LESSON 35 THE FOOLISH MONKEYS

THE FOOLISH MONKEYS

Ⅱ

climbed whole splen-did

i-de-a trooped dang-ling

roused scram-bled dragged

1. "Oh!" cried all the young monkeys at once, "what a splendid idea!

2. "What a great name we shall make for ourselves, and how the old ones will wish they were as clever as we, if we pull the moon out of the lake and put it back in the sky!"

3. They all trooped off to the lake-shore, and there, clear and bright, was the moon in the water. As for the moon in the sky, they never thought to look for that!

4. "The only way to reach it is to form a ladder," said the leader.

5. So the strongest monkey climbed up to the branch of a tree that overhung the water. The next monkey climbed up too, and hung down by the first one's tail.

6. Then came a third, who hung on to the tail of the second. Thus they went on, until there was a long monkey-ladder dangling over the water.

7. Last of all came the leader. He scrambled down over his "brothers" backs, held fast to the tail of the last monkey but one, and stretched out his paw to the moon in the water.

8. Crack! Cra-a-ck!! CRASH!!! The branch of the tree split and broke just as he did so, and with a splash that sounded through the forest, the whole band fell plump! into the water.

9. The noise roused the old monkeys, who rushed to the spot, and dragged the young ones out of the lake.

10. When they heard the story, the old ones nodded and said: "We told you so! There is such a thing as being too clever."

11. As for the leader of the young monkeys, he was never seen again. Perhaps he is still in the lake, trying to fish out the moon so that he may put it back in the sky!