Milli's Aim

One day, a traveler was on his way into town when he stopped to take rest under the shade of a lush tree. He removed his slippers and sat down to eat the rotis that he had brought along.

- Vandana Gupta 

Milli, a curious monkey, eyed the rotis hungrily from up in the branches. Suddenly, she had an idea. Milli snuck down the tree, grabbed one of the traveler’s slippers, and scampered back up.

When the traveller noticed Milli had his slipper, he flung a roti on the ground to tempt her. Milli’s face lit up but she did not give in, so the traveller flung another piece. This was exactly what Milli had been waiting for! She dropped the slipper, grabbed the rotis, and climbed back up the tree. The traveler, tired of Milli’s games, continued on his way with his last bit of roti.

Two cats, Ray and Sally, had watched the incident.

“Sally, do you remember the story our grandma used to tell us?” asked Ray.

“How could I forget? A monkey outsmarted her by pretending to divide a slice of bread equally, but instead, he ate it all up!” said Sally angrily.

“Why don’t we settle that score by taking back not one, but both the rotis from Milli?” said Ray.

“How do we do that?” Sally was puzzled. Ray whispered something in Sally’s ear.