Mappo, the Merry Monkey | Page 7

caught a monkey!"
Of course he had not yet really caught Mappo, but he soon would; there
was very little doubt of that. Mappo shivered. He wished he had not
tried to play the trick. If he had stayed safe up in the tree, the tiger
could not have gotten at him.
Mappo, with his queer little eyes, almost like yours, looked up toward
where he knew his tree-house was. He was looking to see if his papa or
mamma were in sight.

"Ha! There is no use looking up there!" said the cunning tiger, lashing
his striped sides with his long tail. "There's no one up there to help
you!"
Poor Mappo saw that this was so. There was none of his brothers or
sisters up in the tree-house. Nor was his papa or mamma there. The
whole monkey family had gone off to look for more cocoanuts, since
those they had had were all eaten up.
Just before starting out Mrs. Monkey had said:
"Where is Mappo?"
"Oh, he just went on ahead," said Bumpo, who had seen his brother
scrambling down the tree toward the ground. Bumpo did not know
what his brother was going to do, or that Mappo intended to play a trick
with the empty cocoanut shell.
"Oh, if he's gone on ahead, then we'll catch up to him," said Mrs.
Monkey. So away they all went, leaving the tree-house empty, and
expecting to meet Mappo somewhere on the road through the jungle.
But they did not, and there was poor Mappo on the ground right in
front of the bad tiger. The tiger knew none of the monkey family was
near the tree-house except Mappo. That was what made the tiger so
bold.
For, had Mr. Monkey, or Mrs. Monkey, been at home they would have
seen, or smelled the tiger. Monkeys, and other creatures of the jungle,
can often smell danger much better and more quickly than they can see
it. And, had Mr. or Mrs. Monkey smelled the tiger, they would have
kept their little ones safe in the tree, and would have shouted loudly, to
warn all the other monkeys of the danger of the bad tiger.
"Well, you can't get away from me this time!" growled the tiger,
speaking in his own language, which Mappo understood very well, just
as the tiger understood the monkey talk.

For, though monkeys, tigers and elephants, as well as cats and dogs,
cannot speak our language, they have a way of their own for talking
one to another. To us it may sound only like chatter, growls, meows
and barks, but it is really talk. Wouldn't it be nice if we could
understand animals as well as they understand us?
For they can understand our talk, you know. Else how would a horse
know when to start and stop, when the driver tells him? Or how would
your dog know when to come to you, and to lie down when you tell
him to, if he didn't understand you? Tell me that, if you please.
So Mappo understood the tiger, and the tiger understood Mappo.
The little monkey, still keeping tight hold of the empty cocoanut shell,
looked at the crouching tiger as bravely as he could. Nearer and nearer
crept the striped beast. But don't you be afraid. I have a way of saving
Mappo, and I'm going to do it, too!
"Chatter! Chatter! Chip! Chip! Whew! Zur-r-r-r-r!" went Mappo in his
queer monkey talk. That was his way of calling for help. All monkeys
do that in the jungle, when they are in danger. They want a whole lot
more monkeys to come and help them.
"There's no use in your calling that way!" growled the tiger, deep in his
throat. "Nobody can hear you!"
Mappo began to believe that this was so. All the monkeys seemed to
have gone away from that part of the jungle. He was all alone with the
tiger.
Now Mappo was a brave little chap, but being brave is not going to do
one much good, when there's a tiger in the way. So Mappo thought,
besides being brave, he might be polite, and ask a favor of the tiger. For
animals are often more kind to one another than we think. If you watch
them sometimes, as I have done, you will see that this is so.
So Mappo made up his mind he would ask the tiger, as a favor, not to
bite or eat him.

"And, if he won't be kind to me," thought Mappo, "well, then maybe
something else will happen. Maybe papa will come, with a whole lot
more monkeys, and drive the tiger away. Or, if he does not, well,
maybe something else will happen," and Mappo looked at the empty
cocoanut