The King and the Foolish Monkey
A long time ago a king lived in a palace near a jungle. From the palace, he could hear the chattering of the monkeys. Looking at the monkeys made him happy. One day he ordered his hunters to use nets to capture one of the monkeys and bring it back to the palace. He decided to keep the monkey as a pet.
The king's advisors warned him that keeping the monkey in the palace was not a good idea. "Monkeys are wild animals and can be dangerous," the advisors told him. But, the king was in charge. He gave the orders. He did not have to take the advice of anyone.
"This is my Royal Monkey." he told the palace staff. "It may go wherever it wants in the palace and may do what it wishes. But, the monkey was not trained. It did many foolish things in the palace. It made many messes. But no one stopped it. They did not want to go against the wishes of the king. The monkey went everywhere it wanted, including the king's bedroom.
One day, the king decided to take a nap while his monkey kept watch. As the king slept, a fly came in the room and sat on the king's chest. The monkey swatted at the fly. It flew out of the monkey's reach but soon returned. The monkey swatted at it again. The fly moved out of the monkey's reach only to come back again seconds later. It landed this time on the king's head.
The monkey became very excited. It looked for something to use to hit the fly and saw the king's scepter. The scepter was a metal wand made of gold and covered with jewels. The king carried it as sign to everyone that he was powerful and in charge of everything. But, this time the monkey took charge.
The monkey picked up the scepter. He began chasing the fly with the gold scepter, swinging it time after time at the fly. When the fly landed on the king's head, the monkey swung the scepter at the fly. The fly moved. The hard gold scepter missed the fly, but it did not miss king. The monkey hit the king right in the head.
His servants found the king later. His head was bleeding. The king had a huge bump on his head. Now the king used his head for something besides as a target. He sent the monkey back to the jungle to live. The hit on the head by the monkey left a giant bump on the top of the king's head that never went away. He had to have his crown made larger to fit him better. The king also decided to begin to listen to advise given to him by others. Maybe, he was not right all of the time.
The king's advisor did not say, "I told you so," to the king. That would not have been polite. But he did say, "Beware of foolish friends. They can cause you more harm than your enemies."