BEPPO
[Illustration]
OR
THE LITTLE ROSE-COLORED MONKEY
[Illustration]
BEPPO
OR THE
LITTLE ROSE-COLORED
MONKEY
BY
C. COLLODI
_TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN_
BY W. S. CRAMP
Illustrated
[Illustration: colophon]
BOSTON
SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY
1907
_Copyright, 1907_
By SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY
(INCORPORATED)
CHAPTER I.
In the famous forest of “Guess It” there lived at one time a family
of seven monkeys,--papa, mamma, and five little monkeys as large as
pineapple cheeses.
This family lived among the branches of a giant tree, in the
middle of the forest, and paid fifteen plums’ rent every year to
an old overbearing gorilla, who had taken it into his head to be a
proprietor.
Four of these little monkeys had skin and hair the color of
chocolate, but the other, the smallest of them all, whether it might
be a trick of nature or no, the fact was that he was covered all
over, except his little face, with a fine hair that was fleshy red,
just like the leaves of a rose. For this reason, even in his home and
amongst the neighbors, they all called him Beppo,--a word that means,
in the spoken language of monkeys, rose-colored.
Beppo did not resemble either his brothers or the other monkeys in
the neighborhood. He had a quick and intelligent face, a pair of
cunning eyes that never stood still a minute, a small mouth that
always laughed, and a dry and flexible personality, like the stem of
a bulrush. He was, in fact, as it is customary to say, a “perfect
little monkey.”
At first sight one would have almost thought him a little boy of
eight or nine years old, because Beppo made a noise and trifled away
his time just like a boy. He ran after the butterflies and went in
search of birds’ nests, like a boy. He was most greedy of fruit, like
a boy. He ate everything and ate always, like a boy. After having
eaten enough, he cleaned his mouth with his hands, as some boys do,
especially those boys who are not very neat.
But do you wish to know what the greatest passion of Beppo was?
It was that of imitating everything he saw men do.
One day, while he was going through the forest in search of crickets
and grasshoppers, he saw, sitting at the foot of a tree, a young man
tranquilly smoking a pipe.
At that sight, Beppo opened his eyes wide and became like one
enchanted.
“Oh,” he said to himself, “if I only could have a pipe! Oh, if I
could make those beautiful clouds come out of my mouth! Oh, if I
could go back home smoking like a chimney! Oh, with what envious eyes
my four little brothers would look at me!”
While these beautiful ideas rushed through Beppo’s head, the young
man, being either tired or warm, gave two or three great big yawns
and, placing his pipe on the ground, went to sleep.
What, then, did that little scoundrel of a Beppo do? He approached
very softly on the tips of his toes the spot where the young man was
sleeping. Holding his breath, he stretched out his paw very slowly,
grabbed the pipe with incredible velocity, and ran away as fast as
the wind.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
As soon as he arrived home, he quickly called his papa, mamma, and
brothers, and in their presence placed the pipe between his lips,
and began to smoke with the airs of an old sailor. His mamma and the
four brothers, seeing the clouds of smoke come out of Beppo’s mouth,
laughed like mad; but his papa, who was a monkey full of common sense
and worldly experience, said to Beppo in a tone of warning:--
“Take care, Beppo! If you begin to imitate men, one day you really
will become a man--and then! Then you will bitterly repent, but it
will be too late!”
Impressed by these words, Beppo threw away the pipe, and smoked no
more. However, you must know that stolen pipe carried with it some
disgrace. A few days after, Beppo was struck with a great misfortune!
The poor, unfortunate little fellow lost forever his beautiful
tail,--a tail so beautiful that, once seen, it could never be
forgotten.
How did he happen to lose that magnificent tail?
It is a cruel and sad story. Only thinking about it will make tears
come to your eyes. I will tell it to you in this next chapter.