Tale of a Tortoise and of a Mischievous Monkey(12)

　　'Why, you gave it to me to make cakes of!' cried the mother.

　　'If I can't get my barrel of meal, I shall take one of your children,' answered the monkey. 'I am in want of somebody who can bake my bread when I am tired of fruit, and who knows how to make cocoanut cakes.'

　　'Oh, leave me my child, and I will find you another barrel of meal,' wept the mother.

　　'I don't want another barrel, I want that one,' answered the monkey sternly. And as the woman stood wringing her hands, he caught up the little girl that he thought the prettiest and took her to his home in the palm tree.

　　She never went back to the hut, but on the whole she was not much to be pitied, for monkeys are nearly as good as children to play with, and they taught her how to swing, and to climb, and to fly from tree to tree, and everything else they knew, which was a great deal.