The Savannah morning news., 1903-05-31
HOW THE BAD
MONKEY TURNED
INTO A MAN


rible example of what happens p,
monkeys If they don't do what thew ara
told to do.
Look down into the plain and SEQ
that strange, hairless creature pIod.
ding painfully along. That is what ",
call man. Observe his short arms
almost as if they were crippled. See
his horrible pale face. Notice thar ~
cannot run on all tours as a beaItbv
creature should.
All this happened to him in tha
manner 1 will now relate, and I hona
that you will heed the warning. -
you don't you may become like him -
At these alarming words all the III.
tie monkeys trembled and Father Mon.
key. well pleased that his children Vera
so attentive, continued solemnly;
once the creature that is now call.
ed man was monkey like you-a nice
furry monkey with a beautiful lone
tail. He could climb as high as any
OF you can now, and he was able 10
swing himself from tree to tree.
But one day he saw a fire burning
in the woods, and instead of runninS
away from it as his mother told him To
30, he insisted on going up close to II
ais mother finally had to spank him
with big tree branch before he would
leave it. No one noticed that he had
stolen a piece of the burning wood bur
ne had. And he carried 1t into cave
where he played with it when no one
was looking. He kept the fire burning
by carrying more wood to it whenever
he could sneak away
Soon the smoke began to have a
curious effect on him. His nice brown
hair began to drop out. He did not no.
tice it, until one day his mother
screamed with fright at the bald
patches that had appeared all over him
All the other monkeys began to shun
him because they were afraid that he
had strange disease, and before long
he had to hide himself in his cave.
There he got to be nastier and
nastier in his habits. He began to
like the smoke, and soon he could not
be comfortable in a tree when it rain
ed. He wanted the fire. So at last he
didn't climb trees at all any more
but lay snoring in his cave most of the
time.
"Of course the less he climbed the
weaker his muscles became, and one
day he slipped from a branch that
''NO ~ ASS~A lAlC SlOuIQ THAT you
would laugh at the thought of falling
from it. But he didn't laugh. He
was hurt so badly that he became
afraid to climb at all.
But he had to get food, and as he
dared not climb trees, he began to
hunt for it on the ground. He grubbed
up bitter roots and dirty things like
that. Bad as they were. he ate them
rather than take the risk of falling
from n tree again.
Finally, he had eaten all the roots
around his cave and he had to go far
ther and farther away every day He
walked so much that his feet got sore,
and at last he could hardly move from
his dirty dark, smoky, hot cave"
ugh, how terrible!" said the lttlest
girl monkey, making such a funny,
cunning face that the rest had to
laugh.
Well. while he sat lamenting one
morning." continued Father Monkey.
"a bird flew into the cave, poor little
thing, and fell into the fire. You
all saw the jungle fire last year, and
you know what a dreadful smell there
was when the animals began to burn
up. Don't you remember how we all
felt sick from it? Well, this nasty
smoky monkey was so hungry that he
actually didn't care, but he seized the
burned bird and-ate it,"
All the little monkeys chartered with
horror at the amazing tale, but
Father Monkey said:
THAT was not the worst thing he
did. Although the burned flesh made
him ill., as it should have done, he
had become so lazy and helpless that
he actually began to chase birds and
small animals into the cave, where
fhaU would coOr he 0uoronroa nv the
smoke so that they fell into the fire
and then he would have a horrible
feast.
'In the end he grew to like burned
things so well that he even roasted
roots and fruits on the rare occasions
when he took the trouble to collect
any.
Now, listen, children, to what be-
came of him. He grew fat! Think OF
it! His stomach got all round and fun
ny and he could not even walk fast
without swapping for breath. And as
for running? Why, he could no more
run than your old Uncle Sloth, who
hangs downward in trees all day ana
sleeps when he isn't eating.
This distressing fairness made 1t
quite impossible for him to walk on all
tours. as we do when we are in hur-
ry, and he could not move except on
his hind legs. This put all the work on
them, of course, and in the course of
time his feet got so tender that he had
to wrap them up in leaves. His arms
commenced to get thin and weak be-
cause he hardly used them.
He sat so much, too, that at last his
tail actually wore away to nothing.
He had become so accustomed to the
fire that he felt cold whenever he was
away from it, and at last he fell into
the queer habit of covering himself
with big palm leaves and grass when
ever he went out.
THE sun came to bother him, too. He
spent so little time in the air that the
rays hurt his head; so he soon began
to cover his head. too.
well, after a few years of this kind
of life he had become so accustomed to
his mean, miserable way of living that
he even tore the skins off the animals
that he killed and used them to lie on
because his bones had grown so soft
that he could not sleep on the nice
bare ground or on healthy branches the
same way we can.
One day he went further than that
1 will never forget how we all laughed
when we saw him. On his head he had
a funny thing made from a poor muir
dered squirrels skin. He had the skin
Of goat over his body. and his hind
rect were tied up in mouse skins. He
was the comicallest sight.
of course all this nasty stuff soon
rubbed off him what little hair he had
not lost already, and at last he was as
hideous as frog, without any hair on
him except funny patch on his head.
HIS face grew quite yellow and thin
from so much smoke and darkness.
~