Good Little Monkeys

Another cartoon I've liked ever since the first time I saw it is Good Little Monkeys, also dating from the 1930s.  My mother had a little ceramic statue of the Goodie Goodie Monkeys that I always liked. (You can find them for sale on eBay.)   Gosh, I don't think I've seen it since I was 7 or 8 years old.

Anyway, when I was a kid I used to walk around singing to myself "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, No. We're the goodie goodie monkeys everywhere we go."

The concept comes from the teachings of Confucious which when translated into Japanese is "Mizaru, kikazaru, iwazaru" ("don't see, don't hear, don't say").  And since "-zaru" sounds like "saru" (Eng. monkey) the Japanese made these little statues and called them The Three Wise Monkeys.

I don't know how the monkeys became popular in the United States.  Perhaps, they were brought over the ocean by immigrants. 

Of course, all three of the monkey behaviors are presaged in the Bible:

See no evil -  "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes"  Psalm 101:3

Hear no evil - "A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue." Proverbs 17:4

Speak no evil - "Let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth..." Ephesians 4:29
One of the things I really like about this cartoon is the role played by books.  The books step in to rescue the monkeys from the Devil.  There is a lesson there.



Happy Harmony*** Good Little Monkeys (1935... by andythebeagle