The Monkey Escapes

Illustration of a monkey escaping a zoo

Barbara Pollard

The Monkey was in the zoo, locked up.  

“I’ve been falsely accused for being alive,” it thought. “Why am I trapped here?”  

So, this Monkey waited for that next magical moment when the cage would open. All the other monkeys had grown accustomed to the cage. But this one wouldn’t have it. Squinting, it quietly waited to make its great escape. 

When the zookeepers came, the Monkey took off full speed, like it was Jesse Owens. Couldn’t nobody catch it. The zookeepers were fallin’ on their face, slippin’ and slidin’. That monkey was GONE. 

It found solace in a banana tree, living stress free. But the Monkey was empathetic and soon wondered about all the other animals who had been removed from their natural environments and put in cages. 

It went back with bushels of bananas and set all the other animals free.  

“C’mon, we’re all getting out of here. Life is life!” it proclaimed. “I got my freedom, and I’m going to make sure you all get yours too.” The Monkey had the generosity of love to come back and share with everybody else. 

It also acquired the keys and locked the zookeepers in the cages for a day, so they would understand the condemnation they imposed on their fellow living beings. The zookeepers became the animals and the animals became the zookeepers. 

Our social ills — the stress, anxiety, vulnerability and tension of life – lock many of us in a cage with no bars. And too many of us become accustomed to this motley mixture of unnecessary frailties. There’s always a way to escape. Let the stress go and live your life. 


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