The Three Monkeys

Once upon a time, in the ancient realm of East, there lived a great wizard called Gandhi. He was a very righteous person who dedicated his whole life towards eliminating evil and making the world a better place to live.

Reaching his end, and still watching the world fighting a losing battle against evil; Gandhi, with all of his powers accumulated over the years, summoned three immortal Monkeys to be a beacon of Hope and Inspiration to mankind in the face of mounting evil.

Gandhi always believed that the root of all evil in the world were essentially the human senses, that exposed one to evils like greed, jealousy and all other forms of corruption. So, he gave each of these Monkeys a task. One monkey was to never speak evil, the second one, never to hear evil, and the third one to never see evil. He asked the Monkeys to roam the world for eternity teaching the people of the world these three basic qualities that, if followed would surely root out all the evil from the world.

The wizard died within a few days.

The Three Monkeys, obeying their supreme master travelled through the world, reminding them of their great master and inspiring people to follow these good values in order to defeat evil. People flocked where ever they went, and looked on as the three strange monkeys went about imparting their teachings.

But as they went deeper and deeper into the treacherous corners of the realm, they witnessed some of the cruelest warlords, dark wizards, and their henchmen. But, however hard they tried the evil warlords could not harm the three monkeys, for they had the gift of immortality and the imparted quality of incorruptibility.

The three monkeys worked in tandem in the face of evil. The one monkey who could see and speak, but not hear evil, would inform the one who couldn't to guard himself from the evil, by closing his eyes in order to guard their senses from the tempt the evil brings with it. And, thus, they journeyed together for many years.

The only downside to immortality is the constant, unending, existence.

Overtime, the three monkeys got bored of this tedious task given to them. The monkey that was forbidden from seeing anything evil, was tired of seeing the same old people; he grew jealous of the other two monkeys who could see, all the world they wanted. The caverns that inhabited some of the vilest creatures the world ever knew, the very symbols of the Evil. So, was the case with the other two monkeys. They started questioning the very wisdom of their master. After all, something that is good enough to be heard by one, must also be good enough to be heard by others too!

Eventually, they stopped obeying the commands of their master. They stopped moving around the world with hands on their mouth, or ears or eyes. They became just a set of ordinary monkeys, as fallible to evil as any other ordinary creature, travelling across the world.

After a few years, they again reached the point from where they had started their journey; the town of their Master. The people flocked to see the three monkeys, expecting to hear from them, words of wisdom, and tales from the farthest of lands.

However, they were disappointed, when they found that the once serene and noble monkeys, had become just a bunch of regular, gullible creatures, talking and acting lewdly.

Just then, a child from the crowd cried out loud “Shame shame!!!”

The three monkeys were furious. They were enraged at this disrespect and apprehended the boy.

“We are the mascots of the great wizard, and you dare disrespect us?”

“You don’t even know the difference between what is right or wrong, how can you then, believe yourself to be the mascots of righteousness. You are just like other ordinary monkeys who copy what others do.”

The three monkeys were speechless. They realised their mistake. From that day on, they stopped spreading the message of shutting down one’s senses to keep evil at bay.

They had understood that Knowledge was the supreme virtue. Without the wisdom of differentiating between what is right or wrong, what is moral or immoral, there was no point in following good or evil. One had to open one's senses to all information, and then decide to follow the path of righteousness after understanding and contemplating why something is good and the other evil.

Thus, the Three Monkeys mended their ways and started another tour around the world, in order to gain knowledge and wisdom, which would help them become the true mascots of righteousness, as they were intended to be.