The first drops were cold and heavy, a sudden percussion on the broad leaves of the jungle canopy. For a tiny, lost baby monkey named Pip, it was the start of a nightmare. Separated from his troop during a frantic scramble from a foraging boar, he had stumbled into a cruel trap—a narrow fork between two branches where his leg had slipped deep into a crevice and become hopelessly wedged. Now, as the sky tore open, he was utterly exposed.
He was the poorest creature in the world at that moment. His thin fur, meant to be shielded by his mother’s warm body, was instantly soaked, matted flat against his shivering skin. The rain fell not in drops but in sheets, stinging his eyes and filling his mouth with a choking cold. With each passing minute, the crevice filled, the water rising around his trapped leg. He cried out, his voice a high-pitched, desperate shriek that cut through the drumming rain. “Eeeek! Eeeek!” Each cry was a plea for his mother, for warmth, for salvation from the cold, wet prison.
But his cries were swallowed by the storm. The wind whipped the trees, and the thunder roared, drowning out his tiny voice. Exhaustion began to set in. His struggles weakened, the sharp pain in his leg dulled by the penetrating cold. His loud, frantic cries softened into weak, chattering whimpers. He was giving up, his head drooping, the icy rain washing over him like a shroud. He was a small, fading ember in the heart of the deluge.
Just as his eyes started to close, a shadow fell over him. An older, larger monkey, a sub-adult male from his troop, had been searching the lower branches. He heard the faint, gasping whimpers. With strong, knowing hands, he gripped the branches on either side of Pip and, with a powerful, splintering crack, pried them apart just enough to free the tiny, waterlogged leg.
The older monkey didn’t hesitate. He scooped up the shivering infant, tucking him against the relative dryness of his own chest, and began to leap through the rain-swept canopy. Pip’s cries subsided, replaced by the steady, strong heartbeat of his rescuer. He was saved, his desperate pleas finally answered not by his mother, but by the brave, compassionate heart of a brother.
