nd Kopee now the best of
friends. It was very interesting at night going through the
jungle country. The moonlight was intense, falling like white
waters on the land. You could see the tree-tops, and at midnight
almost clear down to the very floor of the jungle where the
shadows were thick like packs of wolves crouching in sleep. The
elephant went through these regions perfectly care-free. He did
not care who came or went or what happened.

But not so the monkey. Monkeys, you know, are always afraid of
snakes, and do you know why? Snakes go up trees and eat birds and
their younglings. Monkeys also live by stealing eggs from
different birds' nests. Now it sometimes happens that the snake
eats all the birds' eggs in the nest and is resting there when
the monkey puts his hands in to grab the eggs, so the monkey
instead of getting the eggs is stung to death. As this sort of
thing has been happening for thousands of years, it is natural
that they fear snakes.

Monkeys also get punished for using their hands too much. Now, if
you come across a snake, the best thing to do is not to touch it.
Monkeys, however, accustomed to using their hands continually,
grab a snake whenever they see one with the result that the snake
usually stings them to death. I have never seen a snake do this,
but I have seen dead snakes with marks on their bodies showing
that monkeys had twisted them like ropes, broken their backs and
thrown them down before the snakes could use their fangs. This,
however, is very rare.

As we were going through the jungle that night, Kopee would
shiver with terror whenever there was a swish of a snake's body
in the grass below or in the leaves above, and I had to put my
hand on his back and whisper, "Don't be afraid, you are on the
elephant's back and nothing can touch you."

Another thing that used to frighten him was the hooting of the
night owl. Any monkey that lives in the jungle is used to it, but
as Kopee was born among human beings and had always lived with
them, he had never heard jungle noises. When the owls beat their
wings and gave the mating call and hoot, it was like a foam of
noise rising over a river of silence. I, too, was alarmed when I
would suddenly hear the hooting in my sleep, but both Kopee and I
soon got used to it.

About four o'clock in the morning Kari stopped and refused to go
a step further. Though I was asleep, Kopee began to pull me by
the hand, and instantly after being aroused, I