Kuroop's friend the monkey, who sits in the mango trees on the riverbank and occasionally throws mangoes down for Kuroop to bring to his wife. The monkey does this because he knows that Kuroop's wife loves eating mangoes (lines 27-30). Kuroop says that what his wife really appreciates is the love the monkey shows by giving them the mangoes (lines 35–38). In lines 39–40, however, we're told that this is a half-truth: Mrs. Kuroop likes love, but she also likes mangoes.

Lines 41-68 introduce the primary conflict in the poem. One day, Mrs. Kuroop turns to her husband and thanks him for all the delicious foods he's brought to her since they married (lines 41–46). For their anniversary, however, she wants a new delicacy: The monkey's heart (lines 47–51).

Kuroop is surprised by this request. Mrs. Kuroop explains that because the monkey is so kind, and because the monkey subsists on mangoes, his heart must be very sweet indeed (lines 52–58). Kuroop protests that the monkey is his friend, but he gives in when his wife threatens to die of bitterness if she can't eat the monkey's heart (lines 59–68).

Lines 69–99 feature Kuroop going to see the monkey. The monkey greets Kuroop by throwing more mangoes to him. Kuroop thanks him and then invites the monkey to "dine with both of us, and meet/Her whose life you've made so sweet" (lines 77–82).

Kuroop's lines in this section are full of double entrendres: He could mean to invite the monkey to dinner, or he could mean to tell the monkey that the monkey is dinner. For instance, in lines 85-86, Kuroop says "when she takes you by the paw/Something at your heart will gnaw." In lines 87-88, he says "when you gaze into her eyes/You will enter paradise."

The monkey points out he cannot swim, but Kuroop invites him to ride on Kuroop's back (lines 91–99).

Lines 100-148 contain the crisis point or climax of the plot. Laden with mangoes, the monkey jumps onto Kuroop's back. Partway through the journey, however, Kuroop tells the monkey to throw the mangoes in the water (lines 104–105). When the monkey protests, Kuroop says "you yourself are the gift enough" and reveals that his wife intends to eat the monkey (lines 107–120). Kuroop gives the monkey a choice: Drown himself in the river, or be eaten by Kuroop and his wife.

The monkey responds by reassuring Kuroop that Kuroop's wife's happiness "means the most to me," and that he'd gladly die for it (lines 128–134). However, says the monkey, Mrs. Kuroop is likely to be distraught when she realizes that the monkey doesn't have his heart inside him. Rather, he keeps it in a "hollow" along with his liver, "half my brain, and fingernail,/cufflinks, chutney and spare tail" (lines 135–144). He ends by chiding Kuroop for not telling him the heart was needed sooner, saying "Why did you not speak before?/I'd have fetched them from the shore" (lines 147–148).

Lines 149–178 contain the resolution of the plot. Kuroop is disheartened at first but cheers up when the monkey suggests they go back to his tree, "fetch my heart,/Check its sweetness, and depart" (lines 149–158). They go back; as the monkey climbs his tree, Kuroop, with "tears of thankfulness," urges the monkey to hurry (lines 159-166).

The monkey, however, isn't having it. "I'm not such a double-dunce,/Yelled the monkey from the high." He reveals the trick he played on Kuroop and pelts the crocodile with "mangoes, squishy, rotten, dead." Kuroop just stares at him "with a regretful smile."

The central message of "The Crocodile and the Monkey" is about taking advantage of friendship and about the dangers of caving to pressure from others. Kuroop and the monkey have a good relationship as long as Kuroop accepts the monkey's mangoes. Once Kuroop gives in to his wife's pressure to feed her the monkey's heart, however, Kuroop quickly finds that his previous friendship—like the mangoes—has gone "squishy, rotten, dead."