Kids in general are fascinated by animals talking/behaving like humans in the stories (Videos or Books). When it comes to story-telling or listening time…it certainly unravels one’s imagination and creativity! What can be a better therapy in this cold weather; rather than falling asleep with a  good story and music!

The Story Of Two Cats and A Monkey 

Once upon a time, in a small village, there lived two cats. They were good friends. They always ate together and played together. One fine day, there was a celebration in their village. People were very busy in the celebration mood. Most of the them had gone to the village center to participate in the events! Almost all the houses were empty!

These two cats were prowling for some food. They finally found an Appam in an old lady’s small hut! They were thrilled to see it! Soon, they grabbed the Appam and ran to the streets! On the way…they had a talk how to divide this single Appam into two pieces! Pretty soon, the conversation got heated up! They started to fight! For the whole time, a clever monkey was watching all this from a top of a tree. He descended from the tree and approached the bickering cats!

Monkey:” Friends, friends calm down. I have a way to divide this Appam into two equal halves.”

Cats (in unison): “You do?”

Cat1: “How?”

Monkey: “I have a weighing scale”. 

Cat2:” I think it is a fantastic idea “.

Cat1: “I agree to this” .

So, now…the Monkey brings his/hers weighing scale and divides the Appam into two equal pieces! And, weighs them on the scale.

Monkey: ” Hmmmm, this piece is bit larger then this! Let me eat a bit of it to make it perfectly equal!”

He eats a bit of the appam. Then, he weighs it again.

Monkey: “Oh, this other piece weighs more than this piece, now!! Okay, let me take a bite of this to make it equal!”

Says the monkey. And, eats an another piece of the appam. He weighs them again! And, keeps saying one or the other piece is larger than the other and proceeds to eat and eat and eat until there was No Appam, left on the scale!

The cats were highly disappointed at the end!

Note : The piece of food could be replaced according to one’s culture! It could be a Cake, Pie or a Slice of bread.  

Moral: When we quarrel among ourselves, someone else will gain from it. Had had the cats were kind enough to each other to share the piece of Appam. They would have eaten by this time and also they would have been the best friends forever.

Recipe for Appam 

Ingredients 

• 2 cups of rice
• 1 tsp of urid dal
• 1 can of coconut water
• salt
• 1 pinch of baking soda
• 2 tsp of sesame oil

Method

Soak the rice and lentils together in water, overnight! Then, wet-grind this by adding coconut milk. Further add salt, baking soda and oil. Now, allow this batter to ferment…it roughly takes 7-8 hours in a tropical weather.

To prepare appam; heat up the wobbly griddle. Add a ladle of batter and make a thick pancake. Cover and cook briefly. Fluffy, spongy appam is ready to serve. Repeat the same for the remaining batter. Serve these appams along with Vegetable Stew or Korma. Enjoy.