The Friendship of Blue Monkey & Green Chicken

A children's story about the friendship of two unique animals, and their journey in an uncertain world.

This is the story of two very good friends; Blue Monkey and Green Chicken.

Blue Monkey was a very different sort of monkey and Green Chicken was a very different sort of chicken.

Instead of living in forests in the trees, Blue Monkey lived in a shack that stood on the nicest beach in the whole world!

Green Chicken didn’t live on a farm like most chickens; she lived in a tree house deep in the woods.

This may seem very strange indeed, but that was the way that Blue Monkey and Green Chicken liked to live. They were the most unique animals of their kind.

 

Monkey and Chicken were not always the best of friends.

As a yound monkey, Monkey was desperate to follow the main animal crowd and one of the animals told Monkey that Chicken was weird and practiced a strange type of magic that all the animals thought was scary and strange. Monkey did not want all the animals to think she was also scary and strange so Monkey decided not to be friends with Chicken.

 

Time went by and all the animals got older, and as they got older, Monkey realised that she did not want to be the same as all the other animals. The main animal crowd would not let Monkey be herself and when she was herself, they did not like her.

 

The animals wanted Monkey to wear the latest animal fashion, and talk about animal gossip. But Monkey did not like the fashion and she did not think gossip was nice.

All Monkey wanted to do was to sit in the sand by her little beach shack and write stories about the ocean adventures she wished that she was having.

 

Monkey did not fit in with all the other animals; they were all so different from her! They did not understand her fascination with the ocean and how peaceful it made her feel. So the animals decided that Monkey was scary and strange just like Chicken and the rest of the animals did not want to be friends with either of them.

 

So Monkey and Chicken were alone.

Monkey sat on her beach for many days, feeling very sad and lonely.

Chicken climbed her favourite tree, and for many days she was actually quite happy to have her woods to herself. She was very content, until she heard the familiar sound of an animal in distress.

 

Chicken hated the sound of another animal in pain. So when she heard the cry of a lost animal, she knew that she had to find that animal and comfort it.

 

Chicken climbed down her tree and made her way through the woods, following the sound of the distressed cry. After some time Chicken got to the end of the woods, where she found the most beautiful beach that she had ever seen!

And sitting on that beach was a monkey... the saddest monkey that she had ever seen.

 

Chicken sat down on the beach next to Monkey, and when she took a closer look she remembered Monkey from long ago, when they were young and trying to fit in with the rest of the animals. Chicken felt so sorry for Monkey, so sorry for her in fact that she stayed with Monkey by the beach for quite some time, reminding Monkey that she was a good monkey and a good friend.

 

Each day that Chicken stayed with Monkey in Monkey’s beach shack, the two animals became quite good friends. Chicken still practiced her magic and Monkey did not believe in it, but that was ok. It was all ok because Monkey tolerated Chicken’s differences and Chicken tolerated Monkey ‘s differences

It was because of this, that Monkey and Chicken were such good friends.

 

Monkey and Chicken spent a whole summer together, being careless young animals, in Chicken’s woods and on Monkey’s beach.

They would climb the trees in the woods, have bon fires on the beach, and most days they would relax and just do nothing while cooling off in the water and exploring the woods.

 

Life for Monkey and Chicken could not be any better.

They were both having so much fun!
Until one day when Chicken came to the beach shack to visit Monkey.
Monkey knew straight away that Chicken was not very happy. 

Chicken said to Monkey in a very sad voice, “I have to travel alone now, to a distant land. We will have to be apart for some time.”

Monkey was very sad to know that Chicken was leaving, but as Chicken left on her travels, Monkey knew that she would never forget Chicken.

 

While Chicken was away, exploring the world, Monkey found that she was once again alone. So Monkey decided to find some new friends.

Then one day she stumbled upon an interesting building where there were lots of interesting animals that talked a lot about being a good friend to your fellow animals and about sticking to good morals. This place was called “The Flocking Place” because this was where all the animals flocked.

But what was the most interesting thing about this place was that they all looked up to a king animal: White Lamb.

 

Monkey thought that looking up to White Lamb was a bit too much, considering that none of the animals actually ever saw White Lamb. In fact Monkey wasn’t completely sure that White Lamb actually existed. But the animals that went to The Flocking Place were all nice and accepting of Monkey and Monkey did not want to be alone. So on a regular basis, Monkey went to The Flocking Place and slowly she started to become a part of their flock.

 

Now, do you remember Green Chicken, and her magic?

In The Flocking Place, the animals there did not like the magic at all. Not only did they think it was strange but they also thought it was very bad. All the animals who went to The Flocking Place warned Monkey not to have anything at all to do with Chicken and her magic. They told Monkey that Chicken was evil.

 

Monkey did not like this at all. Monkey could not believe that her friend could be evil, but as the months went by, Monkey could not help but blend into The Flocking Place, and even though in her heart she still loved Chicken, Monkey began to forget about her old friend.

 

A few years passed and Monkey was quite happy. She had met quite a few new friends that she knew from The Flocking Place. All was well for Monkey.

