Mappo, the Merry Monkey | Page 8

shell in his paw.
"Please let me go, Mr. Tiger!" begged Mappo. "I never did anything to
you. Let me go!"
"No. I'll not!" growled the tiger. "I'm hungry and I want something to
eat. I chased after a goat half the morning, but it got away from me.
Then I tried to get a little deer, but it ran back with the rest of the deer,
and, as the big deer had such sharp horns, I dared not go after it. So I
haven't had anything to eat, and I'm very hungry. You haven't any
horns, none of your monkey friends are near, and I'm going to eat you!"
Mappo looked to see how far it was to the nearest tree. It was some
distance off, but the little monkey boy knew if he could reach it he
would be safe. For, in the tree, he could run much faster, from branch
to branch, than could the tiger on the ground. But in getting over the
ground on his four paws the monkey was a bit slow. And the tiger, in
one jump could grab Mappo if the monkey started to run.
"Well, there's no use trying to get away from him by running on the
ground," thought Mappo. "He'd have me in a second. And there's no
use asking a favor of him. He seems to be mad at me. I wonder how I
can get away from him!"
Once more Mappo looked at the empty cocoanut shell in his paw--the
shell with which he was going to play a trick on Jacko or Bumpo.
Nearer and nearer to Mappo crept the tiger, lashing his tail from side to
side. Tigers always do that, just as cats do when they are trying to catch
a bird in the garden. Tigers are only big cats, you know, very much
bigger and stronger than your pussy. And they always creep slowly,
slowly up toward anything they are going to catch, until they are near
enough to give one jump and grab it in their claws. That is what the
tiger was trying to do to Mappo.

All of a sudden Mappo raised the paw that held the cocoanut shell. The
little monkey chap made up his mind to be brave and save himself if he
could.
"Take that, Mr. Tiger!" called Mappo, all at once.
With all his might he threw the empty cocoanut shell right at the tiger's
head. Monkeys are very good throwers. They are almost as good as are
baseball boys at that sort of thing.
"Bang!" went the cocoanut on the tiger's head. It cracked open--I mean
the cocoanut cracked open--where Mappo had stuck it together. It made
quite a noise.
"Oh my!" cried the tiger, jumping up suddenly, for he did not know
what to make of the cocoanut shell in his face. Mappo had thrown it so
suddenly.
Then, as the tiger heard the cracking of the cocoanut shell, he thought it
was his own head. Tigers are sometimes silly that way, no matter if
they are strong, and have sharp claws.
"Oh my head! My head!" cried the tiger. "It is broken!"
You see he really thought it was. The crack of the cocoanut shell made
him think that it was his own silly, bad head.
Up in the air reared the tiger on his hind legs. This was just the chance
Mappo wanted.
"Here I go!" thought the little monkey chap. "Here's where I get away."
As fast as Mappo could go he scrambled over the ground toward the
tree where his house was built. By this time the tiger had seen the
empty cocoanut shell fall to the ground, and the striped creature knew
what had happened.
"Ha! That monkey boy! He did that!" growled the tiger. "He can't fool
me that way! I'll get him! I'll fix him for playing tricks on me!"

Finding that his head was all right, and not cracked as he had feared it
was, the tiger gave a big jump, and ran after Mappo. But Mappo was
not waiting for him. The little monkey boy was now far across the open
place on the ground, and was climbing up into a tree as fast as he could
go.
"Come back here!" growled the tiger, making a spring for Mappo. But
Mappo was safely out of the way. The tiger's claws stuck in the trunk
of the tree, tearing loose some bits of bark, but Mappo was not hurt. He
got safely away.
Then, sitting up in the tree on a high limb, Mappo, as he looked down
at the tiger, chattered:
"Ha! You didn't get me after all! You didn't catch me! I fooled you!
Chatter-chatter-chat! Bur-r-r-r! Wuzzzzzzz! Whir-r-r-r-r-r!"
That's the way Mappo chattered, not so much