During the rule of the Japanese in Kosrae they demanded huge labor to the Kosraean people for food, shelter, and military acivities. Therefore, all nights and days the men left their families and homes to the Japanese military site to do their duties.
The people also benefit for this situation because they were paid with modern food, money, tools, and clothes. Including these men was my grandfather who left his family all nights to work with the Japanese soldiers to obtain food or money for the family. As darkness approach, approximately at 6:00 o'clock p.m, he got on his canoe and paddled all the way to the Japanese dock or shipping area. His job was to help the Japanese soldiers and other Kosraen men to unload the cargos and supplies brought by Japanese ship to the island. After work he returned home with his payment and told the family about his long journey.
One night after work his Japanese friend returned from Japanese and gave my grandfather a monkey. He was surprised at that moment and thank his friend for his special gift to him. One his way home he carried two backs of rice with some money and the monkey he later named Sarukwel.
At home everybody was surprised and disbelieved what they saw. Everybody take their chances playing with the monkey, which gave them great joy and memorable moments in their life.
Later on the World War II had ended and the Japanese left the island. Everything grew back to normal as everybody went farming again, go to church, and attended some traditional occasions. One day grandpa and all his family left Sarukewel in the house to attend the church. Living near my grandfather's house was a man named Warran. He rarely go to church or went to town. Therefore, Sarukwel had a habit of despising and making troubles with this man. He often went into this man's house and destroyed his garden, utensils, and making a lot of mess, as most monkeys often do. One day Sarukwel spotted Warran on his porch shaving his mustache with a razor. As an imitating monkey, Sarukwel got another razor and imitated everything Warran did with the razor. Warran recognized Sarukwel's imitation and he quickly slide the razor across his neck ,like he was cutting his throat, and drop onto the floor as he was dead. Sarukwel did the same by sliding the razor across its neck, but the razor went deep and cut Sarukwel's throat. Grandpa, my father, and the rest of the family returned home and found Sarukwel dead on the floor. They cried and felt sorry for Sarkukwel.
The first monkey that thought to be brought to Kosrae was dead. As you can see around the island you cannot view any monkeys roaming the island. Therefore, this is a true story base from my grandparents, and a story that could prove to you that, "yes" there was a monkey came to Kosrae, once.