Then one day, Monkey was watching the ocean while she sat in the sand next to her shack, when suddenly she heard a familiar sound behind her.

It was coming from the forest!

 

As Monkey walked closer to the forest, the sound became clearer until she got to the very edge of the forest, where the sand became grass.

It was then that Monkey heard a single cluck, and out of the forest appeared Monkey’s oldest friend.

Green Chicken was back!   

 

Monkey was so happy to see Chicken. The two old friends talked for hours. Chicken told Monkey about all the animals she had met and all the places she had seen on her travels. Chicken had so many interesting stories to tell and Monkey was all too happy to hear them. Monkey didn’t realise just how much she had really missed Chicken and she hoped that Chicken wouldn’t leave again.

 

The next time that Monkey went to The Flocking Place, her new friends could see that Monkey was excited about something and it was never in Monkey’s nature to keep good news to herself. So when Monkey’s good friend, Pink Bear asked why she was so happy, Monkey exclaimed “The best thing has happened! My best friend, Green Chicken has come back from her travels!”

 

Monkey thought that all the animals at The Flocking Place would be filled with joy, just like she was. But instead they were alarmed and some even scared.

Pink Bear told Monkey that this was not good at all.

“You must not be alone with Green Chicken,” warned Pink Bear.

“If you are alone with Green Chicken, she might influence you badly with the magic that we fear so much.”

 

Monkey loved her friends at The Flocking Place. They had really made her feel welcome when Green Chicken was far away on her travels. Monkey did not want to go against her friends from The Flocking Place.

But Monkey loved Chicken too! Monkey could never forget the day she had been crying on the beach, when Chicken had come to her rescue.

Monkey was very confused.

The Flocking Place did not like Chicken but Monkey did not want to be without the closest friend that she had ever had.

 

This was a very troubling time for Blue Monkey and for days and days she thought about Green Chicken and The Flocking Place. No matter how much she thought though, she could not decide which one to go with and which one to leave.

This made Monkey very sad.

 

Green Chicken was not a stupid Chicken. She knew straight away that there was something wrong with Monkey. She noticed how Monkey was always frowning and how Monkey no longer laughed at her jokes. Chicken was worried and she planned to find out what was wrong... fast.

 

A very determined Chicken trudged through the forest, and through the sand onto that most beautiful beach and knocked three times on the door of Monkey’s shack.

When nobody answered, Chicken slowly opened the door, and...

There was Blue Monkey, sitting by the window, deep in thought.

When Chicken sat down next to Monkey, she noticed a single tear trickling down Monkey’s face.

 

“What’s wrong, Monkey?” Chicken’s question was so soft that Monkey only just heard it.

Monkey shook her head in despair.

“It’s no good!” cried Monkey.

“The animals at The Flocking Place think that you and your ancient magical art is evil but you’re the only animal that befriended me when all the animals thought I was strange, and I don’t know whether to follow you or to follow The Flocking Place. I don’t know which way is the right way!”

 

That’s when Green Chicken smiled in understanding.

“Oh Monkey,” Green Chicken explained.

“You don’t have to follow me and you don’t have to follow The Flocking Place either. The only way you should be following is your own way. You have to do what you think is right, not what anybody tells you is right.”

 

Monkey suddenly remembered the animals who were telling Monkey to wear the latest animal fashions, and join in all the latest animal gossip.

“I followed my own way!” Monkey told Chicken happily.

“All the animals wanted me to follow them but instead I followed my own way and I sat in the sand by my beach shack and I wrote stories about the beautiful ocean!”

 

Monkey felt so happy. Chicken had reminded Monkey that the most important thing of all is following your own heart.  Monkey knew that she could be friends with all the animals at The Flocking Place and still be friends with Green Chicken.

Nothing could be better.

 

***

 

It was summer again and Blue Monkey and Green Chicken were relaxing outside Monkey’s shack, on the beautiful beach.

Chicken turned to Monkey and said “A long time has passed, since the other animals thought that we were scary and strange and they didn’t want to be friends with us.”

“Yes, that is true,” Replied Monkey.

“But I’m glad that the rest of the animals didn’t want to be our friends. It meant that we got to be best friends.”

 

And so Blue Monkey and Green Chicken remained best of friends till the end of their days.

Author's Note

I wrote this roughly 12 months ago. One of my dreams is to get this published with illustrations and all.
NOTE: there may still be room for improvement.

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

A very good tale about being one's self, fitting in, and acceptance. As a children's story, the life-lesson it teaches will be most valuable. You said there was room for improvement, and I agree. First of all, you're missing quite a few commas. Secondly, I'd recommend that you condense it some for easier reading, but also because of children's short attention span.

[Glen Yumang Manese]

Let's take out the editing...and now the story line...

as a story for children I can see...the words are set a bit different than that I've read in your poetry verses...set in a more adult theme...I would expand into this work...and make this stand out even more to the readership you intend to cover with the story of blue monkey and green chicken...