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.
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