The Sa'-Zada Tales

by Burt L. Standish

  SIXTH NIGHT

  THE STORY OF THE MONKEYS

  Such a row there had been all day in Animal Town.

  Sa'-zada, the Keeper, had told Magh, the Orang-outang, that the Monkeyswere to tell stories that night at the usual meeting. That was thecause of the excitement.

  All day the Monkeys, living in a row of cages like dwellers in tenementhouses, had chattered to each other through the bars, and admonishedone another to think of just the cleverest things any of their familyor ancestors had ever done.

  "We are like the Men-kind," Magh kept repeating; "we are theBandar-log, the Jungle People.

  "Listen, Comrades, what is my name even? Orang-outang, which meansChief of the Jungle People.

  "See, even I have my Dog, as do the Men-kind," and she held up Blitz,the Fox-Terrier Pup, by the ear until he squealed and bit her in thearm. "See, he has bitten me even as he would a man," she cried,triumphantly.

  Two doors down were three little brown Monkeys caged with an Armadillowho looked like a toy, iron-plated gun-boat.

  "Oh, we are people who think," cried one of these, pouncing down on theArmadillo. The little gun-boat drew his armor plate down about him likea Mud-turtle. The Monkey caught the side of it with his hand, lifted itup, bit the Armadillo in the soft flesh, and raced up on his shelfwhere he chattered: "Oh, we are the people who think. That is notinstinct--my father was never caged with an Armadillo."

  At last night came, and Sa'-zada, throwing down bars and opening cages,had gathered as usual his animal friends in front of Tiger's cage.

  "Ho, Little Brother," began Black Panther, speaking to Sa'-zada, "whyshould we who are great in our own jungles listen to these empty-headedBandar-log? Was there ever any good at their hands?"

  "Oo-oo! A-huk, a-huk!" cried Hanuman, "you of all the thieving slayersshould know of that matter. How many times have you been saved fromdanger because of our watchfulness--and also Bagh the Killer! Many ahard drive, the hunt drive of the Men-kind, has come to nothing becauseof us--because we never sleep. When your stomach is full you sleepsoundly, trusting to a warning from us, the Bandar-log. Nothing can bedone in the jungles that we do not know. And do we steal silently awayas is your method? Not a bit of it. By the safety of Jungle-dwellers!we give the cry of beware! Listen----

  "A-huk, a-huk! Chee-chee-chee! Waugh, waugh, a-huk!" and the voice ofthe gray-whiskered, black-faced ape reverberated on the dead night airthrough the houses of Animal Town like the clangor of a cracked bell.

  "That is quite true," declared Mor, the Peacock; "I also am one of theJungle Watchers--though I get little credit for it. None of theDwellers thank us; and sometimes in their anger the Sahibs who aremaking the drive shoot us for our trouble, saying that we have spoiledsport. Many a jungle life have I saved through my cry of 'Miaou!Miaou!'"

  "Disturbers of sleep!" sneered Black Panther; "there is little tochoose between you--you're a noisy lot of beggars."

  "You are hardly fair, Pardus," remonstrated Sa'-zada. "I quite believewhat Hanuman says, for it is well known that some of the Monkey-tribesaved Gibraltar to the British by their watchfulness, and the men aremore grateful than you, for to this day monkeys are protected and mademuch of there."

  "It was my people did that," cried Magot, the Rock Ape, blinking hisdeep, narrow-set eyes. "We have lived there for a long time."

  "And in Benares, where I lived once, we are people of great honor,"added a white-whiskered Monkey. "I should like to see Black Pardus harmone of us there."

  The speaker was Entellus, the sacred Hanuman Monkey, whose rights ofprotection in the City of Temples, Benares, was almost greater thanthat of the human dwellers.

  "You can't twiddle your thumbs! You can't twiddle your thumbs!" criedCockatoo, mockingly.

  "But I can see my under lip," retorted Magh, angrily, sticking it outand looking down at it, "and that's more than you can do, with yourlobster's claw of a nose."

  Cockatoo had hit the truth about the thumbs, for no ape can make themgo around, only in and out straight to the palm. This matter of thumbsis the great line of defence between man and his disputed Simianancestor.

  "Our manner of life," began Hanuman, in the little silence that ensued,"is to live in the tree-tops. Our families are raised there, and we areseldom on the ground."

  "No, the ground is a dangerous place," concurred Chimpanzee; "Leopards,and Snakes, and Men, and evil things of that sort about all the time.I, too, build a little house in the strong branches of a tree, and livethere until the fruit gets scarce; then, of course, I have to go to anew part and build another."

  "I thought I was the only animal that had sense enough to build ahouse," grunted Wild Boar.

  "Perhaps you are," said Chimpanzee; "I'm no animal."

  "You are a Monkey----" began Boar, apologetically.

  "I'm not a Monkey," insisted the other, very haughtily; "they go indroves. But we, who are the Jungle People, build houses and have a wifeand family just like the Men."

