Fairy story - The Elephant and the Monkey

In the land of India, far across the sea, lived an elephant and a mon­key.
The monkey liked to run quickly up the tree trunks and swing himself from branch to branch.
The elephant liked to walk slowly through the jungle, clearing a path for himself with his long, strong trunk.
The elephant and the monkey were friends, but one day they had a quarrel. The elephant was very proud because he knew he was very strong.
"I am the strongest animal in the jungle," he said to the monkey. "See how I trample down the bushes with my feet!"
He twisted his trunk around a young tree and pulled it up by the roots.
"Could you do that?" said the elephant proudly.
Now the monkey was just as proud as the elephant. But the mon­key was proud because he was so very quick. The monkey ran swiftly up into a big tree. He swung from branch to branch with his long arms. Then he hung by his tail from the highest branch of all.
He climbed down quickly to a lower branch and called to the ele­phant: "Could you do that? Could you climb a tall tree and swing by your tail from a branch?"
The elephant had to shake his big head, but he said, "It is better to be strong than quick."
The monkey shook his little head.
"No," he said, "it is better to be quick than strong."
The elephant said, "no, no," and stamped his feet. And the monkey said, "no, no," and waved his arms. The elephant stamped and stamped his feet, and the monkey waved and waved his arms. Then they saw the owl sitting up in a tree blinking his eyes at them.
"The owl is a wise old fellow," said the elephant. "Let us ask him which is better, to be strong or to be quick."
"All right," said the monkey. So they called up to the owl, "Which is better, to be strong or to be quick?"
"You must do just as I tell you," answered the owl, "and then you will know. Do you see that tall tree with the golden fruit on the other side of the river? You must go and pick the fruit and bring it to me." So the elephant and the monkey started out. Soon they came to the river. It was very deep and the water ran very swiftly. The monkey put one foot in the water. Then he took it out quickly.
He was afraid. "I cannot cross this river," he said to his friend, the elephant. "It is too deep and the water runs too swiftly."
"I am so big and strong, I can swim across this river," said the ele­phant.
"It is not too deep or too swift for me.
"You can climb on my back, if you like and I will carry you across."
So the monkey climbed up on the elephant's back. He sat high and dry on the elephant's head while his big friend swam across the river. After a while they found the tree. It was very, very tall and its golden fruit hung high over their heads. The elephant twisted his trunk around the tree and tried to pull it down. But he could not bend or break the tree. It was too strong for him. He tried to reach the golden fruit with his trunk, but the fruit hung too high.
"I cannot reach the fruit," said the elephant sadly.
"What shall I do?" "Oh," said the monkey.
"I can climb trees." He ran quickly up the tree trunk and swung from branch to branch. He picked the big golden fruit and tossed it down to the ground. The elephant picked up the fruit and stored it away in his big mouth. Then the monkey ran down the tree and climbed up on the ele­phant's head once more. The two friends started on their way home. The elephant swam across the swift deep river and soon they were back under the owl's tree.
"Here is the ripe, golden fruit you wanted, Friend Owl," they said. "Now tell us which is better, to be strong or to be quick."
The owl took the fruit. "Now which one of you brings me this?" he asked.
"I picked it," said the monkey. "The elephant cannot climb trees."
"But I carried him over the swift deep river," said the elephant. "The monkey was afraid to swim across it."
"Then you bring me the fruit together," said the owl."Neither of you could get the fruit alone.
"Can any one tell, then, which is better, to be strong or to be quick? It took both the elephant's strength and the monkey's quickness to get the fruit."