Once upon a time, in a dense forest, a sweet little sparrow had built her nest on a large tree. She lived there happily with her family. One day, it was extremely cold, and all the animals were shivering from the chill. Four monkeys came and sat under the same tree. Shivering from the cold, one of the monkeys said, “If we can find some fire, we could get some relief from this cold.”
Another monkey looked around and suggested, “Look, there are so many dry leaves scattered under the tree. If we gather them into a pile and find a way to light it, we can stay warm.”
All the monkeys quickly gathered the dry leaves into a pile. Then, they sat in a circle, wondering how to light the pile. Suddenly, one of the monkeys spotted a firefly flying in the sky. He jumped up in excitement and shouted, “Look! There’s a firefly flying in the air! Catch it, put it on the pile of leaves, and blow on it—this will start a fire!”
“Yes! Yes! Let’s catch it!” the other monkeys agreed with him and ran to catch the firefly. The sparrow was watching the monkeys’ foolishness from her nest. She realized that the monkeys were mistaking the firefly for a spark, thinking it could start a fire. Unable to stop herself, she said, “Monkey brothers, that’s not a spark, it’s a firefly. You won’t be able to start a fire with it.”
One of the monkeys jumped up, caught the firefly in his hands, and threw it onto the pile of dry leaves. All the monkeys sat around the pile and started blowing hard to ignite the fire. The sparrow spoke again, “Brothers, you’re making a mistake. A firefly won’t start a fire. You need to rub two stones together to create a spark, only then will the fire start.”
The monkeys angrily looked at the sparrow but ignored her words. When all their efforts failed and the fire didn’t start, the sparrow spoke once more, “Brothers, listen to me. Try rubbing two dry sticks together, that will surely start a fire.”
The monkeys didn’t like hearing this. One of the monkeys, filled with anger, glared at the sparrow and growled, “Stupid bird! Be quiet! Don’t try to teach us. We know what we’re doing!”
The monkeys became even more frustrated because all their hard work had gone to waste. In their anger, one of the monkeys lunged at the sparrow, grabbed her, and furiously threw her against the trunk of the tree. The poor sparrow fell to the ground, writhing in pain, and died.
**Moral of the Story:**
One should never offer advice unless asked, especially when the person is a fool. Offering advice to fools is pointless because not only will they reject the advice, but they might also harm the person giving it. The monkeys, in their foolishness, ignored the sparrow’s wise counsel and ended up killing her, not realizing that she only wanted to help them.