Once upon a time there were three brothers. They were all monkeys. They each had their own houses. One of them had a house made of bamboo. Another had a house made of wood from the many deciduous trees. Then the last monkey (who was the smartest of them all) had a house on stilts. They usually lived peacefully until about every month the bear comes and tries to take the money they supposedly stole from him but usually they can stop him.



Then one day the bear came to their houses and he surprised them because he was bigger and he looked like he worked out. He demands his money and when they refuse he says that tomorrow he will come to their houses one by one and eat them until they give him the money.



The next day, the bear came while the first monkey was meditating and said, “Will you give me the money you stole from me.”
“I’d rather die than give you your money.” The monkey said.
“Then I will have to maul your house down.” replied the bear.
“Do your best.” said the monkey.
With a growl the bear mauled the monkey’s house down. When the bamboo house fell down the monkey ran to his brother’s house, a wood house. The bear saw him run to his brother’s house and followed him.

When the bear got to the second monkey’s house he said,” Give me my money or I will crush your house.”
“Ya gwuan khoy.” (Leave us alone).
The first and second monkeys said, “I’d rather die than give you your money.”
So the bear mauled down the second monkey’s house and saw the monkeys run to their brother’s house. When the bear followed and got to the third monkey’s house he was starting to get famished. He was so hungry he could eat a horse. He thought to himself, “What if I can eat all three of the monkeys and get the money.”

He approached the house and then he saw that this house is on stilts. He started to panic. How could he crush this last house? He started to lose hope. Then it started to rain because in August it is monsoon season. He started to think of a plan because these monkeys stole his money when he was sleeping. He got a banana from the wild banana tree and threw it at the door to get their attention.
They oldest monkey opened the door and said, “What do you want.”
“I want my money back”, the bear replied.
“We’ll never give it to you”, said the monkey
The bear knew he couldn’t maul the house down so he started to think of a plan. He thought to himself, “That’s it!” But for his plan to work he would have to wait till it stopped raining, so he went under the house and went to sleep.

The next day he found two rocks and started to hit a rock and some flint together next to one of the stilts. There were sparks and he was trying to get one on the stilt to burn it. One landed on the stilt so the bear started to blow at it to get bigger and before he knew it he set fire to one of the stilts. He did that to another one of the stilts and then the house fell.

He opened the door and went inside and saw the monkeys in a corner. He demanded his money from them. They were so scared but they still wouldn’t give the money to him.
“If you want it you will have to find It.”, said the monkeys
The bear grabbed one of the monkeys and threatened to eat him. Right away the monkeys told him where the money is.
“Okay you win, the money is under that floor board.” said the monkeys.
He looked under the floorboard and there was all his kip. He put it in the bag and went over to the monkeys and said, “Thank you.” He shook their hand and because he was so hungry he pulled the monkey in and ate him. He left their house to his house with a full stomach and his kip. He thought to himself “that’ll teach them for being greedy and not giving me my money in the first place.”