Alfred, the sad little monkey - A story for children aged 6-12

Once upon a time, there was a little monkey named Alfred. He was about 4 years old and looked a little different than all the other monkeys in the area.

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Alfred was always in trouble. He could never do anything right and that made him feel very sad. Whenever something was misplaced, everyone blamed him for it. When something was broken, they all said it was him and whenever something went missing, rumors would spread that Alfred stole it.

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One day, Alfred decided that he had enough and that it would be best if he ran away from home. He didn't take anything with him and left without saying goodbye to anyone.

"Nobody loves me!" he said to himself as he sat down in a quiet area to take a rest.

It wasn't only sadness that led him to leave his friends and family, but anger got the better of him. He started to question himself, others and his purpose in life. It wasn't long until he came to a conclusion.

"I am not worth it. I am naughty. I am a thief. I am a liar. I am bad."

As he was just sitting there under a tree thinking about all of his life, a banana fell on his head. He was so hungry and stuffed the banana into his mouth, swallowing it almost whole. After a few seconds, another banana fell into his lap and then another fell next to his knee. He looked up into the tree and saw that he was sitting under a banana tree that had what looked like a million bananas.

"See!" Alfred said to himself. "I don't need those other monkeys, I will be fine on my own!"

Alfred had an amazing time by himself. He was very happy to make his own decisions and not being accused of hundreds of crimes every day, but after a few weeks, he started to feel very lonely.

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He thought of a plan.
The next day, after thinking his plan through thoroughly, he packed a bag with as much bananas as he could carry and started his journey back home. Once he got there, he walked quietly on his toes to the center of the trees where he once lived, unpacked the bananas and started making very loud monkey noises.

All of the other monkey came forward to see what was going on and their mouths hung open when they saw him. With big eyes they looked at Alfred, waiting for him to explain what was going on. Alfred looked very good as he was a lot skinnier the day he left. He now had a healthy glow and his cheeks were full.

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"I brought you all some bananas!" Alfred said smiling. "If anyone is still hungry, I will bring some more!"

The other monkeys started to cry. They were ashamed of how they used to treat Alfred because of this lovely gesture from his side. Even though they treated him like that, he still came back and have forgiven them.
They all thanked him and from that day on, Alfred was named The Monkey King.

He visited them every day with loads of bananas and they all lived happily ever after!

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