Some thoughts on Nando's story: sitting quietly, listening

Before I talk about some of my own thoughts on "Mauko Meets a Monkey," I'd like to highlight some of the things other people have brought up:
cafenowhere talked about aspects of disability, what's considered a disability, and what needs healing (thread here );
sartorias saw parallels with Chinese storytelling (thread here );
wayfaringwordhack noticed common themes with the last story and mused on healing the land v. healing people (and then we got into talking about translation, storytelling, and...