The old tortoise Muga is having a walk with his great grandson in the woods.

Grandson: "Grandpa, have you heard of the legend of the monkey who swings from tree to tree with his eyes closed? He is in town lately."

Muga: "A legend, is that so? What about him?"

Grandson: "The monkey Kerubo would swing from place to place, not caring where he ends up. And he would do it without looking. Somehow he managed to never fall."

Muga: "That's impressive. Do you know why he does that?"

Grandson: "I don't know, grandpa."

Muga: "Well I'll tell you."

They both sit down for a tale.

One day, many years ago, Muga was crawling slowly by a river. Muga was struggling through the mud after the rain.

A young monkey passed by. His name is Kerubo. Kerubo found Muga's struggle amusing, so he approached Muga.

Kerubo: "You are completely helpless here, are you?"

Kerubo did not intend to help.

Muga: "I'm doing fine, thank you. I've been through much worse, this is nothing."

Kerubo laughed: "I could do anything to you and there's nothing you can do about it. Not even if I throw you into the river."

Muga: "That's true, I can do nothing about it. In fact you'll be doing me a favor by throwing me into the river."

Kerubo thought of doing just that, but he hesitated. He was a monkey who takes pride in causing trouble. But doing so he ends up helping instead. This will be shameful if other monkeys find out.

So Kerubo stood there, and he started scratching. Kerubo could not make up his mind about what he should do. First he was scratching his hand. And then he scratched his tummy. And then the back of his head. Then the top of his head.

This is all getting hard to watch. Muga offered: "I'll make it real easy for you. No one will find out that this happened, you don't have to worry about your reputation."

Kerubo agreed.

Muga: "... on one condition."

Kerubo: "What's that?"

Muga: "I would let you throw me into the river, if you would stop scratching."

Kerubo: "I don't scratch, what are you talking about? I'm not scratching anything."

Muga waited.

Kerubo looked eager. And then he scratched his head again.

Muga: "If you keep this up we are going to be here for a long time."

Kerubo continued scratching: "I don't know how to not do this."

Muga: "You don't like yourself very much. I wonder why that is."

Kerubo is puzzled.

Muga: "You scratch when you need to take your frustration out on someone. But in your mind there's only one person who you loathe enough to take it out on: yourself."

Muga continued: "So you inflict damage in the only place you have control over. Ironically, you've lost control of the inflicting and can't stop."

Kerubo thought about it: "I think you're right. What do I do?"

Muga: "Find a better way to worry. You're a monkey, try swinging blind."

Kerubo: "That's crazy! If I can't see what I'm swinging towards I'm going to fall."

Muga: "Then you have better things to worry about than obsessive scratching."

Kerubo looked unconvinced.

Muga: "And you get to practice having some faith while you're at it."

By now there's nothing more for Muga to impart. Kerubo picked up Muga and sent him to the river, almost respectfully.

Muga said to Kerubo before he left: "Learn to like yourself."

From there on, Kerubo became a free monkey and no longer suffered from obsessive compulsive scratching.

Grandson thought about it for a while, then asks: "Grandpa, how much should I like myself?"

Muga: "Not too much; just enough to carry you through the day."