A king and his monkey

Hello. I am back in the library. Today, all vestiges of Christmas effectively vanish from the seminary, to lay dormant for another 11 months or so. On the bottom floor of the library we have a large number of creche scenes displayed form all over the world. There are some really cool ones, while some others look really weird. One of my favourite breaks from the traditional creche scene is one from the Andes in which rather than presenting the Christ child with an urn of Frankincense, one of the kings approaches the manger with a dead monkey. Not that there is little to no entertainment value in a dead monkey. I confess, as a child, I may have found it very amusing. As a matter of fact, the entire array of kingly gifts seems a bit out of the ordinary. One king bears the above mentioned deceased primate, another bears three coconuts, and the third bears a large cluster of bananas. Then there is one more figure, possibly a shepherd, carrying a turtle. Now, I do not know if the equivalent of a sheep in the Andes is a turtle or a monkey, either way I believe all parties were represented in this imaginative re-creation of the Nativity scene. My point being, I truly appreciate the various ways in which cultures express the homage payed to Our Lord as an infant.
Anyway, these scenes I helped set up at the beginning of Advent, and so now I am helping to take them down. I walked into the volunteer position my first year, when I was bored silly and wandering around the library and was swept away by the festive spirit of Monsignor D' Adezzio, who was more than willing to accept my assistance. Two years later, here I am again... I love traditions.