MONKEY
Toucan, how did you get such a beautiful beak? There are so many colors on it! Look, there's yellow and blue and purple and orange...
TOUCAN
Why, thank you for noticing, Monkey. There is a story about those colors.
MONKEY
Tell me the story! Please, please?
TOUCAN
Ok, ok. Well, a long time ago My great grandmother, who was my grand mother's mother was flying around in the jungle one morning after a fresh rain. She noticed a beautiful rainbow glistening in the sunlight and she flew up very, very high and snapped off a part of it with her beak. She flew back to her nest and gave parts of it to her chicks and they splashed the colors all over their beaks painting them with beautiful colors.
MONKEY
Can I touch it?
TOUCAN
Well, ok, but be gentle
(Monkey touches beak)
TOUCAN
Snap! (Toucan snaps beak, Monkey laughs)
MONKEY
Ahh! ha!ha!ha!
TOUCAN
Did I scare you?
MONKEY
Only a little.
TOUCAN
But Monkey you look sad. What's wrong?
MONKEY
Toucan, I do not have a beak or rainbow colors. I wish I had a beak. My great grandmother couldn't fly.
TOUCAN
That is true Monkey, but don't be sad. Your great grandmother did something else very special.
MONKEY
She did?
TOUCAN
Yes, because her children loved to play.
MONKEY
Like me! I love to play!
TOUCAN
Yes, Monkey like you. And they were very curious and climbed everywhere and they were very difficult for her to keep track of. She had 5 baby monkeys, running everywhere, climbing trees and swinging on vines.
MONKEY
I can swing on vines too! And I climb trees so I can get the tastiest leaves and fruits!
TOUCAN
Yes! You do! But your great grandmother had a tough time catching all of her baby monkeys to put them to sleep at night. She became very fast and very strong, but with all 5 of them, one was always getting away.
MONKEY
Why?
TOUCAN
Well, she could catch one with each hand, and her feet were like hands too.
MONKEY
Yes! I can hold things with my feet - seeds and nuts and branches!
TOUCAN
Yes, you can, but with two hands and two feet, she could only hold four monkey babies.
MONKEY
Well, what did she do?
TOUCAN
She learned how to use her tail like another arm to catch and hold the fifth baby!
MONKEY
Yes! And now I can hold things with my tail too! I can swing on branches from my tail!
I guess I had a really smart great grandma too!