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A secondary school boy was seen verbally pleading with two testy macaques outside a school compound in Jurong West to return his bag and file.

A video of the incident was put up on TikTok originally, and later ripped and shared to Facebook.

Chased first time

The video started with the boy speaking in clear and concise English to the macaques, telling them that it is his "file" and "project" and asking for his belongings back.

One of the macaques responded by screeching aggressively and chasing the boy for about 10m.

In the wild, such as at reservoirs and nature parks in Singapore, macaques have been documented approaching people holding plastic bags as they have come to associate them with receptacles for food.

Second attempt

The boy then returned to negotiate with the monkeys again.

This time, the monkey that chased the boy stood guard by putting itself in between the boy and the other monkey ransacking the bag.

The boy then addressed the macaques, while waving both hands signalling he wants peace: "No, no, no, don't open."

When that failed, he attempted to speak Monkeyglish: "Ah, ah, eh, eh, eh."

The macaque ransacking the bag continued to do so.

Third attempt

Exasperated that his negotiations with the macaques were going nowhere, the boy decided to give up his drink in exchange for everything else.

He told the monkeys: "Ok please, I make you a deal. The can of Coke is yours. But I want my bag... Eh, don't don't."

One monkey screeches in response.

The boy then said, while backing off: "Okay, okay."

He then got closer as he continued to speak to the monkeys, who at this point, appeared to tire of the boy's approach as they allowed him to get closer.

The boy then said: "I just want my stuff. These are all my school stuff."

"I beg you. Please, please."

"Give me back. Ah, ah."

The caption of the video at this juncture read: "The monkey obviously wants the bag and not the Coke."

Fourth attempt

In the fourth attempt at retrieving his bag, both monkeys suddenly walked away and went up a tree.

Their retreat left the boy's belongings unattended.

He then inched forward, but froze, as one of the macaques jumped off the tree and he was unsure if it would attack him.

The person filming then egged the boy on: "Go take and run lah."

And when the boy lunged forward to grab his things, one of the macaques sprinted forward, screeched and chased the boy.

Responses

Reactions to the videos were mostly to laugh at how the situation unfolded.

The thought of a schoolboy having to negotiate in English with two wild macaques was hilarious to people.

However, there were others who commiserated as they said it was terrifying to have to deal with two potentially aggressive animals and being faced with the prospect of putting up a fight while retrieving one's personal belongings.

Others joked that the schoolboy could tell his teachers that he did not do his homework as monkeys took it.

Still others joked that no one would have believed him if the whole incident was not filmed on TikTok.

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