Week 6 Storytelling: Where Do I Belong

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Once upon a time there lived a little ape. He was not just like any ape in jungle. He was unique and very special. He lived on an island very far east and close by to the Great Sea. The island that he lived on was called Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. In fact, it was on the main rock mountain of the island that this special little ape was born. The main thing that made this little guy so unique was the fact that he was literally hatched form an egg.

As a young ape he was so full of life. He spent everyday enjoying himself and playing around on the mountain tops. His favorite things to do included rolling down the mountains and chasing all of the tropical birds and butterflies that flew around the jungle. He thought he was on top of the world. He grew up alone in the jungle but he loved his life there.

He didn’t realize he was different until he met some other apes on the island and came to find out that they were not born from eggs. He suddenly felt very ashamed of himself and was embarrassed that he was not like everyone else. He struggled with the fact that he felt like he did not fit in with the rest of the apes. He would try to hang out with them, but he always felt judged and unwanted.

One day all of the young apes were spending time with their mothers, and that was the moment he decided to give up trying to fit in because he did not have a mother. All he had was a lonely cracked egg shell. That’s when he made the decision to go away and go back to his hill. This ape was done trying to be like the other apes in the jungle. However, now that he was alone again he still was not happy, but he did not know why.

A couple of weeks went by, then one day he had a visitor. One of the other apes had come looking for him. He said that they had all noticed his absence and they missed him and they wanted him to come home. He was so shocked by this! He had never been missed before nor had ever though of a place as home. He immediately hugged the other ape and agree to go back down the mountain with him.

Authors Note: I wrote this story to give a deeper explanation of how life was like growing up for the ape in the story the Handsome King of the Apes. I thought the soon to be king needed to be understood a little bit better. 

Bibliography: This story is based on the story Handsome King of the Apes. This story is part of the The Monkey King unit. Story source: "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).