Once upon a time the monkey made
the tiger very angry. This is how it happened. The monkey was seated
high up among the leafy branches of a mango tree playing upon his
guitar. The tiger passed that way and lay down under the tree to
rest. Just to tease him the monkey played and sang this little song:
"Tango ti tar, tango ti tar,
The tiger's bones are in my guitar.
Tee hee, Tee hee."
The tiger was very angry. "Just wait until I catch you, Mr. Monkey,"
he said. "Then I'll show you a trick or two with bones."
The monkey leaped from one tree to another keeping himself so well
hid by the foliage that the tiger could not see him. Then he came
down out of the trees and hid himself in a hole in the ground. When
the tiger came near he again played and sang his little song:
"Tango ti tar, tango ti tar,
The tiger's bones are in my guitar.
Tee hee, Tee hee."
The tiger put his paw into the hole and caught the monkey's leg.
"Oh, ho, Mr. Tiger!" said the monkey. "You think that you have
caught my leg but what you really have is just a little stick. Oh,
ho! Oh, ho!" Then the tiger let go of the monkey's leg.
The monkey crawled farther back into the hole in the ground where
the tiger's paw could not reach him. Then he said: "Thank you so
much, Mr. Tiger, for letting go of my leg. It really was my leg, you
know." Again he played and sang his little song:
"Tango ti tar, tango ti tar,
The tiger's bones are in my guitar.
Tee hee, Tee hee."
The tiger was angrier than ever. He waited and waited for the monkey
to come out of the hole in the ground but the monkey did not come.
He had discovered another way out and once more from the high tree
tops he sang down to the waiting tiger:
"Tango ti tar, tango ti tar,
The tiger's bones are in my guitar.
Tee hee, Tee hee."
There had been a great drought in the land and there was only one
watering place where the beasts could drink. The tiger knew that the
monkey would have to go there when he was thirsty so he decided to
wait for him and catch him when he came to drink.
When the monkey went to the watering place to get a drink he found
the tiger there waiting for him. He ran away as fast as the wind for
he was really very much afraid of the tiger.
He waited and waited until he thought he should die of thirst, but
the tiger did not go away from the watering place for a single
minute. At last the monkey thought of a trick by which he would be
able to get a drink.
He lay down by the side of the pathway as if he were dead. After a
while an old woman came along the path carrying a dish of honey in a
basket upon her head. She saw the monkey lying there by the path
and, thinking that he was dead, she picked him up and put him into
the basket with the dish of honey. When the monkey saw that it was
honey in the dish he was very happy. He opened the dish and covered
himself all over with the soft sticky honey. Then as the old woman
walked under the trees he lightly sprang out of the basket into the
trees. The old woman did not miss him until she got home and found
only part of her dish of honey in the basket. "Why, I thought I had
brought home a dead monkey in my basket," she said to her children.
"Now there is no monkey here and my dish is only half full of honey.
The monkey must have been playing one of his tricks."
The monkey had, in the meantime, stuck leaves from the trees into
the honey all over his body so that he was completely disguised. His
own mother would never have recognised him. He looked something like
a porcupine; but instead of sharp quills there were green leaves
sticking out all over him. In this fashion he went to the drinking
place and the tiger did not recognise him. He took a long, deep
drink. He was so thirsty and the water tasted so good that he stayed
in the drinking place too long. The leaves came out of the honey
which had held them and the tiger saw that it was really the monkey.
The monkey was barely able to escape.
He was so badly frightened that he waited and waited a long, long
time before he again went to the drinking place. At last he got so
thirsty that he couldn't wait any longer. He went to the resin tree
and covered himself with resin. Then he stuck leaves into the resin
and again went to the drinking place.
The tiger saw him, but as the tiger expected to see the leaves come
off just as soon as the monkey got into the water, he thought he
would wait and catch him in his bare skin. This time the leaves did
not come off, for the resin held them fast and was not in the least
affected by the water. The tiger thought that it was not the monkey
and that he must have made a mistake. The monkey drank all he wished
and then strolled away leisurely without the tiger's attacking him.
He used the resin and leaves every time he wanted a drink after
that. He kept up the trick until the rainy season arrived and he
could find plenty of water in other places than the big drinking
place.