Fishing for the Moon and Other Zen Stories

"Long ago, several monkeys lived in a quiet wood. While playing one day, they discovered a well and saw in its depths a reflection of the moon. They immediately reported the wondrous sight to their king: "Something terrible has happened! The moon has fallen into a well!" The monkeys agreed to retrieve the moon by forming a long chain over the well. The first monkey climbed onto a tree by the rim of the well, swung one arm over its largest branch and gave the other to the second monkey, who took it and lent his free arm to another and so on, until they hung close enough to the well. The bending branch creaked under the weight of the monkeys. The last monkey swiped at the moon in the water. As his paw touched the moon in the well, he broke the calm surface of the water and the moon vanished. Simultaneously, the branch broke and all the monkeys fell into the water."Hansen, Lulu is the author of 'Fishing for the Moon and Other Zen Stories' with ISBN 9780789308160 and ISBN 0789308169.