Mappo, the Merry Monkey | Page 4

that
the next time he tried to tickle Jacko, Mappo's paw slipped, and Jacko,
turning around, saw his brother.
"Oh ho! So it was you, and not a fly!" cried Jacko. He dropped his fruit,
and raced after his brother. Up through the tree, nearly to the top, went
the two monkeys, as fast as they could. They laughed and chattered, for
it was all in fun.
Finally Jacko caught Mappo by the tail.
"Oh, let go!" begged Mappo.
"Will you stop tickling me?" asked Jacko.
"I guess so--maybe!" laughed Mappo, trying to pull his tail out of his
brother's paw.
"No, you'll have to say for sure, before I let you go!"
Jacko pulled pretty hard on Mappo's tail.
"Oh! let go! Yes, I'll be good! I won't tickle you any more!" cried
Mappo.
Then Jacko let go, and started to climb down the tree to the little
platform in front of the monkey house. But Mappo was not done with
his jokes. He scrambled down faster than did Jacko, and finally, when
Jacko was not looking, Mappo grasped the end of his brother's tail, and
gave it a hard pinch.

"Ouch! Oh dear! Mamma, the tiger's got me!" cried Jacko.
"Ha! Ha! That's the time I fooled you!" laughed Mappo in his
chattering way.
Then Jacko gave chase after Mappo again, and the two monkey boys
were having lots of fun in the trees, when Mrs. Monkey called to them:
"Jacko! Mappo! Come down here. It is time for your new lesson. And
you, too, Choo and Chaa! You'll have time to practice a little bit before
your father comes home," and she looked down to see if the tiger were
there.
But the bad animal had gone away. He had heard the monkeys talking
about him, and sending a warning all through the jungle where they
lived. A jungle, you know, is a great big woods.
"What lesson is it going to be, Mamma?" asked Mappo.
"You'll soon see," she said.
And Mrs. Monkey went into the tree-house, came out with a brown,
shaggy thing, about as big as a small football. Have you ever seen one
of those? Only, of course, it was not a football.
"Oh, what is it, Mamma?" asked Chaa.
"I know!" exclaimed Bumpo, as he tried to climb under a branch, and
bumped his head.
"Ouch!" he cried.
That was why he was called Bumpo--he was always bumping his head,
though it did not hurt him very much, for he was covered with a heavy
growth of hair.
"Well, what is it, if you know?" asked Mappo, for he was looking at the
big, round, brown thing, and trying to guess what it was.

"It's--it's a new kind of banana," said Bumpo, for he and his brothers
and sisters were very fond of the soft red and yellow fruit.
"No, it isn't a banana," said Mrs. Monkey. "It's a cocoanut."
"I never saw a cocoanut as big as that," spoke Mappo, for his papa had
brought some smaller, round nuts to the tree-house, and had said they
were cocoanuts. The little monkeys had not been allowed to eat any of
the white meat inside the cocoanut though, for they were too small for
it then.
"Yes, this is a cocoanut," went on Mrs. Monkey. "You are now getting
large enough to have some for your meals, and so I am going to give
you a lesson in how to open a cocoanut."
"I thought cocoanut was white," said Choo.
"It is, inside," said Mrs. Monkey. "This cocoanut I now have has the
outer shell still on it. That is why it is not round, like some you may
have seen. Inside this soft covering is the round nut, and inside that
round nut is the white meat. Now, Mappo, you are a smart little
monkey, let me see if you will know how to open the cocoanut. And,
when you do, you may all have some to eat."
Mappo took the cocoanut and looked at it. He turned it over and over in
his paws. Then, with his fingers, he tried to pull it apart. But he could
not do it. The nut was too hard for him. Next he tried to bite it open, but
he could not.
"Let me try. I can open it!" exclaimed Jacko.
"No, I'll do it," said Mappo.
"If you can't, I can," spoke Bumpo, and he gave a jump over toward
Mappo, and once more he hit his head on a branch, Bumpo did.
"Ouch!" he chattered, rubbing the sore place with his paw.
Mappo turned the cocoanut over and over again. He was looking for

some hole in it through which he could put his paw and get out the
white meat. But he saw none.
"Maybe