very ill, and that the only thing to
cure him is a monkey's heart.'

'Poor man, I am very sorry for him,' replied the monkey; 'but you were
unwise not to tell me till we had started.'

'What do you mean?' asked the shark; but the monkey, who now understood
the whole plot, did not answer at once, for he was considering what he
should say.

'Why are you so silent?' inquired the shark again.

'I was thinking what a pity it was you did not tell me while I was still
on land, and then I would have brought my heart with me.'

'Your heart! Why, isn't your heart here?' said the shark, with a puzzled
expression.

'Oh, no! Of course not. Is it possible you don't know that when we leave
home we always hang up our hearts on trees, to prevent their being
troublesome? However, perhaps you won't believe that, and will just
think I have invented it because I am afraid, so let us go on to your
country as fast as we can, and when we arrive you can look for my heart,
and if you find it you can kill me.'

The monkey spoke in such a calm, indifferent way that the shark was
quite deceived, and began to wish he had not been in such a hurry.

[Illustration: The Monkey has a ride]

'But there is no use going on if your heart is not with you,' he said at
last. 'We had better turn back to the town, and then you can fetch it.'

Of course, this was just what the monkey wanted, but he was careful not
to seem too pleased.

'Well, I don't know,' he remarked carelessly, 'it is such a long way;
but you may be right.'

'I am sure I am,' answered the shark, 'and I will swim as quickly as I
can,' and so he did, and in three days they caught sight of the kuyu
tree hanging over the water.

* * * * *

With a sigh of relief the monkey caught hold of the nearest branch and
swung himself up.

'Wait for me here,' he called out to the shark. 'I am so hungry I must
have a little breakfast, and then I will go and look for my heart,' and
he went further and further into the branches so that the shark could
not see him. Then he curled himself up and went to sleep.

'Are you there?' cried the shark, who was soon tired of swimming about
under the cliff, and was in haste to be gone.

The monkey awoke with a start, but did not answer.

'Are you _there_?' called the shark again, louder than before, and in a
very cross voice.

'Oh, yes. I am here,' replied the monkey; 'but I wish you had not
wakened me up. I was having