My favorite sister shared this poem with me while I was in high school- My recitations of it got me an "A" then - and later, in the 90's, it got me "honorable mention" at the IMTA Modeling and Talent Showcase, held in NYC. ( I also got offered a singing contract then)
My apologies that I do not know the author:
Two monkeys sat in a coconut;
Discussing things as they're said to be
Said one to the other, "Now listen you,
There's a certain rumor which can't be true!
That man descended from our noble race-
The very idea! It's a dire disgrace.
No monkey ever deserted his wife
Starved her baby and ruined her life.
And you've never known a mother monk
To leave her babies with others to bunk,
Or to pass them on from one to another
Till they hardly know who is their mother.
And another thing, you'll never see
A monk build a fence around a coconut tree?
And let the coconuts go to waste?
Forbidding all other monks to taste?
Why, if I built a fence around this tree
Starvation would cause you to steal from me.
Here's another thing a monk won't do,
Go out at night and get on a stew
Or use a gun, or club or knife
To take some other monkey's life.
Yes, man descended, the ornery cuss,
But brother, he didn't descend from us!"
Discussing things as they're said to be
Said one to the other, "Now listen you,
There's a certain rumor which can't be true!
That man descended from our noble race-
The very idea! It's a dire disgrace.
No monkey ever deserted his wife
Starved her baby and ruined her life.
And you've never known a mother monk
To leave her babies with others to bunk,
Or to pass them on from one to another
Till they hardly know who is their mother.
And another thing, you'll never see
A monk build a fence around a coconut tree?
And let the coconuts go to waste?
Forbidding all other monks to taste?
Why, if I built a fence around this tree
Starvation would cause you to steal from me.
Here's another thing a monk won't do,
Go out at night and get on a stew
Or use a gun, or club or knife
To take some other monkey's life.
Yes, man descended, the ornery cuss,
But brother, he didn't descend from us!"