Once upon a time there were a bunch of monkey-natured monkeys living in mango land. They ate, well, mangoes. They loved their mangoes. They were tasty, juicy and immensely satisfying. They ate the fruits, threw the seeds away and more mango trees grew. They were a happy bunch of monkeys.

Close to the mango land, there lived another bunch of monkey-natured monkeys. Their place was called mosambi land. Unsurprisingly, they ate mosambis. They loved their mosambis, ate them, spit the seeds and more mosambi trees grew. It was a larger forest. So, there were more monkeys in the mosambi land than the mango land.

Life was peaceful, monkeys from the mango land sometimes visited the mosambi land and monkeys from the mosambi land visited the mango land. During these visits, the monkeys gifted each other the fruit of their land. As a result a few mango trees grew in mosambi land and a few mosambi trees grew in mango land.

Peace was not lasting though. Change came in the form of a large army of monkey-natured monkeys that ate oranges. They attacked and took control of most of mosambi land. The mosambi monkeys had to get used to eating oranges because that was the fruit of their captors. Eventually, they started growing kinnows which were a mix of oranges and mosambis. Over time, the orange monkeys lost their power and some of them got integrated with the mosambi monkeys. They all lived together happily now calling themselves kinnow monkeys.

The mango monkeys were lucky because there was a river between them and the mosambi land and it was difficult for the attackers. Eventually though, a larger and stronger army of monkey-natured monkeys came in hordes and captured both kinnow land and mango land. Their fruit was apple. Both the kinnow monkeys and the mango monkeys had to get used to eating apples.

After a long time, the apple monkeys went back to their place because their land was getting attacked and they were also attacked by the mango and kinnow monkeys here. Finally, it was back to peace time in kinnow land and mango land. The kinnow monkeys and the mango monkeys decided, “Let’s form a united front so that the apple monkeys never attack us.” So they formed an alliance and peace lasted even longer. All along, the monkeys were respectful and enjoyed each other’s fruits whenever they visited across the river.

Lasting peace always brought restlessness and the kinnow monkeys started insisting that the mango monkeys also cultivate kinnows and eat them so that they can become one and have lasting protection. They could all be kinnow land. The mango monkeys felt disrespected by this suggestion. They said, “It doesn’t matter what fruit we eat, we can always present a united front. It has worked so far and there is no need to doubt that. We all love mangoes. Those of us that like kinnows shall eat them. No one can shove a kinnow down our throat though.” Kinnow monkeys, drunk on the power of numbers, began insisting that it should be kinnow land - it is only fair because there are more kinnow monkeys than mango monkeys.

As the quarrel continued, the monkey-natured litchi monkeys watched with pleasure, prepping their armies, waiting for the right time to exert their dominance.

Author’s note: All these monkeys are fictional characters. I have not personally met any of them. If I ever meet the kinnow monkeys that are imposing kinnows though, I will tell them that they are complete idiots. They do not understand fruit, monkeys or the history of monkey land.