The Wedge-Pulling Monkey

A merchant was having a temple built in a grove near a city, and each day at noon the workers would leave for lunch in town, abandoning their tools and half-finished work until the afternoon.

One day a troop of monkeys discovered the site and began frolicking over the rooftops, woodpiles, and treetops. Among the unfinished materials lay a great log that a carpenter had begun splitting, with a wooden wedge driven into the top to hold the crack open while he worked.

One curious monkey, drawn to the strange wedge, straddled the log and began working it loose with both hands, wondering why anyone would stick a wedge in such a peculiar place, without any idea of what held the log apart or what would happen when that support was suddenly removed.

The moment the wedge came free, the log snapped shut on the very place where the monkey's body had settled into the gap, and he was gravely hurt by his own meddling curiosity.

The tale is remembered as a caution against interfering with things whose purpose we do not understand, especially situations that only look playful on the surface -- some mechanisms are holding real tension in place, and disturbing them without understanding why can cause real harm.