Outside of external similarities between them, apes are not much closer to humans than other animals. Moreover, when intelligence is used as a point of comparison, the bee, which produces geometric wonders at the nest, or the spider, which produces engineering wonders of the web, much closer to humans than apes. We can even say that they were superior in several aspects.
Between humans and apes, however, there is a wide gulf, which would never have been brought near by the fairy tales. Fixed, a monkey is an animal no different from a horse or a dog in terms of awareness. Humans, however, is a creature that has consciousness and will, who can think, talk, consider, decide, and judge. All these qualities are functions of the "soul" who has.
The most important difference that resulted in such a large gap between people of other living creatures. The only creatures that have "soul" in nature is human.
