Once upon a time, there was a little monkey who lived in the forest. One day, the little monkey was playing on a tree and swinging from one branch to the other. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his tail. He saw that a sharp thorn had pricked his tail. It was giving him a lot of pain. The monkey could not remove the thorn himself so he decided to go to the city. On his way, he met a man who was carrying a knife. The monkey requested the man to remove the painful thorn from his tail. The man agreed but while he was removing the thorn with his knife, he accidentally cut off the monkey’s tail. The monkey was upset and annoyed. He said to the man, “You cut off my tail! Now you will have to give me your knife. I will bite you if you don’t.” The man readily agreed to give the knife to the monkey and went away. The monkey was so happy on getting the knife that he started singing, “I lost my tail but I got a knife. Dum, dum, dum.”

The monkey started roaming here and there with his new knife. At some distance, he came across a man who was carrying a lot of mangoes in a basket. The man did not have a knife to cut the mangoes with. So, when he saw the monkey carrying a knife, he requested him to lend him the knife. He promised that after cutting and eating a mango, he would give the knife back to the monkey. The

monkey agreed and lent the man his knife. But as soon as the man started cutting the mango, the knife’s blade broke. The monkey became very angry. He said, “You have broken my knife! Now you will have to give me all of your mangoes. I will scratch you if you don’t.” The man got scared and ran away, leaving all the mangoes for the monkey. The monkey was again happy and began singing, “I lost my tail but I got a knife. Dum, dum, da dum. I lost my knife but I got mangoes. Dum, dum, dum.”

As the monkey was walking around, humming his little tune to himself, he came across a musician who was carrying a pipe. The musician was very hungry. On seeing the monkey with so many mangoes, the musician asked the monkey to let him have some mangoes. The monkey agreed to share some mangoes with the musician. The musician sat down to eat but he was so hungry that soon he finished off all the mangoes in the basket. The monkey did not like this at all. He shouted, “You ate all of my mangoes! Now give me your pipe in return or I’ll pinch you hard.” The musician got scared. He gave his pipe to the monkey and ran away. The monkey started singing happily, “I lost my tail but I got a knife. Dum, dum, dum. I lost my knife but I got mangoes. Dum, dum, da dum. I lost my mangoes but I got a pipe. Dum, dum, dum.”

After a while, the monkey met a drummer who was carrying a nice, big drum. The drummer badly wanted a pipe that he could play along with his drum. So, when the drummer saw the pipe in the monkey’s hand, he asked the monkey to let him play it. The monkey agreed. The drummer took the pipe and blew into it. But with the first blow, the pipe got spoilt. The monkey lost his temper. He said, “You spoilt my pipe! Give me your drum in return or I will bite you.” Frightened, the drummer gave his drum to the monkey and ran away. The monkey was very happy on getting the drum. He beat on the drum and sang, “I lost my tail but I got a knife. Dum, dum, dum. I lost my knife but I got mangoes. Dum, dum, da dum. I lost my mangoes but I got a pipe. Dum, dum, dum. I lost my pipe but I got a drum. Dum, dum, dum.”

The monkey liked the drum so much that he did not give it to anyone. He beat on it and sang his little tune. “Dum, dum, dum.”