the cocoanut."

Down trooped all the five little monkeys, Mappo was the first to reach
his cocoanut.

"Why!" he cried. "It fell on a stone, and smashed open. That's what
cracked the shell, Mamma."

"Yes, I thought it would," said Mrs. Monkey. "And that is the lesson you
little ones are to learn. You cannot bite open a cocoanut. You must
crack it on a stone. Mappo dropped his by accident, but it can also be
dropped, or thrown, on purpose. So, when you get a cocoanut, the first
thing to do is to get a sharp stick, and take off the outer shell. Then,
go up in a tall tree, and drop the inside nut down on a stone. The fall
will break it, and you can then eat the white meat."

"Oh, isn't that a nice thing to know!" cried Choo.

"Yes, indeed," said her sister Chaa. "I wish we had a cocoanut to break
open."

"Come up in the tree and I'll give you each one," said Mrs. Monkey.

Up into the tree, where their house was, scrambled Mappo, and his
brothers and sisters. Mappo carried in his paws the pieces of white
cocoanut he had broken out of the round, brown shell. He nibbled at a
piece.

"Oh, doesn't that taste good!" he cried.

"Please give me some," begged Chaa, holding out one little, brown paw.

"No, I want it all," said Mappo.

"Oh, you must not be selfish!" said Mrs. Monkey. "Give your brothers and
sisters some, Mappo, and when they open their nuts, they will give you
some."

Mappo was sorry he had been a little selfish. He gave each of the other
monkeys some cocoanut. Mrs. Monkey went into the tree-house and came out
with four other cocoanuts. She gave one each to the other monkeys, and
soon they had torn off the tough, outer husk, or covering, with a sharp
stick, the way Mappo did.

Then they threw the round brown nuts down on a flat stone under the
tree, cracking the shell so they could pick out the white meat.

"Oh, but this is good!" exclaimed Mappo, as he chewed some of the pieces
his brothers and sisters gave him.

All of a sudden, as the little monkeys were eating away, there sounded a
rustling in the trees. Something was coming through the branches.

"Look out!" cried Jacko.

"Run!" shouted Mappo.

"Don't be afraid, children, it's only your papa," said a kind,
chattering voice, and Mr. Monkey, with a bunch of bananas slung over his
back, came scrambling up to the tree-house.

"Did you see the tiger?" asked Mrs. Monkey.

"No, but I heard the other monkeys calling out about him, so I was
care