By Kollengode S Venkataraman (written in 2003)
Adapted from a story available on the Internet
A wily zookeeper had fifteen monkeys in a cage. In the middle of the cage, he kept a ladder that reached a bunch of bananas hanging from the ceiling. The monkeys always wanted the bananas, but the crafty man wanted the bananas all for himself. So, each time any one of the monkeys tried to climb the ladder, he doused ice-cold water on all monkeys. Each time any one of the monkeys tried to climb the ladder for the bananas, the same thing was repeated again and again.
Soon, whenever any one monkey went near the ladder, all other monkeys, not wanting to be doused with ice-cold water, pounced on the monkey trying to climb on the ladder to get the bananas and beat him up. Eventually no monkey ever went near the ladder.
The crafty man then removed one monkey and replaced him with a new one. The new monkey, seeing the bananas and the ladder, wondered why none of the other monkeys was doing the obvious. As he began to climb the ladder undaunted, all other monkeys joined together and beat the crap out of him. The new monkey had no idea why.
However, he learned not to try to reach for the bananas.
A second original monkey was likewise removed and replaced.
The newcomer again tried to climb the ladder, but all other monkeys, including the previous new monkey, hammered the crap out of him. The previous new monkey, even though he was grateful that he was not on the receiving end this time, trigger-happily participated in the beating nonetheless because the other monkeys were doing it. But he had no idea why he attacked the newcomer. Thus, one by one, all the original monkeys were replaced.
Eventually, even with all the original fifteen monkeys gone, none of the new fifteen monkeys ever dared to climb the ladder, even without the need to spray the ice-cold water. And all of them enthusiastically beat up any new monkey who tried for the bananas, even though they had no idea why. END