THE QUARREL OF THE MONKEY AND THE
CRAB.Long, long ago, one bright autumn day in Japan, it happened,
that a pink-faced monkey and a yellow crab were playing together
along the bank of a river. As they were running about, the crab
found a rice-dumpling and the monkey a persimmon-seed.
The crab picked up the rice-dumpling and showed it to the
monkey, saying:
"Look what a nice thing I have found!"
Then the monkey held up his persimmon-seed and said:
"I also have found something good! Look!"
Now though the monkey is always very fond of persimmon fruit, he
had no use for the seed he had just found. The persimmon-seed is as
hard and uneatable as a stone. He, therefore, in his greedy nature,
felt very envious of the crab's nice dumpling, and he proposed an
exchange. The crab naturall
