Monkey Baby Bon Bon had always been small—small paws, small ears, and a small voice that squeaked more than it spoke. But inside that tiny chest lived a dream far bigger than the tallest tree in the jungle: Bon Bon wanted to become a superhero.
Every morning, before the sun finished stretching its golden arms across the treetops, Bon Bon would climb to his favorite branch and practice heroic poses. He’d puff out his belly, put his hands on his hips, and shout, “Bon Bon to the rescue!” Of course, because he was so little, the jungle birds often mistook his squeak for a hiccup. Still, Bon Bon never stopped practicing.
His inspiration came from the stories Mama Monkey told each night—tales of courageous warriors who saved lost monkeys, protected ancient trees, and outsmarted sly predators with brains and bravery. Bon Bon wanted to do all of that, but the older monkeys just laughed when he talked about becoming a hero.
“You?” snorted Bobo the gorilla. “You can barely peel a banana without help!”
Embarrassed but not defeated, Bon Bon decided he needed a plan. Heroes always trained, didn’t they? So Bon Bon started with strength training. He tried lifting a coconut… which was much heavier than he expected and resulted in him rolling backward down a hill. Next, he practiced speed by racing dragonflies, who buzzed away long before Bon Bon’s tiny legs even got moving. Finally, he tried practicing bravery by sneaking up on a sleeping leopard—but his courage lasted only until the leopard snored, and then he bolted up the nearest tree.
It seemed like being a superhero wasn’t as easy as in the bedtime stories.
But fate had a funny way of helping dreamers.
One particularly windy afternoon, while Bon Bon was nibbling the remains of a banana, he heard a strange cry. It wasn’t a monkey cry or a bird cry. It was faint, desperate, and coming from down by the riverbank.
Bon Bon hurried toward the sound. There, tangled in a patch of thorny vines, was a tiny jungle mouse trembling with fear. The river was rising fast, and if the mouse couldn’t get free, the water would sweep her away.
Bon Bon’s heart thumped wildly. This was danger—the real kind. The kind heroes faced.
He gulped.
He trembled.
But then he remembered Mama Monkey’s words: “A hero isn’t the biggest or the strongest. A hero is the one who helps.”
Bon Bon scrambled down, ignoring the thorns that poked his soft little fingers. He tugged and tugged until the vines loosened enough for the mouse to wriggle free. The moment she was out, Bon Bon grabbed her paw and scurried up a tall root just as the river surged past with a roaring splash.
The mouse looked up at him with wide, grateful eyes. “You saved me,” she squeaked.
Bon Bon blinked. He had.
From that day on, the jungle no longer laughed at Monkey Baby Bon Bon. They didn’t call him small anymore—they called him brave. And Bon Bon? He kept practicing his superhero poses. But now, when he shouted “Bon Bon to the rescue!”, it wasn’t just a dream.
It was who he had become.
