Storytelling to
establish truth
The monkey and the turtle
Once upon a time there was
a remote village on the
island of Mindanao
This beautiful quiet village was
struck by a fierce typhoon that
destroyed the village uprooting
one of its banana palms
• In this
village
there lived
a monkey
and the
turtle who
were the
best of
friends.
• The monkey
and the
turtle found
the banana
palm and
decided to
share it.
The turtle was more polite
The Turtle….
than the
monkey and
he asked the
monkey to
choose which
part of the
banana palm
he would like
The monkey choose the top
half because it bore ripe
bananas he could eat.
The monkey thought he got the best
deal.
The turtle got the bottom half.
In time the
monkey ate all
the fruit and
planted his
piece in the
ground but it
did not grow.
It bore no
fruit.
The turtle planted his
part and in time he had a
beautiful palm laden with
bananas, but
he could not
climb the
palm to get
the bananas.
The turtle asked the monkey to
climb the palm and get the
bananas for him. Alas, the
monkey
climbed the
palm but
stayed up
there and
ate all the
bananas.
The turtle was angry and
devised a plan to get the
turtle for his greediness.
•What do you think
the turtle did?
Revenge!!!!
The turtle picked thorns and
put them around the bottom
of the banana palm so when
the monkey came down he
fell into all the thorns.
Ouch, a sore bottom!!!!
It took the monkey all day to
get the thorns out of his
bottom. That’s why monkeys
have red bottoms. He was
angry and wanted to find the
turtle and teach him a
lesson.
An angry monkey!!!!!
The turtle hid among the
coconut husks left behind by
the copra sellers. That’s
why a turtle shell looks like
a pile of coconut husks.
Now the wise old snail saw
the whole commotion
He helped the monkey and
the turtle calm down !
The snail helped them
understand how thru’ their
greed, anger and
unforgiveness they had
broken “Pakikisama”.
The snail encouraged them to
see their foolishness,
forgive each other and be
reconciled.
From then on the
monkey and the turtle
always shared their
bananas.
What truths can we
teach from this story?
• The influence of evil in our lives
makes us selfish. The monkey was
greedy and the turtle sought revenge
and did not want to forgive the
monkey.
• The Bible calls this problem of
selfishness “sin”.
What can our listeners
learn from this story?
• It is better to choose to be kind and
caring towards one another than
selfish.
• If we are kind and value “pakikisama”
we will have many friends and be a
blessing to people, building a strong
community.
Our choices are
determined by our values.
If we love greediness,
unforgiveness and anger
we will have very few
close friends. We can
change our values by
changing our choices.
Is there any problem in
this idea?
• Yes, we find it hard to forgive, and
to be kind to people who have hurt
us.
• Is there any answer to the problem
of our selfishness?
• Yes there is. It is called the “good
news”. We can be reconciled with our
•
enemies. How do we do that?
What is the answer?
• The Bible teaches us that Jesus
Christ, God’s only son came to earth
and died on a cross to break the
power of sin (wrong choices) over our
lives. He will freely give us this power
if we ask him too.
• He asks us to confess our need of
His power and to die to our own way
of living and accept His way of
forgiveness of our enemies
just as He forgave His enemies.
We restore our
“pakikisama” with God…
• By doing this we restore our
“pakikisama” with God and our friends
and enemies. This is God’s answer to
our need of forgiveness of our sin
and selfishness.
Who are your enemies?
• We can ask God now to forgive us for not
forgiving those who have hurt us.
• He asks us to forgive those who have hurt us and
then He will forgive us.
• Let us pray now and tell God we have forgiven our
enemies and ask him to forgive us.
• Prayer.
• God is always faithful to keep His promises. He
has forgiven you now and restored his
“pakikisama” with you and your enemies.
• Go an tell your enemies, you have forgiven them.
Analysis of the story?
• What was the context of the story?
- a village in Mindanao – what did you
imagine or visualise?
• What memories did the story bring
to your mind?
• Was your imagination activated?
• Did the story interest you?
• Did the story soften your heart?
• What truths did you learn from this
story?
• Do these truths relate to your
everyday life experiences?
• Was the decision process meaningful
to your culture?
• Did you see the difference between
good and bad choices?
• How could the response mechanism
be improved, e.g. made more
appropriate to your culture?
Where does this story
fit in a storyline?
• A good storyteller will have a well
developed curriculum of truth.
• The storyteller will tell stories in a
sequence that will develop the
listeners understanding of the whole
subject of the truths he/she wants
to convey.
Biblical Truth this story
teaches
• Works of the flesh
• Galatians 5 v 19-21
• Greed , envy, strife,
enmity, dissension,
disputes, factions,
outbursts of anger.
• Through the
disobedience of one
man (Adam) sin
entered the world.
Romans 5 v 12.
• Fruit of the Spirit
• Galatians 5 v 22-26
• Love, peace kindness,
gentleness, selfcontrol.
• Those who belong to
Christ have crucified
the flesh and its
passions and desires.
Biblical Truth cont’d
• Love and forgive your enemies. Matt 5 v 44.
• Jesus came to save sinners. I Tim 1 v 15.
• Christ conquered sin and death on the cross, so
we could be free from sins power. 2 Corinthians 5
v 21
• Christ reconciled us to God. 2 Cor 5 v 18
• Christ’s followers love one another, value our unity
in Christ, and care for one another as the Body of
Christ. Romans 12 v 5.
• We who are His disciples are to present our
bodies to Christ as a living sacrifice. Rom 12 v 1.
Topics for small group
studies!
• This story could be told in a small
group and the Biblical verses listed
above could become the subject of
group participation. Each person in
the group is given a chance to share
what is meaningful to them, from this
story and which Bible verse spoke to
them.