[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975) › c8.1802.2 # Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1802.2 Purāṇic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Purāṇic Literature c8.1802.2 - **Language:** English ### [c8.1802.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c8.1802.2) Then Śimśumāra said that his wife wanted to see the monkey-friend and had asked him to take him home that day. The monkey believed the story and started for the house of Śimśumāra on its back. When they reached half way in the river Śimśumāra told Balimukha "My wife is seriously ill. The doctor has prescribed the heart of a monkey as the only medicine for it." The monkey went pale-white with fright but instantly he hit upon a plan. Balimukha said "Simśumāra, what a fool you are. Why did you not tell me this at least at the time of our departure? I kept my heart on the tree before starting, for I never knew you were in need of it. Let us go back and take it." The poor crocodile believed the story and went back with the monkey to the fig tree. As soon as they reached the shore the monkey jumped from the back of the crocodile and ran to the tree. The crocodile asked the monkey to bring his heart soon but the monkey laughed from the top of the fig tree and said thus:—"Dull-witted crocodile, I am not an ass like you. Have you not heard the story of the foolish ass?" The monkey then narrated the story of the ass thus:— "Once a lion calling his minister, the fox, to his side said that he wanted to eat the flesh of an ass as a remedy for the stomach trouble he was having by drinking too much of elephant's blood. The minister started in search of an ass and found one in the house of a washerman. - [Previous: c8.1802.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c8.1802.1) - [Next: c8.1802.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c8.1802.3) - [Up: c8.1802](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c8.1802) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c8.1802.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c8.1802.2) · Pramāṇa