Hear no evil – Speak no evil - See no evil!
Monkeys are found in all countries and in some of these countries folktales and stories are made about them. One story from Japan tells of how monkeys should behave, as a way of telling us humans how we should behave. Figurines have been carved of the three monkeys and in many homes, you may see a small brass or wooden statue reminding the household about the way everyone should behave. The figurines remind us to – Hear no evil – Speak no evil – See no evil!
The statues of the three wise monkeys can be seen at the Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikkō, Japan.
The three monkeys have names – Mizaru is covering his eyes, who sees no evil; Kikazaru is covering his ears, who hears no evil; and Iwazaru is covering his mouth, who speaks no evil.
In Japan the proverb from these monkeys means being of good mind, speech and action. In the Western world the meaning can also be “To turn a blind eye.” Which means do not repeat bad things, do not pass on or speak untrue things, and do not listen to bad things being told to you!”
Monkey see, monkey do!
This is an old saying from the olden days meaning that if you do something silly, naughty or bad then others can copy you without understanding what you are doing – like if you climb on the furniture when you know the adults say you must not. Then baby will also try to climb on the furniture and copy you.
If you stick out your tongue (this is a rude thing to do in a lot of societies, sticking your tongue out at people) then baby will copy you.
This saying came about in Africa, the story goes, when a group of people were walking down the road and came across a troupe of monkeys. The people were annoyed with the monkeys so started throwing stones at them, the monkeys who were not doing anything except sitting in the trees ran down to the ground and picked up stones and threw them right back at the people.
In India some children were riding a bicycle and the monkeys sitting on the wall were watching them, when the children got tired of riding the monkeys ran to the bicycle and also tried to ride it.
On St. Maarten/St. Martin the monkeys may also be copying what you do!
Vervet monkey – found on St. Maarten/St. Martin.
The monkey has a black face with white fringing. The rest of the body is a shade of grey. The males are much larger than the females and can weigh up to 18 pounds, but they don’t usually get that big here.
The vervet monkeys prefer to spend their time in the trees but (especially after the hurricanes) we don’t have that many trees for them to move around in, so we see them in the road and in our gardens.
These monkeys can be about during the night and the day, but in many areas they seem to be most active in the early morning as they go from garden to garden looking for food. They are very social and some of the troupes can have as many as 40 members. In their society they have a strict code of the eldest and strongest first (this is called a pecking order). They use a variety of calls which the young are encouraged to make from a very young age. The mothers will punish the young monkeys if they do the wrong thing.
The monkeys will eat fruits, figs, bananas, leaves, and flowers. They will eat both bird eggs and young chicks that they find in nests as well as some insects and bugs.
As long as a mother has a baby to look after for a few years, she will not have another baby too soon.