  "You can't twiddle your thumbs!" shrieked Cockatoo; but Hathi reachedup with his trunk and tweaked the bird's nose before he could repeatthe taunt.

  "Once upon a time," began Hooluk, solemnly, "there was a great Rajasore troubled because those of my kind, the Apes, ate all the grain andfruit in his country. To be sure, it was a year of much starvation. Andthe King commanded that all the Bandar-log should be killed.

  "Then Hanuman, the wise Ape, who was our cousin, asked of my peoplewhat might be done; but we, being tender-hearted, and not knowing howto pacify the King, hung with our heads down and wept in misery.

  "Now this gave Hanuman, who is most wise, an idea. He ordered all theother Bandar-log to go far into the jungles and hide, while we were toremain and lament, and declare that our friends were dead. The Raja,hearing our sad cry, relented, and commanded that the killing shouldcease. And since that time we have always cried thus, and our faceshave been black, and all because of the dark sins of the otherBandar-log."

  "Was there ever such a lie----" began Pardus; but Jackal interruptedhim, declaring that he, too, cried at night because of the wickednessof other Jungle Dwellers.

  "By my lonesome life!" muttered Mooswa. "I have heard the Loon cry onSlave Lake, but for a real, depressing night noise commend me toHooluk. I have no doubt his tale is quite true, a cry such as he hascould not have been given him for amusement."

  "Scratch my head!" cried Cockatoo; "I think Hooluk's tale is quitetrue, for even I, who am only appreciated because of my beauty----"

  "Hide your nose," croaked Kauwa, the Crow.

  "Because of my beauty," resumed Cockatoo, "I once saved the life of allmy Master's family. The bungalow was on fire and they were asleep.Scree-ya ah-ah!' I cried; then, 'Quick, Pootai, bring the water----'"

  "To be famous one must needs know a great lie and tell it," snarledPardus, disagreeably. "The way of all Jungle Dwellers is to killsomething; but here are pot-bellied, empty-headed Apes, and Birds oflittle sense, all boasting of saving lives."

  "Let me talk," cried Water Monkey, scratching his ribs with industry."If I tell not true tales then call Hornbill, and Jackal, and KingCobra to stand against me, for we are all of the same land. We were abig family, a full hundred of us at least, and every way was ourway--water, and land, and tree-top. We ate fruits, and nuts, andgrains, and things that are cast up by the waters. Talking of fishing,you should have seen my mother. When the sea had gone back from theshore we would all troop down. When the Crabs saw us coming they wouldscuttle into holes and under rocks, and we'd catch every Crab on theshore. It was my mother taught me the trick--wise old lady; I'd shovemy tail under the rock, the Crab would lay hold of it, and then outhe'd come.

  "Oh, there was good eating on those shores. Fat Oysters the size of abanana. It was mother showed me how to take a stone in my hand, andbreak them off the rocks. And, as Magh has said, we are much like themen, for not one of our family would eat an Oyster until he had washedit in the water.

  "But we poor people had lots of trials. Crossi
ng the streams was worstof all. If we made the Monkeys bridge from tree to tree, like as notPython would be lying in wait to pick off one of our number. And if wewalked across on the bottom----"

  "Walked on the bottom!" cried Sa'-zada, in astonishment.

  "Yes, we never swim; we always walk across on the bottom; though,sometimes, of course, we floated over on logs; but that was verydangerous because of Magar the Crocodile."

  "Ghurrgle-ugle-ugle, uh-hu!" said Sher Abi, "the long-tailed one isright. I could tell a true story touching that matter. Whuff-f-f! butit was a hot day. I was lying with my wife in the water near the bank.I was hungry--I am always hungry; and getting food in a small way iswearisome to one of my heavy habit. I was resting, and Black-head theMagar Bird was running about inside of my jaws catching Flies for hisdinner. And, while I think of it, while I am by no means vain of mysweet nature, I claim it was most good of me to hold my heavy lips openfor him. Suddenly Black-head gave his little cry of warning to me andflew up in the air. 'Something is coming,' I whispered to Abni, mywife; and, sure enough, it was the Bandar-log, the Water Monkeys,chattering and yelling, and knocking down fruit from the trees asthough the whole jungle belonged to them.

  "'The old trick,' I whispered to Abni; 'float across like a log.' Youknow I can look wondrous like a log when I try; and a dinner of theBandar-log, even, was not to be despised in a time of great hunger.

  "'Chee-chee, a-houp-a-houp, chickety-chee-chee!' You'd have thoughttheir throats would split with the uproar when they saw one logfloating across and another just starting.

  "AND THEY ALL CLAMBERED ON TO MY BACK."]

  "'Oh, ho!' cried the leader, swinging by his tail from a limb of theMangrove tree, and peering down at me; 'the wind is driving all thedead trees from this side to the other. Get aboard, children, quick.'And they all clambered on to my back, shoving and pushing like a lot ofJackal pups----"

  "Have I not said it," cried Gidar, the Jackal, "that Sher Abi is adevourer of our young? Jackal pups--murderer!"

