MONKEY IN A SHOW
The bad Goat walked closer and closer to the Candy Rabbit. And that poor
Bunny toy was so frightened that he did not think of jumping out of the
way.
"I'm going to get sweetness off your ears," said the Goat, teasing.
"Oh, if you bite my ears I can't be in the show!" said the poor Rabbit.
The Monkey climbed higher and higher on his stick, after he had said he
would stop the Goat from eating the Candy Rabbit. And now, just as the
Goat was going to take the Bunny up from the box, the Monkey suddenly
gave a jump! Oh, such a jump!
Off his stick he jumped, and he landed right on the Goat's back. With
his hands the Monkey began to pull the Goat's hair.
He even reached around and pulled the Goat's whiskers, the Monkey did.
"Baa-a-a-a-a!" bleated the Goat. "Stop, Monkey! You're hurting me!
You're pulling my hair!"
"Then get out of this tent and leave the Candy Rabbit alone!" shouted
the Monkey.
"No! I want sweet stuff!" bleated the bad Goat.
Then the Monkey jumped off the Goat's back, and, catching up the stick,
on which he climbed to the top when the string was pulled, the Monkey
began hitting the Goat over the nose with it.
"Oh, my nose! My soft and tender nose!" bleated the Goat, as he ran out
of the tent.
"Thank you, so much, for saving me," said the Rabbit to the Monkey, as
the likely chap climbed back on his stick.
"I am very glad I could help you," said the Monkey. "I guess that Goat
won't come back in a hurry!"
And as the Groat ran out of the tent, the children, bringing up their
other toys to have the show, saw him.
"Oh, look at the big sheep!" cried Madeline.
"That isn't a sheep, it's a goat," said her brother.
"Oh, maybe he ate my Candy Rabbit!" cried the little girl. "I must go
and look."
She and the other children hurried into the tent. There were the Monkey
and the Rabbit safe together. But the children did not know what a
narrow escape the Rabbit had had.
By this time Arnold, with the help of the other boys, had brought over
his Bold Tin Soldier and the other men in the army company; Dick had
brought his White Rocking Horse; and Dorothy's Sawdust Doll and
Mirabell's Lamb on Wheels were also in the tent. Of course Herbert's
Monkey and Madeline's Candy Rabbit were the first to be in the show.
"Now the performance is going to start!" cried Herbert, when the
brothers and sisters were seated on the benches, which were made from
the boxes Patrick, the gardener, had given Dick. "The show is going to
start! All ready!"
Besides the six children mentioned there were others who lived on the
same street with these six friends. These children had all come to the
show. The boys and girls brought two pins to get in. Those who brought
toy animals to act in the show did not have to bring any pins to come
in.
"The first act in the show!" called Herbert, who was the ringmaster,
"will be Mr. Dick riding on his White Rocking Horse! Ladies and
Gentlemen, see Mr. Dick!"
"Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!" cried the children, clapping their hands.
Dick drew his horse out into the middle of the tent. Of course if the
Rocking Horse had been there alone he could have trotted out by himself.
But, as it was, Dick had to drag him.
Then Dick climbed on the back of his white steed, took hold of the
reins, and cried: "Gid-dap!"
Back and forth rocked Dick on his Horse, and, as I have told you in the
book about this toy, the Horse could move along whenever any one was on
his back. He moved just as a rocking chair moves.
Across the middle of the tent rode Dick on his Rocking Horse. The little
chap pretended he was a cowboy, and swung his cap around his head, and
he even made believe lasso wild bulls with a piece of clothesline.
"Bang! Bang!" cried Dick, shooting make-believe pistols the way real
cowboys do.
"Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!" cried all the children, for they liked to see
Dick ride the White Rocking Horse.
"What's next, Herbert?" asked Madeline.
"Hush, you mustn't talk in the show," cautioned her brother. "The
ringmaster is the only one who can talk, and I'm him. The next part of
the show is the dance of the Sawdust Doll."
