he was able to stay calm in front of them. Then, they went to see a group of bigger animals, like giraffes and hippopotami. When the mouse was able to talk to them, and even jump onto their heads, Monkey made things more difficult. They carried on until the mouse was able to get right up close to a sleeping lion and stay perfectly still in front of him.

Lastly, he decided to bring together all the animals that disagreed with how the lions were treating both the mouse and the other animals. They were all relieved to be able to talk about the lion’s bullying with others who felt the same way. In the end, there were so many of them and they were all so angry that, one night, they came together to teach the king of the jungle a lesson. With the help of some bigger animals, they managed to lock him in a big cage while he was fast asleep.

The monkey thought that this would be the end of it all, but a stronger and nastier tiger became the new king of the jungle and he didn’t take long to go looking for the mouse. The mouse was walking along with his new group of friends when the tiger came and separated him from the group very aggressively. They wanted to defend the mouse, but they were not yet brave enough. They stood by, pleading quietly and looking upset.

Suddenly, a young lion, who had seen what had happened, thought that he could gain the animals’ friendship and respect by defending the mouse, so he asked the tiger politely to leave the mouse alone. As the tiger didn’t want to get involved in a dangerous fight, and the lion had not challenged him directly, he decided to leave, seeing what little support he had in attacking a mouse with so many friends.

The lion’s arrival gave Monkey a great idea. From that day on, Monkey did nothing else but tell everybody how lucky they were to have met a guardian lion, and he asked the lion to help them in all similar conflicts. The lion loved his role, since Monkey and his group of friends respected and admired him. They told everybody how friendly and brave he was, and his reputation attracted animals from all parts to come and live in the jungle, which was now safe and free from bullying attacks.

The tiger didn’t like that at all and, one day, he decided to attack the lion in front of the others. The tiger was much stronger, so the young lion had very few options. Monkey realised that the time had come to be brave and decided to defend his friend, the guardian lion.

All the animals must have been thinking the same thing because, as soon as Monkey made the first jump, all the animals pounced, forcing the tiger to flee, wounded and humiliated. Moments later, Monkey and his friends declared the guardian lion the new king of the jungle, where bullying and fear had been ended forever.

Years later, when anybody asked how something like this could happen, nobody really knew the answer. But they all knew that it had something to do with a simple monkey who used to just stand by and watch.

Translated by Lauren Campbell and Mark Barrett, Manchester Metropolitan University