The Monkey King's Bridge - Giving One's Body for Others (Tyaga)

Dadi: "Guddu, tonight's story will make you cry, but it will also fill your heart with inspiration. It's about a monkey king who became a bridge."

Guddu: "A bridge? Monkeys don't become bridges, Dadi!"

Dadi: "*with gentle sadness* This one did, beta. Long ago, in a previous life, the Buddha was born as the king of eighty thousand monkeys. They lived in a magnificent grove by the Ganges river, eating the most delicious mangoes - golden, sweet, larger than any mangoes today."

Guddu: "Eighty thousand monkeys? That's like a whole city!"

Dadi: "It was a kingdom, beta. One day, a mango fell into the river and floated downstream. A human king found it, tasted it, and was amazed. "I must have these mangoes!" he declared. He sent his hunters to find the grove."

Guddu: "Did they find it?"

Dadi: "They found it - and the eighty thousand monkeys living there. "Kill the monkeys," the human king ordered. "Then the grove will be mine." His army surrounded the grove at night. In the morning, every monkey would die."

Guddu: "*worried* Oh no! What did the monkey king do?"

Dadi: "He looked at his people - mothers holding babies, young monkeys playing, old ones sleeping - and he knew he had to save them. The only escape was across the river, but it was too wide to jump."

Guddu: "How would they cross?"

Dadi: "*voice trembling* The monkey king leaped with all his strength - the greatest leap of his life - and barely reached a tree on the far bank. Then he tied a vine to that tree and tied the other end to his own waist. He tried to leap back..."

Guddu: "Did he make it?"

Dadi: "The vine was too short. He couldn't reach a tree on his side. So he stretched out his hands and grabbed a branch. His body became a bridge - one end tied to the far shore, the other gripping the near shore."

Guddu: "*gasping* He turned himself into a bridge?"

Dadi: ""Cross over me!" he commanded. "Use my body! Go!" And they did. Eighty thousand monkeys ran across his back. His spine cracked. His arms nearly tore from his body. But he held on."

Guddu: "*tears forming* That must have hurt so much..."

Dadi: "*wiping her own eyes* Every step brought more pain. But he didn't let go. Not until the very last monkey was safe on the other side."

Guddu: "What happened to him?"

Dadi: "The human king had been watching. He ordered his archers to stop. He came close to the broken monkey king and asked, "Why? Why did you do this? You could have escaped alone.""

Guddu: "What did the monkey king say?"

Dadi: "*with deep emotion* He whispered: "They are my people. A king exists to serve, not to be served. My life is valuable only because it can be given for others.""

Guddu: "Did he... did he survive?"

Dadi: "The human king was so moved that he carried the monkey king to his palace and cared for him personally. But the injuries were too great. The monkey king died - but he died knowing every single one of his people was safe."

Guddu: "*crying softly* That's so sad, Dadi..."

Dadi: "*holding him close* But also beautiful, beta. Because from that day, the human king became a good ruler. He remembered: "A king is a bridge, not a destination." He learned that true greatness is not in ruling others, but in serving them."

Guddu: "The monkey king taught him just by what he did."

Dadi: "Actions speak louder than any words. This is called "Tyaga" - giving up what you love most for others. The monkey king didn't give money or things - he gave his own body."

Guddu: "Is that what soldiers do too? Give their lives for others?"

Dadi: "*nodding* Yes, beta. Parents too, in smaller ways. When Mummy skips dinner so you can have more food, when Papa works late so you can go to school - that's tyaga. Every day, people become bridges for others."

Guddu: "Dadi, I want to be a bridge for someone too someday."

Dadi: "You already are, mera bachcha. When you share your toys with your sister, when you help a friend with homework, when you give up your turn so someone else can play - these are small bridges. And small bridges become big ones with practice."

Guddu: "I'll hold on like the monkey king."

Dadi: "*kissing his forehead* That's the spirit. Now sleep, my brave one. And remember - we are all bridges. The question is: will we hold on when others need to cross?"

Guddu: "I'll hold on, Dadi. I promise."

Dadi: "I know you will, beta. Sweet dreams to my little bridge-builder."