El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-20
STRIPPING OLD YELLOW EYE.

jungle. and it would not be time for
dinner until the suns sister. the round
moon, was turning all the open forest
gladeS to silver. Old Yellow Eye got
up and stretched himself and gave Il
low growl and showed all his beautiful
white teeth. which in tiger language
meant: oh. how hungry l am. 1 could
eat Il whole elephant Then he push
ed his way out of the thicket and walk
ed slowly along the path looking for
something To cat. 1t was Il long time
before he found anything. because all
the beasts had moved out of the neigh
borhood. he was so diSagreeable. So he
walked and walked. and the longer he
walked the hunSrier he got. until he
was almost ready TO fly into one of his
passions.
All Of 4 sudden he heard n great
noi>" AMI chatterinG going on in Il little
glade near 10y. and then he stuck out
his long :"'i tongue and licked his lips.
sayi-- t. himself. "A-a-a-h. | think |
hear ~ luncheon not far off at last
Then he crouchcd down and began to
creep through the long grass and bush
eS toward the monkeys playground,
and when he was near enough he gave
spring and landed among the mon
keys. scattering them right and left.
That night if You had been there and
had used your sharp eyes well you
might have seen light footed little fig
ureS flying along in the shadows of the
bushes or swinging by long slender
tails from tree TO tree. These were the
monkeys all going 10 a big meeting
which was to be held that night in a
OIL far Vol
house. The whole monkey tribe was
there. and they all sat around in big
circle. while the ones who We're TO
make speeches sat on n mound in the
center of the ring. First the chief mon
key. an old gray bearded fellow, arose
and said: Friends and brothers. we
are here tonight to decide what shall
be done to our enemy. Old Yellow Eye,
to punish him for killing and eating
our relatives. For years he has wor-
ried and chased us from place to place,
our children are never safe from him,
and our pleasures are spoiled. Some
thing must be done"
After the chief monkey had ended
there We're many other speeches, and
as the first light of day began to creep
into the jungle the punishment was de-
cided upon. and ten brave monkeys
We're chosen TO administer it.
The next day as Old Yellow Eye was
lying sound asleep in his thicket there
came dropping silently down from the
trees over his head ten softly moving
monkeys carrying leaves of the palm
tree full of sticky black stuff which
smelled horribly. Then while the tiger
still slept they painted him with the
sticky paste in long black stripes
across his beautiful yellow skin until
from the tip of his nose to the tip of his
long tail he was striped with black.
Only his breast and stomach remained
soft and white. because he was lying
on them and the monkeys could not
reach them. 1t was all done in Il min
ute, and the little workers were gone.
Pretty soon the dreadful smell and
sticky feeling of the paste woke up Old
Yellow Eye. and then there was Il pref
~ howdedo. He was almost wild with
rage ana fright. Around and around
he flew trying IL get rid of those awful
stripes. He rolled on the ground, he
jumped into the air. but all To no pur-
pose. The stripes were there for good.
Snd all the time the monkeys sat up in
the trees and were glad To see their
enemy in such Il fix.
But after awhile Old Yellow Eye
grew 81 tired that he had To crawl into
his thickct and 20 To sleep.
And never after that day could the
old tiger catch Il monkey, because
wherever lac went the smell of the
paste went with him. 81 that the mon
keys always knew when he was com
ing and could get out of his way.
And ever since that day tigers have
worn stripes.-Agnes Follansbee Clease
IN Pittsburg Dispatch.