Animals in the forest have no bottles and glasses to drink out of, so
if they are thirsty they have to go down to a pool. Now in a certain
great forest there was a pool, in which lived a horrible Goblin. He
was big and black, like an immense monkey, with an immense mouth,
and four rows of sharp teeth; but he could not come out of the water,
because he had no nose, but only gills like a fish. So if any animal
came down into the water to get a drink, he pounced upon him at once
and gobbled him up; but he could not touch the animals while they
remained on the bank.
One year there was a great drought, and the sun was so hot that it
dried up all the water in that forest for many miles round, except
the pool where this Goblin was; but this pool was very deep and cool,
under the trees, and therefore it was not dried up. There was a herd
of monkeys who had been wandering about for a long time in search of
water, but found none, until they came to this pool. But the King of
the Monkeys was very clever, and he noticed that there were a great
many footprints going down to the water, and none coming away. So he
warned his Monkeys not to go near that pool. However, one of them
was very thirsty, and ran down into the water; but as soon as he
got into the water, and was having a delicious drink--suddenly he
disappeared! There were some bubbles, and no more was seen of the
Monkey. The other Monkeys watched for a long time, wondering what
had become of their friend; and then another, who was so thirsty
that he could not help it, stepped quietly into the water and began
to drink. In an instant he gave a shriek and threw up his hands,
and the others saw him dragged down below the water! A few bubbles
came up to the top and burst, but the poor Monkey was gone.
What were they to do? They were dying of thirst, and yet they were
afraid to drink; the banks were high, and they could not reach the
water from the top. So they all sat round the banks, looking at the
water, very unhappy.
By-and-by a man came down to the side of the pool. He wanted a drink
of water, but he had no glass. So he looked round, and then he saw
the Monkeys sitting on the bank, very unhappy.
"What's the matter?" said he.
"Don't go into that pool!" said the King of the Monkeys. "If you do,
you will be drowned, like our two poor friends!"
Then they told him how their friends had gone into the water to
drink, and how they had both been pulled underneath and drowned,
none of them could tell how.
The man understood at once that it was a Goblin. So he pulled up a long
reed that was growing on the bank of the pool and cut off the ends,
and then he put down one end of it into the water and sucked at the
other end, and the water came up from the pool into his mouth. At
this the Monkeys were delighted, and they all pulled up reeds from
the bank (for you know a monkey always imitates what he sees men do),
and sucked up the water through them, and so quenched their thirst
without going into the pool. And the Goblin, finding that no more
food was to be got, died of starvation; and a good thing too.