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Name Theme and Summary

Three Monkeys
Once there were three monkeys who were brothers. They did not always get along. But
they shared a common threat―the great jungle cat Luma who wanted to turn every monkey he saw into
a meal. Regardless of their differences, the three monkeys always came together with the rest of the
monkey village to defend themselves from Luma. Whenever Luma came around, dozens of monkeys would pull his tail, and pluck at
his eyes, and chew on his ears, coming at him from all sides until Luma was too angry and confused to defeat them, and would slink
away in disgrace. But one day, the three monkey brothers had a huge disagreement. They were so angry with one another that they
could not bear the idea of living together in the same village any longer. The monkeys in the village, too, were sick of the brothers’
arguments and couldn’t stand to hear it any longer. The fight grew until the three monkey brothers were not only fighting with each
other, but with others in the village as well. The oldest and wisest monkey in the village ordered the three troublesome brothers
away, and each one set off in a different direction. A few days later, Luma came upon one of the banished monkey brothers in the
jungle. In a panic, the monkey looked around for his brothers and the rest of the monkeys in the village to help him as they always
had, but he was alone. Luma gobbled up the monkey. The next day Luma found the second brother, who also looked wildly about
for help and did not find it. This monkey, too, was quickly eaten. The third monkey, hearing from the chatter of the jungle that his
brothers had been so dispatched, hurried back to the monkey village to apologize and rejoin the troupe.

1. What is the theme of Three Monkeys?

2. Summarize the story in a few sentences, including key details from


the story that help you to recognize the theme.

CCSS. RL.4.2 |© http://www.englishworksheetsland.com

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