We wish to tell you of the monkey and the snake fight, described
by a witness in the Lahore Tribune. ----
Before men arrived on earth, when all the animals were racing for
supremacy, the monkey seemed to have the smallest chance. No one
would have guessed that the descendants of this feeble,
defenseless little brute would eventually rule the earth, killing
off tigers, lions and the other huge monsters at pleasure.
We have before called your attention in this column to the fact
that the monkey, or some animal like him, had the honor of
contributing our proud human services as the world's rulers
BECAUSE HE COULD USE HIS BRAIN.
That fight between the monkey and the cobra illustrates this
quite clearly.
The monkey was a little monkey, with scarcely enough muscle to
strangle a hen.
His little black finger-nails could hurt nobody. His teeth were
fit only to nibble fruit or to chatter in rage at his fellow
monkeys.
This monkey had the misfortune to annoy a huge cobra.
Mr. Cobra is the most dangerous, the most formidably armed, of
all living animals. He is a solid mass of muscle, gifted with
lightning speed. The slightest touch of his fangs means death.
The brain of the cobra is about as big as a mustard seed. The
brain of the monkey--even a small one--is several hundred times
as big as the brain of the largest snake. We refer to the
cerebrum, the front brain, which does the thinking.
The monkey annoyed the snake, and the snake chased him. Mr.
Monkey, shrieking and chattering, rushed over the ground until he
came to a rock. He stood still in front of the rock.
The snake dashed its head at him to annihilate him; the monkey
jumped to one side and let the snake beat its head against the
rock.
Over and over, this operation was repeated, the monkey with
lightning speed avoiding the dart of the snake, and the snake,
with never-ending stupidity, dashing its head against the rock.
Eventually the powerful, dangerous snake was stretched out at
full length, bleeding and tired out.
The monkey was not bleeding and not tired. He was extremely
cheerful. He seized the snake by the neck, just back of the
head, and placidly proceeded to rub its head off on the stone.
When he had rubbed the head to a pulp. incidentally destroying
its primitive brain, he left the dead snake lying there, and
gratefully accepted the Indian corn and sugar-cane donated by
the admiring humans-his relatives-who had witnessed his
performance. ----
The monkey used his brain--the snake did not.
The monkey did not say, but he might as well have said:
"You need not wonder that my half-sister, Eve, crushed the
serpent's head. We monkeys and humans have soft hands and no
poison sacs, but WE KNOW HOW TO MAKE OUR BRAINS WORK, and
that means that we rule creation."