Atondido Stories
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 ar-
madillo 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 nap-
ping, 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 simp-
ly 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, "if you will get me some
milk."
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