Once upon a time there lived a poor man in a village. His name was Venu. Venu was so poor that so many times he had to sleep hungry. But still he never did any work. Some times the villagers took pity and gave him something to eat. One day it was very hot and the sun was shining brightly. It was afternoon and some kind lady had given Venu a small bag of gram. Venu thought of eating that, drinking some water and dozing off for the afternoon. He went under a big tree and kept the bottle of water, the packet of gram and started to make himself comfortable. He would eat a handful of gram as he cleaned the place with a small branch.
On the tree sat a small monkey, and monkeys love gram. He could not resist the temptation. He quietly came down and stole the whole packet and quickly climbed back. Venu was very surprised when he did not find the bag where he had kept it after the last mouthful. But now he was very tired and not so much hungry. So gulped some water and decided to sleep.
Soon, Venu was fast asleep and the monkey was feasting on the packet of gram. Since Venu was fast asleep, his mouth fell open as he lay on his back. Up, above the monkey would throw a grain of gram high in the air and then catch it in his mouth. This gave him lot of pleasure and he was having fun while he had his favourite food. But, then suddenly after he had thrown a gram into the air he missed and could not catch it in his mouth. The gram rolled down and fell into the open mouth of Venu. Venu did not know, but in his sleep he swallowed it.
The monkey came down and shook Venu awake. He demanded that his gram be returned to him. Poor Venu was not aware of the gram and he said he did not take any gram. The monkey got angry and started showing his teeth to scare Venu. A passer-by who saw all this confirmed that Venu had indeed swallowed the gram. So the monkey said,
“Either you give me my gram or I will ride on your shoulder for the whole day”. Ramu did not know what to say as he had no money to buy another bag of gram for the monkey. He said,”OK, you can ride my shoulder”
Soon Venu was off and the monkey jumped to ride on his shoulder. They were going to another village. The monkey saw a big earthenware pot of curds. He told Venu,” Either you give my gram back or carry this pot as well.” Venu did not know what to do, so he picked up the pot on his head and began to walk further.
They had gone only a few meters when the monkey saw a rope coil. He told Venu, “Either you give me my gram or pick up this rope-coil”. Venu was astounded once more and had no answer, so ho picked up the rope and put it around one arm. Thus they went further.
But soon, the Monkey saw a sheep and he told the Venu,” Either you give me my gram or pick up this Sheep. It was a bog sheep and Venu was reluctant. The monkey was getting angry and began to chatter, showing his teeth. Venu got scared and picked up the sheep and carried it under his other arm. Now, it was getting dark and soon they could not see anything. The monkey saw a distant light and told Venu to walk towards the light. Soon they came to a big castle. Venu knocked at the door and it was opened by a small and very pretty girl. The girl told them that she was a princess and an Ogre had kidnapped her. Somehow he never harmed her but he would eat al men women and children. The Ogre slept whole day and right now he had gone out to hunt for food as it was night. He told them to run away if they liked to live. Venu was very scared and prepared to run away when the monkey said,” Either you give my gram or we will stay here’. Venu was scared but he had no choice. So the princess asked them to go to the roof, make no noise and hide there.
Venu and the monkey climbed the stairs and went to sleep there. As it became morning and sun was coming out, Venu saw a growing mass of dust in the distance. Soon they saw the Ogre was returning noisily. He had eaten well and was sleepy now. The princess opened the door and the Ogre came in. Just as he came in, he sniffed the air and said he could smell a man. Before, any body could say anything the monkey started to chatter loudly. The Ogre looked up and said, ’Oye, who is up there”.
The monkey had told the man what to say. Though Venu was scared, yet he boomed even louder, “Oye, who is downstairs”. The Ogre was surprised to see there was someone who was not afraid of him. He shouted, “I am Ogre”. The man retorted,” I am Dogre, the father of Ogre”. This made the Ogre very angry. But he did not know what or who was upstairs.
Because of anger, his mouth began to froth and he looked upwards and spat. Soon, a big frothy puddle of spit fell near the monkey and Venu. The Ogre’s voice announced,”See this is my spit and I will eat you”. This scared Venu very much, but the monkey laughed and threw the big earthen ware full of curds. It fell on the Ogre and he was drenched with the flowing curds. Then he herd Venus’s voice, “OK, Now, see my spit“. This confused the giant.
In anger he pulled at his hair and soon he threw one of his broken hair upstairs. A three meter thick string like hair fell in front of the monkey. Without waiting the monkey threw down the rope which uncoiled in the air. It was huge and that scared the Ogre. He decided to give one last test. From his hair, he pulled out a huge louse. He cried,’ Here see my lice and see what an Ogre is” The louse was almost as big as a cat. The monkey instantly threw down the sheep. The sheep had fallen on a cot and bounced high into the air, bleating loudly. Then Venus Voice came, “Here see my louse and know what a Dogre is”.
The Ogre got very scared and ran away. He never returned. With time, Venu returned the princess to the king. The king was very pleased and he gave Venu half his empire. When the Princess grew up, she married Venu. The monkey still lives with them. They are very happy and have a lot of fun.