The Stolen Jewels

Once upon a time, a king decided to take a long walk in the beautiful woods around his castle. After his walk, he invited his family to swim in the calm lake near their royal garden.

Everyone was excited and got ready to swim. The queen and her ladies left their precious jewels with their servants before stepping into the water. The queen's shiny necklace was the most beautiful of all. She put it safely in a box, but a monkey in a tree was watching closely. The monkey wanted the shiny jewels and hoped the servant watching them would fall asleep.

At first, the servant was very alert, watching the box carefully. But soon, she felt sleepy and fell asleep. Seeing this, the monkey quickly jumped down, opened the box, and took the shiny necklace. Back in the tree, she admired the jewels and then hid them in a hollow, where the guards couldn't see.

When the servant woke up and saw the jewels were gone, she was very scared. She cried, “Someone has stolen the queen's jewels!" The guards ran to help.

The servant said, “I was sitting right here by the box. But it was hot, and I got tired. I must have fallen asleep. When I woke up, the jewels were gone.” The guards told the king, who ordered, "Find the thief who took the jewels!" The guards searched everywhere but couldn’t find the thief.

The chief guard began to suspect the monkeys in the garden. He came up with a clever idea. He bought strings of shiny glass beads and hung them on bushes around the garden at night.

The next morning, the garden was full of monkeys chattering. They were very happy with the shiny beads and each monkey took one. But the monkey who had the queen's jewels stayed quiet, guarding her treasure.

Seeing the other monkeys with their glass beads made her jealous. She couldn’t resist anymore. She wore the queen's jewels and proudly said, "Look at my shiny jewels, they are much prettier than your glass beads!"

The chief guard, who was hiding nearby, jumped out and caught the monkey. He took her to the king and explained his clever plan. The king was happy to have the jewels back and praised the guard for his smart thinking.

"You are very wise and clever," he said. "Sometimes, the simplest ideas can solve the biggest problems."