ILLUSTRATIONS

With all his might he threw the empty cocoanut shell right at the tiger’s head (Frontispiece)

Mr. Monkey, with a bunch of bananas slung over his back, came scrambling up to the tree-house

So he gave a jump out of the net, but, in a second found himself inside the wooden crate or box

Away up to the top he went, and, curling his tail around a rope, there he sat

Around and around in a ring went Prince carrying Mappo

He rode around a little wooden platform on the bicycle, holding a flag over his shoulder

Mappo sat up at the table and eat his dinner with knife, fork and spoon

CHAPTER I

MAPPO AND THE COCOANUT

Once upon a time, not so very many years ago, there lived in a tree, in a big woods, a little monkey boy.  It was in a far-off country, where this little monkey lived, so far that you would have to travel many days in the steam cars, and in a steamship, to get there.

The name of the little monkey boy was Mappo, and he had two brothers and two sisters, and also a papa and a mamma.  One sister was named Choo, and the other Chaa, and one brother was called Jacko, and the other Bumpo.  They were funny names, but then, you see, monkeys are funny little creatures, anyhow, and have to be called by funny names, or things would not come out right.

Mappo was the oldest of the monkey children, and he was the smartest.  Perhaps that was why he had so many adventures.  And I am going to tell you some of the wonderful things that happened to Mappo, while he lived in the big woods, and afterwards, when he was caught by a hunter, and sent off to live in a circus.

But we will begin at the beginning, if you please.

Mappo, as I have said, lived in a tree in the woods.  Now it might seem funny for you to live in a tree, but it came very natural to Mappo.  Lots of creatures live in trees.  There are birds, and squirrels, and katydids.  Of course they do not stay in the trees all the time, any more than you boys and girls stay in your houses all the while.  They go down on the ground to play, occasionally.

“But you will find the safest place for you is the tree,” said Mappo’s mother to him one day, when he had been playing down on the ground with his brothers and sisters.  And, while they were down playing a game, something like your game of tag, all of a sudden along came a big striped tiger, with long teeth.

“Run!  Run fast!  Everybody run!” yelled Mappo, in the queer, chattering language monkeys use.

His brothers and sisters scrambled up into the tree where their house was, and Mappo scrambled up after them.  He was almost too late, for the tiger nearly caught Mappo by the tail.  But the little monkey boy managed to get out of the way, and then he sat down on a branch in front of the tree house where he lived.