Quest for the Seal of Freedom ...

It was a cold, dark, starless night ...
The moon shone in its entirerity ... bathing the ground below ... in its cold ambient light ...
A bat flew off ... screeching ... announcing its departure to all those who cared to listen ...

The lone ranger, rode up to the edge of the cliff which looked down below at the monkey kingdom ...
This quest had to be completed tonight ... he thought ... it had been a very long and tiring journey ...

50 mighty warriors ... had set off on this quest a week ago ... and now only one hurdle remained ...
Many of them had crossed this hurdle ... those who had ridden earlier ... and had reached the kingdom early ...

The lone ranger was amongst the remainder ... there were only a handful left ...
They had battled difficult terrains, accomplished three other quests ... and were on the eve of their victory ... or so they thought ...

On their way here, they had braved the COrinthian challenges, solved the Cape Province Problems ... and managed to send Signals to their allies announcing of their approach, a 100 miles away ...

And now, with only the final quest remaining, they marched bravely to the Monkey King.

Now, the monkey king was a very peculiar creature ...
He was, like, a monkey of course ... but also has some form of human emotions ... that of egoism and self respect ...
Throughout the year, the monkey king entertained his audience ... like a clown in a circus ... and now that he knew, he had his chance, wanted to hike up his importance ... however little that it may be ... a notch higher ...

When the men approached the Monkey King for his prized seals ... he became suddenly happy at the fact that he was finally receiving some importance in his otherwise, sad and really disappointing life ...
He agreed to give the seal to the men ... if they agreed to do his bidding ...

Seeing no other alternative, the men agreed to his wishes and did his bidding ...
But now seeing that the men had become submissive, the monkey king's ego grew a bit more ... so when the men came back to him, he sent them off again ... disagreeing to recognize the mens' work ... and asked them to do it all over again ...

The men were exasperated ... but they needed the seal ... and so, did it all over again ... but yet, the monkey king was unhappy ... he found out useless flaws in their work ... and sent them again ...

The men unrelentlessly did the entire quest again ... but they were again sent back ...
They finally completed their quest again ... and this time decided ... that they would have the monkey king's head if he disagreed again ...

So, this time, when the Monkey King again refused to grant them the seal ... the lone ranger and his comrade trotted off the Monkey King ... and tried to negotiate with him ... which he did not .. of course ...
So the comrade of the lone ranger, drew out his sword ... and the lone ranger followed ...

The monkey king, seeing the swords, wetted his diapers ... and granted them and their comrades the seal ...

Now, all the quests were over ... and the mighty warriors were free to do whatever they pleased ...
So, they rode off to their kingdoms ... in the moonlight ... amongst the shadows of the dark branches ... devoid of leaves ... through the jungles and the plains ...

They all reached their destinations ... their kingdoms ... and lived happily ever after ... promising to each other ... that when their day comes, they would behead the Monkey King ... and put his head in their showcase ...

Perhaps the Monkey King had not heard the story of the Hippo princess ... who was eventually beheaded by the warriors for being haughty and arrogant ...
Dreaded stories are still told of their adventures with the Hippo Princess ...