The sound of the forest
Deep in the rainforest, there was a group of monkeys that lived in harmony with nature. They were spider monkeys, with black fur and long prehensile tails, which swung from branch to branch with agility and grace. They fed on fruits, leaves, insects and occasionally a small animal that they hunted with their sharp teeth.
The monkeys were curious and intelligent, but they had no language or culture. They communicated with gestures, sounds, and facial expressions, and were organized in families led by the strongest and most dominant male. They had no names or concept of themselves. They were just monkeys, living in the present without worrying about the past or the future.
One day, while looking for food in the forest, the monkeys heard a strange and captivating sound. It was a sweet and harmonious melody, which seemed to come from somewhere far away. The monkeys stood still, listening intently and in amazement. They had never heard anything like it. It was as if the forest spoke to them with a mysterious and beautiful voice.
The monkeys felt an irresistible attraction towards the sound, and decided to follow it. They left their usual territory behind and ventured into unknown and dangerous areas. They crossed mighty rivers, dodged ferocious predators, and dodged deadly traps. Nothing was stopping them. They just wanted to get to the source of the sound that haunted them.
After several days of travel, the monkeys came to a clearing in the forest, where they saw something that left them speechless. It was a huge tree, taller and thicker than any they had seen before. Its trunk was covered in strange carved symbols, and its branches stretched across the entire sky. But the most surprising thing was that dozens of musical instruments of all kinds hung from the tree: drums, flutes, harps, violins, guitars, trumpets…
The instruments were connected by fine wires to small metal boxes that emitted a bluish light. The boxes were speakers that amplified the sound of the instruments, creating the melody that the monkeys had followed. It was magical music, created by an ancient human civilization that was long gone.
The monkeys approached the tree cautiously and curiously. Some played the instruments with their hands or their tails, producing new sounds that blended with the original music. Others sat at the foot of the tree and closed their eyes, letting themselves be carried away by the emotions that the music provoked in them.
What the monkeys didn’t know was that music had an effect beyond the sensory. Music was a form of communication and transmission of knowledge, designed by ancient humans to educate their descendants in the event of a global catastrophe. The music contained information about human history, science, art, and philosophy, encoded in frequencies and rhythms that stimulated the listeners’ brains.
Thus, without realizing it, the monkeys began to learn from music. His brain expanded and developed, acquiring new cognitive and linguistic abilities. His memory sharpened and his imagination sparked. His behavior became more complex.
This is a story in which, somewhere in the far future, monkeys evolved differently, by listening to a music capable of expand their knowledge: “The footprints of the gods”.
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