This was Dorothy's chance, and she came out with her toy. And then and
there the Sawdust Doll did a funny little dance while Mirabell played on
a mouth organ. Of course Dorothy had to hold the Doll and dance around
with her, but it was as good as if the Doll had done it herself, and the
boys and girls clapped their hands.
"Isn't this a wonderful show?" whispered the Sawdust Doll to the Monkey,
when she had a chance, as the children crowded down to one end of the
tent to get some cookies Herbert's mother brought out to them.
"Yes, you did your part very well," whispered back the Monkey. "Do you
think I shall get a chance to do any of my tricks?"
"Oh, yes," answered the Doll. "I'm sure you're going to be the best part
of the show."
When the cookies were eaten, Herbert again took the part of ringmaster.
"The next thing in the show will be a fight with the Tin Soldiers," said
Herbert. "Mr. Dick will take half of them and Mr. Arnold will take the
other half, and there will be a battle right here in the tent."
Dick and Arnold divided the Tin Soldiers between them, and set them in
two armies on one of the big box tops. Then the tin fighters were moved
backward and forward, just as in real battle.
"Bang! Bang!" Arnold would shout. "Bang! Bang!" Dick would answer, and
so the make-believe guns were fired. The Bold Tin Soldier Captain was
moved to and fro, and so were the privates, the Corporal and the
Sergeant.
"Now the fight is over," said Herbert, after a while. "We'll make
believe both sides won, 'cause it will be nicer that way. And you can
take the soldiers away, Arnold, 'cause next is going to be a race
between the Candy Rabbit and the Lamb on Wheels."
"Oh, my Rabbit can't race with the Lamb!" objected Madeline. "The Lamb
is too big."
"Yes, I guess that's so," admitted her brother. "Well, then the next
part of the show," he cried in a loud voice, "will be when the Candy
Rabbit rides around the ring on the back of the Lamb on Wheels."
"Oh, that will be nice," said Mirabell, blowing a kiss to her woolly
Lamb.
The two girls left their seats and took their places in the middle of
the tent. Mirabell tied a string to her Lamb and then Madeline took her
Candy Rabbit and held him on the fleecy back of the Lamb.
Around and around the little grass ring in the tent rode the Candy
Rabbit on the back of the Lamb, and the boys and girls thought it was a
very nice part of the show. One of the Lamb's wheels squeaked a little
where she had caught rheumatism after her ride down the brook.
"And now we come to the last act!" said Herbert. "This will be some
tricks by my Monkey on a Stick."
"I'm glad my chance has come at last," thought the Monkey to himself. "I
must do my best!"
The Monkey had got back on his stick himself after he had driven the
Goat out of the tent, and now the funny chap was all ready to do
whatever Herbert wanted.
"The first trick," said the little boy ringmaster, "will be turning a
front somersault!"
He pulled the string, up the stick went the Monkey, and then and there,
before the crowd of boys and girls in the tent, the lively fellow
turned a somersault head over tail.
"Hurray! Hurray!" cried Dick and the others, clapping their hands.
"The next trick," went on Herbert, "will be when my Monkey turns a back
somersault."
Once more the string was pulled. Up the stick shinned the Monkey, and,
when he reached the top, he turned a back somersault. Of course this was
harder than a front one, and the boys and girls clapped all the more.
"And now, Ladies and Gentlemen!" cried Herbert, just like a real
ringmaster in a real circus, "the next trick will be when my Monkey does
a flip-flap-flop!"
And, indeed, that was a very hard trick to do. But the Monkey did it
when Herbert pulled the string, and all the boys and girls said it was
fine, and that the show was one grand affair.
The Monkey did several other tricks, and then Herbert's mother, outside
the tent, called, just like a circus vendor:
"Here's your pink lemonade! Here's your pink lemonade!"
And, as true as I'm telling you, she had made a big pitcher of sweet
lemonade for the children, and had colored it pink with strawberry
juice.
"Oh! Ah! Um!" said the boys and girls, and, really, I think the lemonade
was almost as good a part of the show as the tricks of the Monkey, the
fight of the Tin Soldiers, or the dance of the Sawdust Doll.
