Mappo, the Merry Monkey | Page 9

to make fun of the bad
tiger, as to warn the other monkeys in the woods that the bad striped
animal was near, and that there was danger in the jungle.
"Chatter-chatter-chat! Bur-r-r-r-r! Whe-e-e-e-e! Zir-r-r-r!" chattered the
other monkeys, far off in the jungle, as they heard Mappo's warning.
The woods were filled with the sound they made.
"Well, I might as well go away," thought the tiger. "They will all be on
the lookout for me now. I'll have to wait until after dark to catch a
monkey, or something else to eat. Bur-r-r-r-r-r! But I'm hungry!"
So the tiger slunk away, and I guess no one else in the woods felt sorry
that he had not caught Mappo. They were all glad the monkey boy had
gotten away, and Mappo was especially glad, on his own account.
"Ha! That was a good trick of yours--to throw the empty cocoanut shell
at the tiger, Mappo," said an old grandfather monkey, high in a tree.
Mappo had told his friends, the other monkeys, what had happened.
"Yes, indeed it was," said an uncle monkey. "Mappo is a smart boy to

think of such a trick."
This made Mappo feel pretty proud of himself.
"Do you know where my papa and mamma are?" he asked.
"They went off over toward the banana grove," said the grandfather
monkey. "Be careful of the tiger if you follow them."
"I will," promised Mappo. But the tiger had slunk away now, so Mappo
thought it would be safe to travel through the jungle, especially if he
kept up in the trees, and did not go down on the ground.
Off Mappo started after his folks, who had gone on, thinking to catch
up to him.
Mappo had not gone very far before he came to a place in the woods
where he saw something very strange. It was strange and also nice, for,
down on the ground, were a number of pieces of white cocoanut.
"Well, that's good!" thought Mappo. "Cocoanut already shelled to eat. I
wonder who could have left that there for me. Maybe my papa or
mamma did, knowing I would come this way. Yes, that must be it.
They are very kind to me. I'll go down and get some of that sweet
cocoanut."
Now Mappo was not a very wise little monkey. He had not lived long
enough to know all the dangers of the jungle. There were dangers from
tigers and other wild beasts.
Some of those dangers Mappo knew about, and he also knew how to
keep out of their way. But there were other dangers from men--from
hunters--and these Mappo did not know so well. For, as yet, he had
never seen a man--a human being. Mappo had only lived in the jungle
where men very seldom came, and those men were brown or black
men.
But men knew monkeys were in the woods, and men wanted the

monkeys for circuses, for menageries and for hand-organs. That is the
reason men try to catch monkeys.
Mappo looked all around the forest from the top of the tree where he
had come to rest. He saw no signs of danger. He saw only white pieces
of cocoanut on the ground.
"I'll go down and get some, and then I'll run on and find my papa and
mamma and brothers and sisters," thought Mappo. "They will want
some of this cocoanut."
Down he went, and began picking up the bits of cocoanut. They were
rather small pieces and Mappo had to eat a great many of them before
he felt he had enough. Each piece was a little way beyond the next one,
and Mappo kept on walking along slowly as he picked them up.
Finally he saw a very large piece. He reached for it with his paw, and
then, all at once something happened.
Something like a big spider's web seemed to fall down out of a tree
right over Mappo. In an instant he was all tangled up--his paws and tail
were caught. He yelled and chattered in fright, and tried to get loose,
but the more he tried, the tighter the meshes of the net fell about him.
Poor Mappo was caught. He had been caught by a hunter's net in the
jungle, and the pieces of cocoanut were only bait, just as you bait a
mouse trap with cheese.
"Oh!" cried Mappo, in his shrill, chattering voice. "Oh dear! I am
caught!"
Tighter and tighter the net closed over him.
CHAPTER IV
MAPPO IN A BOX
Poor Mappo was not a merry monkey just then. Usually he was a jolly

little fellow, laughing and chattering in his own way, and playing tricks
on his brothers and sisters. Now he felt very little like doing anything
of that