f the country after that experience.

When the man came home with fuel for the fire the children did not
dare to tell him that the monkey had escaped. They let him think that
the sticks and the cocoanut shell in the pot was the monkey. He built
a big roaring fire under the pot and soon it was boiling merrily.
After the pot had boiled a while he called the children to come to
supper with him. The children let him taste first. He fished a hard
stick out of the pot and bit into it. "This is not the monkey's leg.
It is just a dry stick," he said, as he made a wry face. Then he
fished the empty cocoanut shell out of the pot. "That is not the
monkey's head," he said as he tasted it, "That is just an empty
cocoanut shell." He couldn't find a single trace of the monkey in that
monkey stew. He never wished to make a monkey stew again.

XIV

Why the Monkey Still Has

a Tail

Once upon a time the monkey and the rabbit made a contract. The monkey
was to kill all the butterflies and the rabbit was to kill all the
snakes.

One day the rabbit was taking a nap when the monkey passed that way.
The monkey thought that he would play a trick on the rabbit so he
pulled the rabbit's ears, pretending that he thought they were
butterflies. The rabbit awoke very angry at the monkey and he plotted
how he might revenge himself on the monkey.

The rabbit and the armadillo are very good friends. The armadillo is
very, very strong, you know, so it was he whom the rabbit asked to
help him.

One day the rabbit caught the monkey napping. He had watched and
waited a long, long time to catch the monkey napping, but at last he
succeeded. Even the monkey sometimes takes a nap. The rabbit called
the armadillo at once and together they rolled a big stone upon the
monkey's tail. The monkey pulled so hard to get his tail out from
under the stone that it broke off. The cat, who at that time had no
tail of her own, spied the tail and ran away with it. The monkey was
very angry at the rabbit. "O, we thought it was just a snake lying
there," said the rabbit. "When you pulled my ears, you know, you
thought they were butterflies."

That did not help the monkey to feel any better. How was he to live
without his tail! How could he climb without it! He simply had to have
it back so he at once set out to find the cat.

At last he found the cat and said to her, "O, kind cat, please give me
back my tail."

"I will give it to you," replied the cat,