Atondido Stories
How the Monkey Escaped Being Eaten
Once upon a time, ages and ages ago, people ate fruits and nuts.
Then there came a time when the fruits and nuts became scarce.
People had to eat meat. So they began killing the various beasts
to see which ones were the best to eat. They skinned them and
cut them in pieces and cooked them over the fire. Some of the
beasts were good to eat and others were not good at all.
The ox was found to be very good, and so was the sheep, and the
armadillo. Then one day a man thought that he would try to eat
the monkey.
The monkey was playing his guitar. "Lee, lee, lee, lee, lee lay,
lee lay, lee ray, lee ray." The man came close to him and said,
"Come here, little monkey, and let me hear your music. I enjoy it
very much." All the time the man was coming closer and closer
to the monkey. Just as he was about to stretch out his hand and
seize the monkey, the monkey gave a sudden leap to the tree
and hurried away to the tree top.
After that every time the man heard the monkey play the
guitar he would come near and try to catch him. The monkey
grew afraid of the man, so afraid that he gave up playing his
guitar at all. For a long, long time he did not play upon it. One
day he felt that he just m ust have some music. He hid in a hole
in the ground and there he played upon his guitar. He did not
think that the man would hear him, but the man had very sharp
ears. When he got through playing he started to come out of the
hole in the ground. There was the man waiting for him! He
crawled quickly back,—so far back that the man could not catch
him. The monkey waited and waited for the man to go away, but
the man did not go away.
After a while the man became thirsty and went to get a
drink. He left his little boy in his place to watch for the monkey.
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