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“Do you mean to tell me that you can’t get the medicine here?” asked the Dragon King.

“It is just as you say!” said the doctor.

“Tell me what it is you want for the Queen?” demanded Rin Jin.

“I want the liver of a live monkey!” answered the doctor.

“The liver of a live monkey! Of course that will be most difficult to get,” said the King.

“If we could only get that for the Queen, Her Majesty would soon recover,” said the doctor.

“Very well, that decides it; we MUST get it somehow or other. But where are we most likely to find a monkey?” asked the King.

Then the doctor told the Dragon King that some distance to the south there was a Monkey Island where a great many monkeys lived.

“If only you could capture one of these monkeys?” said the doctor.

“How can any of my people capture a monkey?” said the Dragon King, greatly puzzled. “The monkeys live on dry land, while we live in the water; and out of our element we are quite powerless! I don’t see what we can do!”

“That has been my difficulty too,” said the doctor. “But amongst your innumerable servants you surely can find one who can go on shore for that express purpose!”

“Something must be done,” said the King, and calling his chief steward he consulted him on the matter.

The chief steward thought for some time, and then, as if struck by a sudden thought, said joyfully:

“I know what we must do! There is the kurage (jelly fish). He is certainly ugly to look at, but he is proud of being able to walk on land with his four legs like a tortoise. Let us send him to the Island of Monkeys to catch one.”

The jelly fish was then summoned to the King’s presence, and was told by His Majesty what was required of him.

The jelly fish, on being told of the unexpected mission which was to be intrusted to him, looked very troubled, and said that he had never been to the island in question, and as he had never had any experience in catching monkeys he was afraid that he would not be able to get one.

“Well,” said the chief steward, “if you depend on your strength or dexterity you will never catch a monkey. The only way is to play a trick on one!”

“How can I play a trick on a monkey? I don’t know how to do it,” said the perplexed jelly fish.

“This is what you must do,” said the wily chief steward. “When you approach the Island of Monkeys and meet some of them, you must try to get very friendly with one. Tell him that you are a servant of the Dragon King, and invite him to come and visit you and see the Dragon King’s Palace. Try and describe to him as vividly as you can the grandeur of the Palace and the wonders of the sea so as to arouse his curiosity and make him long to see it all!”

“But how am I to get the monkey here? You know monkeys don’t swim?” said the reluctant jelly fish.

“You must carry him on your back. What is the use of your shell if you can’t do that!” said the chief steward.

“Won’t he be very heavy?” queried kurage again.

“You mustn’t mind that, for you are working for the Dragon King,” replied the chief steward.

“I will do my best then,” said the jelly fish, and he swam away from the Palace and started off towards the Monkey Island. Swimming swiftly he reached his destination in a few hours, and landed by a convenient wave upon the shore. On looking round he saw not far away a big pine-tree with drooping branches and on one of those branches was just what he was looking for–a live monkey.

“I’m in luck!” thought the jelly fish. “Now I must flatter the creature and try to entice him to come back with me to the Palace, and my part will be done!”