"Well, the show is over. I wonder what will happen next," said the Lamb
on Wheels to the Bold Tin Captain.
"Maybe the children will have another," said the Monkey. "But, while we
have the chance, I would like to talk to my friends the Sawdust Doll,
the Bold Tin Soldier, the White Rocking Horse, and all the others."
And so the toys talked among themselves, and told of their different
adventures, just as I have told you in the different books. And they all
said the Monkey was very brave to have driven away the bad Goat as he
had done.
"I'd like to know what the Calico Clown is doing all this time, since we
came away from the toy store," said the Monkey, after a while.
"So would I," put in the Sawdust Doll. "I wonder if anything has
happened to him."
And as perhaps you children are wondering the same thing, I have decided
to make the next book about that funny chap.
The volume will be called "The Story of a Calico Clown." He had many
wonderful adventures to tell about.
As for the Sawdust Doll, the Lamb on Wheels, the White Rocking Horse,
the Candy Rabbit, the Bold Tin Soldier and the Monkey on a Stick, why,
they had some strange adventures, too, and they took part in another
show. But this is all I have to tell you just now about the Monkey on a
Stick, except to say that he lived for many years with Herbert and
Madeline, and had many happy times.
THE END
THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS SERIES
By LILLIAN ELIZABETH ROY
* * * * *
=Handsomely Bound. Colored Wrappers. Illustrated.=
=For Children 6 to 12 Years=
* * * * *
This series presents early American history in a manner that impresses
the young readers. Because of George and Martha Washington Parke, two
young descendants of the famous General Washington, these stories follow
exactly the life of the great American, by means of playing they act the
life of the Washingtons, both in battles and in society.
THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS
Their thrilling battles and expeditions generally
end in "punishment" lessons read by Mrs. Parke
from the "Life of Washington." The culprits listen
intently, for this reading generally gives them
new ideas for further games of Indian warfare and
Colonists' battles.
THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS RELATIVES
The Davis children visit the Parke home and join
zealously in the games of playing General
Washington. So zealously, in fact, that little Jim
almost loses his scalp.
THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS' TRAVELS
The children wage a fierce battle upon the roof of
a hotel in New York City. Then, visiting the Davis
home in Philadelphia, the patriotic Washingtons
vanquish the Hessians on a battle-field in the
empty lot back of the Davis property.
THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS AT SCHOOL
After the school-house battle the Washingtons
discover a band of gypsies camping near the back
road to their homes and incidentally they secure
the stolen horse which the gypsies had taken from
the "butter and egg farmer" of the Parkes.
THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS' HOLIDAYS
They spend a pleasant summer on two adjoining
farms in Vermont. During the voyage they try to
capture a "frigate" but little Jim is caught and
about to be punished by the Captain when his
confederates hasten in and save him.
* * * * *
=GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK=
THE PUSS-IN-BOOTS, Jr. SERIES
By DAVID CORY
Author of "The Little Jack Rabbit Stories" and "Little
Journeys to Happyland"
* * * * *
=Handsomely Bound. Colored Wrappers. Illustrated.
Each Volume Complete in Itself.=
* * * * *
To know Puss Junior once is to love him forever. That's the way all the
little people feel about this young, adventurous cat, son of a very
famous father.
THE ADVENTURES OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR.
FURTHER ADVENTURES OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR.
PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR. IN FAIRYLAND
TRAVELS OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR.
PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND OLD MOTHER GOOSE
PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., IN NEW MOTHER GOOSE LAND
PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND THE GOOD GRAY HORSE
PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND TOM THUMB
PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND ROBINSON CRUSOE
PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND THE MAN IN THE MOON
* * * * *
=GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK=
* * * * *
Transcriber's notes:
Punctuation normalized.
Page 58, somesaults changed to "somersaults." (turn somersaults and)
End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of a Monkey on a Stick, by Laura Lee Hope