<h2><SPAN name="XII" id="XII"></SPAN>XII</h2>
<h2>Why the Bananas Belong to<br/> the Monkey</h2>
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<p>erhaps you do not know it, but the monkeys think that all the bananas
belong to them. When Brazilian children eat bananas they say, "I am a
monkey." I once knew a little boy in Brazil who was very, very fond of
bananas. He always said, "I am <i>very much</i> of a monkey." If you are
fond of bananas the Brazilian children would tell you that you are a
monkey, too. This is the story they tell to show us how it all came
about.</p>
<p>Once upon a time when the world had<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></SPAN></span> just been made and there was only
one kind of banana, but very many kinds of monkeys, there was a little
old woman who had a big garden full of banana trees. It was very
difficult for the old woman to gather the bananas herself, so she made
a bargain with the largest monkey. She told him that if he would
gather the bunches of bananas for her she would give him half of them.
The monkey gathered the bananas. When he took his half he gave the
little old woman the bananas which grow at the bottom of the bunch and
are small and wrinkled. The nice big fat ones he kept for himself and
carried them home to let them ripen in the dark.</p>
<p>The little old woman was very angry. She lay awake all night trying to
think of some way by which she could get even<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></SPAN></span> with the monkey. At
last she thought of a trick.</p>
<p>The next morning she made an image of wax which looked just like a
little black boy. Then she placed a large flat basket on the top of
the image's head and in the basket she placed the best ripe bananas
she could find. They certainly looked very tempting.</p>
<p>After a little while the biggest monkey passed that way. He saw the
image of wax and thought that it was a boy peddling bananas. He had
often pushed over boy banana peddlers, upset their baskets and then
had run away with the bananas. This morning he was feeling very
good-natured so he thought that he would first try asking politely for
the bananas.</p>
<p>"O, peddler boy, peddler boy," he said<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></SPAN></span> to him, "please give me a
banana." The image of wax answered never a word.</p>
<p>Again the monkey said, this time in a little louder voice, "O, peddler
boy, peddler boy, please give me a banana, just one little, ripe
little, sweet little banana." The image of wax answered never a word.</p>
<p>Then the monkey called out in his loudest voice, "O, peddler boy,
peddler boy, if you don't give me a banana I'll give you such a push
that it will upset all of your bananas." The image of wax was silent.</p>
<p>The monkey ran toward the image of wax and struck it hard with his
hand. His hand remained firmly embedded in the wax.</p>
<p>"O, peddler boy, peddler boy, let go my hand," the monkey called out.
"Let go my hand and give me a banana or else<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></SPAN></span> I'll give you a hard,
hard blow with my other hand." The image of wax did not let go.</p>
<p>The monkey gave the image a hard, hard blow with his other hand. The
other hand remained firmly embedded in the wax.</p>
<p>Then the monkey called out, "O, peddler boy, peddler boy, let go my
two hands. Let go my two hands and give me a banana or else I will
give you a kick with my foot." The image of wax did not let go.</p>
<p>The monkey gave the image a kick with his foot and his foot remained
stuck fast in the wax.</p>
<p>"O, peddler boy, peddler boy," the monkey cried, "let go my foot. Let
go my two hands and my foot and give me a<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></SPAN></span> banana or else I'll give
you a kick with my other foot." The image of wax did not let go.</p>
<p>Then the monkey who was now very angry, gave the image of wax a kick
with his foot and his foot remained stuck fast in the wax.</p>
<p>The monkey shouted, "O, peddler boy, peddler boy, let go my foot. Let
go my two feet and my two hands and give me a banana or else I'll give
you a push with my body." The image of wax did not let go.</p>
<p>The monkey gave the image of wax a push with his body. His body
remained caught fast in the wax.</p>
<p>"O, peddler boy, peddler boy," the monkey shouted, "let go my body!
Let go my body and my two feet and my two<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></SPAN></span> hands or I'll call all the
other monkeys to help me!" The image of wax did not let go.</p>
<p>Then the monkey made such an uproar with his cries and shouts that
very soon monkeys came running from all directions. There were big
monkeys and little monkeys and middle-sized monkeys. A whole army of
monkeys had come to the aid of the biggest monkey.</p>
<p>It was the very littlest monkey who thought of a plan to help the
biggest monkey out of his plight. The monkeys were to climb up into
the biggest tree and pile themselves one on top of another until they
made a pyramid of monkeys. The monkey with the very loudest voice of
all was to be on top and he was to shout his very loudest to the sun
and ask the sun to come<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></SPAN></span> and help the biggest monkey out of his
dreadful difficulty.</p>
<p>This is what all the big-sized, little-sized, middle-sized monkeys
did. The monkey with the loudest voice on top of the pyramid made the
sun hear. The sun came at once.</p>
<p>The sun poured his hottest rays down upon the wax. After a while the
wax began to melt. The monkey was at last able to pull out one of his
hands. The sun poured down more of his hottest rays and soon the
monkey was able to pull out his two hands. Then he could pull out one
foot, then another, and in a little while his body, too. At last he
was free.</p>
<p>When the little old woman saw what had happened she was very much
discouraged about raising bananas. She decided<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></SPAN></span> to move to another
part of the world where she raised cabbages instead of bananas. The
monkeys were left in possession of the big garden full of banana
trees. From that day to this the monkeys have thought that they own
all the bananas.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_013.jpg" width-obs="550" height-obs="311" alt="HOW THE MONKEY ESCAPED BEING EATEN" /></div>
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