The Legend of the Monkey, the Turtle, and the Flounder

This is the story of about the consequences of making a deity angry. As I sat and watched

the sea, listening to the waves smash against the docks, a fisherman said,

“Ryujin is angry this evening.”

I asked him how this could be as Ryujin was a caring, generous deity who provided for his

people. The fisherman smiled and said,

“Even a forgiving father will get angry at his children every now and again.”

I nodded at his word, agreeing that at times our children will drive us to the brink of our

sanity. He looked out over the water, “We will not be fishing this day, let me tell you the story

of the monkey, the turtle and the flounder and how they angered Ryujin”.

I settled into my seat and continued to watch the waves as the man began his tale.

“It is true that Ryujin is a caring father, and he loves his daughters very much. One day,

Otohime, who was the most beautiful of all his daughters, fell ill and it looked as though there

was no hope for her recovery. It came to Ryujin’s attention that that there may be a cure, if

they could get hold of the liver of a living monkey.

Ryujin looked at his ill daughter and immediately sent out one his servants to bring back a

monkey for him. The servant he sent was a turtle, as he needed a servant who could leave

the water and travel across the land to find a monkey.

Now, the turtle was a good and trusted servant and so he quickly left the sea and went in

search of a money. The turtle, found a monkey sitting a tree and approached with a smile on

his face,

“Monkey, you have been invited to attend a feast at Ryugu, the palace of Ryujin. I have been

sent to take you to him. You will be safe under the water on my back.”

The monkey was excited and immediately jumped down from the tree onto the turtles back

to ride down to the palace of Ryujin. Once at the palace, the monkey was treated to the

finest foods and given the best sake that had ever been made to drink.

The monkey drank sake and danced, encouraged by the servants of Ryjin until he passed

out from a combination of exhaustion and too much sake!

The doctor who had advised Ryujin, was worried that the monkey had overindulged too

much and that he might die before they could get his liver. The liver would not work as

medicine if it came from a dead monkey and if that happened, Otohime would also die.

Worried about the fate of his beautiful daughter, Ryujin ordered two of his guards, a jelly fish,

and a flounder, to sober up the monkey so that its liver could be taken to save his daughter.

The jellyfish and the flounder looked at the monkey and thinking he was unconscious still,

they laughed and made fun of him.

“What a stupid monkey! He doesn’t even know we are going to cut out his liver!”

However, the monkey was awake and could hear what they were saying. Even though he

had drunk a lot of sake, he was sober enough to realise that if he wanted to live, he would

have to escape. He opened his eyes and asked to speak to the turtle who had brought him

to the palace. The jelly fish and flounder thought there would be no harm in bringing the

turtle to see the monkey and it meant that the monkey was alive which is what Ryujin had

requested them to ensure.

The turtle came as requested and this is where the monkey showed how cunning he was.

“Oh turtle, I just remembered that I was in the process of hanging my liver our to dry on the

very tree in which you found me. I am worried that it will get wet if it rains, as I left it behind in

all the excitements of coming to this wonderful place. If my liver gets wet, it will be worthless

to me. Please take me back so I can get my liver.”

The turtle, although wise, did not know about the anatomy of monkeys and so he believed

that it was possible for the monkey to wash his liver and dry it on a tree. He realised that if

the monkey’s liver was ruined in the rain, the princess would be doomed, and Ryujin would

be devastated and angry that turtle had not noticed that the monkey did not have a liver with

which to make the medicine to cure the princess.

The turtle made the decision to make the monkey back to get his liver. Once he was back on

land, the monkey ran away and shouted,

“You stupid turtle, you do not need to hang a liver out to dry. I heard jellyfish and the flounder

talking and I will never return to the sea again!”

The turtle went back to the palace of Ryujin in shame and told Ryujin what he had done.

Ryujin was, understandably, furious! He blamed the jellyfish and the flounder for everything

as they should have kept quiet about the plans for the monkey’s liver.

In punishment, Ryujin cut the flounder into two and pulled all the jellyfish’s bones from his

body, crushing them into powder. The two, and all their kind, were banished from Ryujin’s

palace forever.

For the rest of eternity, the jellyfish must float near the surface of the water due to its lack of

bones and the flounder must spend its days laying flat on the bottom of the sea, as

punishments for their stupidity and betrayal.