Better be alone than in bad company.

It is better to be called a loner than to be labeled as a bad person. It is better off to be without any friends than to have friends with a bad character. You are known by the company you keep. So we must be careful while choosing our friends.


Once there lived a group of monkeys in a small forest next to a mangrove. There were a lot of youngsters among the group who played around and spent their time happily. One day a new monkey family came to live with the group. The new family had two little monkeys - Tittoo and Bittoo - that were very mischievous and naughty beyond imagination.


Soon Tittoo and Bittoo began to make friends with the other little monkeys and tempting them to join in their pranks.


“You are living such a boring life. You must be adventurous like us. You are missing out on so much fun,” they would tell the other youngsters.


The other monkeys too were fascinated by Tittoo and Bittoo’s activities and soon joined in. They played havoc in the neighboring mangrove by eating all the mangoes and stealing things from anyone who passed by. They ransacked the houses in the neighboring village and took great pleasure in scaring young children and snatching away their toys.


Monty and Bunty were two close friends who refused to join the gang in their naughty acts for they thought that it was not nice to steal things from innocent passers-by. The other monkeys made fun of them by calling them cowards but Monty and Bunty did not bother about that. They played by themselves in the forest while all the others were together as a gang.


Fed up with the notorious activities of the monkeys, the owner of the mangrove sought the help of the local police. Monty and Bunty warned Tittoo and Bittoo to keep away from mischief since they had seen a few policemen with guns patrolling the mangrove. But the naughty monkeys refused to listen and continued with their menacing activities.


The next day the police had come armed with tranquillizers and set up traps to capture the monkeys. By dusk most of the monkeys including Tittoo and Bittoo were caught and taken away to the zoo by the police. The others who managed to escape came back into the forest totally scared and never again ventured into the mangrove, realizing that they had indeed behaved very badly.


Monty and Bonty felt that it was better to be alone than in bad company. Hence they faced no problems. But the other monkeys who played mischief with Tittoo and Bittoo felt very sad for their friends had been taken away by the police. They realized how important it was to stay away from bad company.