As for Carlo, all he was thinking of was getting the cat.  And the boys went after him.

On all sides of the Monkey was green grass, nice and soft.  A little farther off were some trees.  The Monkey could see them as he looked over the top of the grass.

“I wish I could climb one of those trees,” said the toy Monkey half aloud.  “I’ve been climbing up and down a stick so long that I am rather tired of it.  I think I ought to climb trees.”

The Monkey was beginning to feel strange.  It was the first time he had ever been by himself, alone in a green field, with the warm sun shining on him.

“I feel just like doing something!” said the Monkey, speaking out loud this time, though he could see no one to whom he might talk.  “I’m going to cut up!  Hi yi!” he shouted.  “I’m going to jump and turn somersaults and everything.”

And with that he began leaping about on the soft, green grass.  He jumped this way and that.  He jumped forward and backward and he turned front somersaults and backward somersaults.

Then, all of a sudden, a voice called, saying: 

“What in the world are you doing, my friend?”

The Monkey stopped short, and flipped his tail from side to side.

“Well, I don’t see you, and I don’t know who you are,” he said, “but if you want to know what I’m doing, I’m cutting up Monkeyshines!  That’s what I’m doing!  Cutting up Monkeyshines!”

CHAPTER VI

IN A CAVE

Out from under a large, green leaf, underneath which he had been sitting, crawled a long green creature.  The green creature looked at the brown Monkey, who, after jumping about, sat down on a little hummock of grass to rest.

“What did you say you were doing?” asked the bug.

“Cutting up Monkeyshines,” was the answer.  “We Monkeys, whether we are toys or not, call our fun ‘Monkeyshines,’ and I thought I’d cut up a few while I was here by myself.  I didn’t know you minded.”

“Oh, bless you, I don’t mind,” said the green creature.  “I like to watch you.  It is fun.  You are quite a jumper, and I am something of a jumper myself.”

“Who are you?” asked the Monkey.

“I’m a Grasshopper,” was the answer.  “I live here in this green meadow and sing songs all day long.”

“I am glad to meet you, Mr. Grasshopper,” said the Monkey.  “Singing songs must be nice.”

So the Monkey and the Grasshopper sat there talking together.  The Monkey told the different things that had happened to him from the time he had awakened in a box on the breakfast table until he fell off Carlo’s back.

“Do you have any adventures here in the meadow?” asked the chap who had been cutting up Monkeyshines.

“Oh, yes, we have had things happen here,” said the Grasshopper.  “Of course they are not as exciting as those you have told me about.  But we rather like them.  Do you want to——­”