Old Man and Woman Planting Taro (Hanuba Hanubi Pan Thaba)
Once there lived an old and childless couple. A troupe of monkeys made their home in the dense forest nearby and the couple came to love them as their own children. One day, the old man (hanuba) and old woman (hanubi) were planting taro. Longing to feast on boiled taro, one of the monkeys told the couple the secret to planting taro. As instructed, hanuba and hanubi boiled the best tubers, wrapped them in banana leaves and tied them firmly with strings and planted them in the field.
At night, the monkeys gathered and dug up each taro replacing them with wild taro plants from a nearby swamp. The next morning, the couple were overjoyed to find their field full of fully grown taro and promptly proceeded to cook a succulent tuber. But the wild taro irritated their throats and the old couple resorted to eating hentak (fish paste) to stop the irritation.
Realizing they were deceived, the couple decided to take revenge. The old man pretended to be dead and when the monkeys came to pay their respects, he beat them black and blue with a large stick. Knowing the monkeys would return, the couple hid atop a bamboo shelf. The string binding the shelf broke and fell on the monkeys who ran away. Then hanuba and hanubi hid in a large earthen pot. The monkeys returned and began searching for them. Suddenly hanuba felt like passing wind. "Do so quietly", said the old woman and so he did. Now it was hanubi who felt like passing wind. "Quietly", said the old man, but hanubi let out such a loud fart the pot broke into pieces. The noise startled the monkeys so much they ran away never to return and the old couple lived happily ever after.