Reading guide
A trap disguised as an invitation
The crocodile does not threaten the monkey outright; he waits at the monkey's usual landing spot and says only ‘come’, letting the ordinary word carry the danger without stating it.
A reply that is not a lie
The monkey's answer, ‘I am coming,’ is simple and direct — and then he does come, by leaping onto the crocodile's head and using it as a stepping stone to the far bank, arriving exactly as promised.
The text's own claim about what happened
The story states its own verdict plainly: ‘I spoke no lie to him, but acted according to my word.’ The claim to truthfulness rests entirely on the literal accuracy of ‘I am coming’, not on having honored the crocodile's actual intention.
An opening case that raises the chapter's real question
By placing this story first among six on truthfulness, the collection poses its sharpest question early: is truthfulness only about the literal accuracy of what is said, or does it also depend on what a listener is led to expect? The chapter's later stories, especially Cp 28's ascetic and Cp 31's uncomfortable confession, approach the theme very differently.
Key terms
The text
§1“When I was a monkey in a cleft on the riverbank, harassed by a crocodile I could not get across.
§2Where I used to land when jumping from the near shore to the far, there crouched my deadly foe, the baleful gharial.
§3Reassuring me, he said ‘Come!’ ‘I am coming,’ I said to him. Stepping on his head I made it to the far bank.
§4I spoke no lie to him, but acted according to my word. There is no-one to equal my truthfulness: this is my perfection of truth.”
Self-check quiz
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