  "Half way across," resumed Sher Abi, "I opened an eye to take a squintat the general condition of these Bandar-log, as to which might be fatand which might be lean, and, would you believe it, the leader of thesefool people saw me looking, and screamed with fright. I closed all thevalves of nostrils and eyes and sank in the water. The Bandar-log wereso excited that more than half of them jumped into my jaws, and Abni,who came back, hearing the noise, took care of the others. Eh-hu!Gluck! Monkeys are stupid, but not bad eating."

  "Listen to that, Comrades," cried Water Monkey. "Sher Abi the Poacherboasts of killing my people. Have I not said that our life is one ofdanger? He and Python are as bad as Men. My mother was killed by a Man,and all for the sake of a few mangoes."

  "But how are we to know that Mango-tree was not as others in theJungle?" pleaded Monkey. "True it grew close to a bungalow, but what ofthat? Close to the Jungle, trees and bungalows are so mixed up thatnobody knows which is free land and which is bond land. Have I not seeneven the Men-kind frightened over such matters, and killing each other.But, as I have said, this Man, who was a Sahib, shot my mother as shewas in a tree. She clung to a limb, and, young as I was, I helped her,holding on to her arms. All day she cried, and cried, and cried, justas you have heard the young of the Men-kind; and all night she cried,too. In the morning the Sahib came out, and I heard him say that hehadn't slept all night because of the wailing that was like a babe's.When he looked up at my mother she became so afraid that she fell deadat his feet. Peeping down through the leaves I saw the fear look thatHathi has spoken of come into the Man's eyes, only they did not lookevil as they had when he pointed the fire-stick at us. I swung downfrom branch to branch to my mother, and sitting beside her, cried also,being but a little chap and all alone in the Jungle. Then the Man tookme up in his arms and said: 'Poor little Oungea. It was a shame to killthe old girl; I feel like a murderer----'

  "He took me into the bungalow and I had a fine life of it, though hetaught me many things that were evil."

  "I don't believe that," sneered Pardus.

  "AND SITTING BESIDE HER, CRIED ALSO, BEING BUT A LITTLECHAP AND ALL ALONE IN THE JUNGLE...."]

  "Impossible! Caw-w!" laughed Kauwa.

  "What evil tricks are there left to teach the Bandar-log?" queriedHathi.

  "He taught me to drink gin," answered Oungea; "at first a little ginand much sugar, and after a time I could take it without sugar."

  "This rather bears out Magh's claim that you Jungle People are like theMen," said Sa'-zada.

  "Still it was not good for me, this gin," continued Oungea; "leavingone's head full of much soreness in the morning. But, of course, beingyoung, I was possessed of much mischief that was not of the Sahib'steaching."

  "He-he! no doubt, no doubt," cried Hornbill, "it was those of yourkind, both young and old, who plucked the feathers from my childrenonce upon a time. Plaintain-at-a-gulp! but their appearance wasunseemly. You can imagine what I should look like with my prominentnose and no feathers."

  "My Master carried in his pocket something that was forever crying'tick, tick, tick.' I felt sure there must be Lizards or Spiders, orother sweet ones of a small kind within; but one day when I had a fairopportunity and pulled it apart, cracking it with a stone as I had theOysters, I got no eating at all, but in the end a sound beating.

  "Once I ate the little berries that grow on the sticks that cause thefire----"

  "Matches," suggested Sa'-zada.

  "Perhaps; I thought they were berries. Many pains! but I was sick, andmy kind Master saved my life with cocoanut oil."

  "Magh knows something of that matter," declared Sa'-zada; "when shefirst came here she ate her straw bedding and it nearly killed her."

  "A fine record these Jungle People have," sneered Pardus. "I, who claimnot to be wise like the Men, have sense enough to stick to my meat."

  "But Magh was wise," asserted Sa'-zada, "for if she had not helped usin every way when we were trying to save her life she would surely havedied."

  "In my Master's house," said Oungea, "was one of their young, a Babe;and whenever I got loose, for they took to tying me up, I made straightfor his bed, borrowed his bottle of milk--there surely was no harm inthat, for we were babes together--and scuttled up a tree where I coulddrink the milk in peace. When I dropped the bottle down so that theymight get it, it always broke, and I think it was because of thismischief that they whipped me."

  "Well," said Sa'-zada, "we were to have learned to-night why theBandar-log were Men of the Jungle, first cousins to the Men-kind; butall I remember is that they ate matches and straw and got very sick.For my part I am very sleepy."

  "If you are tired, I will carry you, Hanuman," lisped Python, shovinghis ugly fat head forward.

  "Even I, who find it a labor to walk on the land, will give any Monkeywho seeks it a ride," sighed Sher Abi. "This talking of eating has mademe hung----I mean ready to put myself out for my friends."

  "Take your friends in, you mean," snarled Gidar, jumping back as theheavy jaws of the Crocodile snapped within an inch of his nose.

  "I think each one will look after himself," declared Sa'-zada; "it willbe safer. All to your cages."

  Seventh Night

  The Story of Birds of a Feather