do the dog-riding trick very well. No matter how fast
Prince ran, the monkey would not fall off. A few days later more dogs
and other monkeys were brought into the circus ring in the big barn, and
they, too, raced around. But none of them could go as fast as Mappo and
Prince, and, each time, they won the race around the sawdust ring.

"That certainly is a smart little monkey!" the circus man would say over
and over again. "I shall teach him many tricks. I will now see how he
can ride on the back of a pony, and, after that, I will teach him to
jump through paper hoops."

Mappo did not very well understand what this meant, but he made up his
mind he would do whatever was asked of him, and that he would do it as
well as he could.

A few days later some little Shetland ponies were brought into the barn,
and Mappo was placed on the back of one of them. The pony was a little
larger than Prince, and Mappo was farther from the ground. But the
little monkey had climbed tall trees in the jungle, and he was not
afraid of going up even on an elephant's back. So, of course, he was not
afraid on Trotter, the pony.

A blanket was strapped on Trotter's back, and as there was an iron ring
in the strap, Mappo stuck his tail through that, and so held on. The
other monkeys, who were also to ride ponies, saw what Mappo was doing,
and they did the same thing.

"Ha! It's good to have a smart monkey in the circus," said the man. "He
shows the others what to do."

Mappo was so smart, and such a good rider, that he easily took the lead
in the race, and kept it. The ponies ran faster than the dogs had done,
but, even then, neither Mappo nor any of the other monkeys fell off, for
their tails were in the iron rings of the straps.

"Well, how are you coming on?" asked Tum Tum of Mappo one day, when they
were resting after having eaten their dinners.

"Fine!" answered Mappo. "I can do many tricks now. What are you
learning?"

"Oh, many things," answered Tum Tum. "I have to play ball, grind a
hand-organ with my trunk and make music, I have to play soldier, march
around, and stand up on my hind legs and on my head."

"Is it hard work?" asked Mappo.

"Yes, but I like it," said Tum Tum. And some day soon, in another book,
I shall tell you the many adventures of Tum Tum, the jolly elephant.

"Well, now for a new trick," said the circus man to Mappo, one morning.
"Soon it will be time for the circus to go out on the road, under the
big tents