Monkey Trouble!
By
Salome Byleveldt
Copyright Salome Byleveldt 2014
Thank you for respecting the work of this author.
~~***~~
Table of Contents:
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End Notes
Other Books by Salome Byleveldt
“Explain yourself!” roared Lion. I could see that I was in trouble. Deep trouble!
All the Animals were standing in the circle that was made by the big rock. The rock that fell from the skies a very long time ago…
Jackal stood next to me. He was the one who found me on the other side of the river. He was the one who told me that Lion wanted to see me. Straight away, Lion ordered. That is what Jackal told me.
“We heard that you are telling stories about us!” Lion roared. “Behind our back!”
“Ooh!” cried the Animals. “You are telling stories behind our back?”
I shivered. Jackal had moved from my side, to stand with the others. Now I stood alone before the circle of Animals.
“Uhm…yes, Lion,” I croaked, “but it is good stories!” I added quickly. The Animals shuffled closer.
“Good stories?” they asked. “Tell us! Tell us!”
“I tell about how brave you are,” I said. “I tell the stories about your courage and friendships.”
“Is that the truth you are telling?” Lion frowned. He was not convinced. But before I could respond, Jackal came to my rescue.
“Yes Lion, that is the truth,” Jackal said. “That is what the whispers on the wind have been saying as well. It is good stories.”
“Really?” the Animals cried excitedly. “That is very good then!” they shouted.
“Quiet! Enough with the noise!” roared Lion. He looked at me with his yellow eyes. I shivered again.
“Who are the Animals that you tell our stories to?” Lion demanded to know.
“I tell it to the people, Lion,” I tried to explain.
“People? What sort of Animal is that?”
“It’s Humans, Lion, like me.”
“Is that what you are? A Human Animal?” The Animals laughed out loud. I wanted to tell Lion more, but he was laughing as well. Monkey was hanging from a tree. He was laughing so hard that he had to hold his tummy. He almost fell from the tree, so he had to hold his tummy with only one hand.
“I thought you looked a bit funny. Almost like Monkey, but not as good looking,” Lion said. “And you’re missing a tail!” All the Animals laughed even louder. When the last giggles had died down, Lion looked at me again.
“The last time I saw Chimpanzee, he told me that he had some funny relatives.” Lion said. “He said they walked on their hind legs only, like you do. Funny way to walk, really.”
The Animals had another fit of the giggles.
Monkey jumped down from where he was hanging in the tree. He whispered something into Lion’s ear. Then Lion looked at me again, the frown back between his eyes.
“How,” demanded Lion, “would the Human Animals know what we look like?”
“I try to describe you with the words that I write, Lion,” I explained.
“Words? You describe us with only words?” Lion asked angrily. “How can they know what we look like with only words?”
I didn’t know what to say.
“Yes, how will the Human Animals know what we look like?” demanded all the Animals. “That is a problem,” they said.
“What shall we do about that?” Lion wanted to know. But I still didn’t know what to say.
Then Monkey whispered something into Lion’s ear again. For a long time Lion stared at me with his yellow eyes. Everybody was quiet.
Then Lion announced: “Here is what we’ll do!” All the Animals stood closer, to hear what could be done about this problem.
“You will stay with us and draw pictures of all the Animals!” Lion declared. “The Human Animals must see what we look like.”
“Yes, yes! You’ll draw pictures of us!” The Animals were very excited.
“Uhm…I’m a story teller, Lion. I write words, I don’t draw pictures,” I tried to explain.
“You will draw pictures, Storyteller!” Lion ordered. “You will stay with us until you’ve drawn pictures of all of us.”
“All of you, Lion? That will take a very long time!”
But before Lion could respond, Monkey shouted: “Then you’ll have to stay with us for a very long time!” He had a big grin on his face.
“B..b..but it is almost the rainy season, Lion,” I stammered. “Then the rivers will flow strong and the waters will be very high.”
“So?” Lion said.
“Once the rain starts and the river runs high, I won’t be able to cross it to go back to the Humans, Lion.”
“Then you’d better get started, don’t you?” And with that Lion turned around to lie down under a tree. He gave a big yawn and promptly fell asleep.
~~***~~
There was no arguing with Lion, so I dug out my notebook and some pencils from the bottom of my bag. All the Animals crowded around me.
“I’m first,” Monkey shouted.
“No, I’m first,” Baboon cried.
“No, it has to be me! It has to be me!” Eagle forgot to look regal as he tried to flap Baboon out of the way.
There was a lot of noise while the Animals argued who should go first. Lion woke up and gave a mighty roar. With one giant leap he stood in the middle of the group of Animals.
“Enough with the noise!” he roared. The noise died down immediately.
“Jackal, come here!” Lion ordered. Jackal hurried closer.
“You will call out the Animals’ names, one by one and in order! Make sure they stay in order! I do not want to hear any arguments! I do not want to hear any noise!” Then Lion turned around and went back to his spot under the tree.
~~***~~
“Aardvark!” Jackal called. Aardvark was very shy and we waited for a very long time.
“Could you call him again, Jackal?” I asked urgently. “The big rains will come very soon. There is not a lot of time.”
“Aardvark, come closer,” Jackal called a second time and this time Aardvark carefully stepped closer. He looked at me shyly while I drew his picture. He was very nervous. He never had his picture drawn before.
All the other Animals stood behind me, trying to take a peek at the drawing. Zebra pushed his head over my shoulder. I had to ask him twice to stand back a little bit, as his head was in the way.
“Ooh!” cried all the Animals when I was done. “That looks just like Aardvark!” But Aardvark was so shy that he didn’t want to have a look. He scurried away as fast as he could.
“Baboon!” called Jackal. “You’re next!” Baboon was quick and within seconds he sat in front of me. He looked me straight in the eye. Then he lifted his chin and pushed out his chest.
“Smile, Baboon,” the Animals said. “The Human Animal is drawing your picture!” But Baboon did not want to smile.
“Crocodile!” Crocodile was nowhere to be found.
“He’s lying on the river bank,” said Monkey. Everyone rushed to the river bank. I also rushed off to draw Crocodile’s picture. There was no time to waste. But Monkey stopped me before I got to the river.
“Do my picture first,” said Monkey.
“You heard what Lion said, Monkey,” I said. “We have to stay in order!” I marched off to the river bank, where Crocodile was lying in the sun. His mouth was wide open and I could see his big teeth. I would have gotten a better picture of him if he
had closed his mouth, but I was too scared to ask him to do it. So I drew his picture as he was.
There were very many pictures that I still had to draw, but Sun was about to go to sleep and it was getting dark. I put my pencils away and the Animals wandered off, each in his own direction. I was left alone to pitch my tent in the almost dark.
~~***~~
I was about to crawl into my tent when I saw Jackal. He quietly came up to me and then sat down.
“I just wanted to check that everything is alright with you,” he said quietly.
“That is very good of you, Jackal,” I said. “Thank you.” I sat down next to Jackal. The evening was cool. The stars came out above us. It was very quiet after the noise and rush of the day.
“Jackal, when you fetched me today, how did you know where to find me?” I asked.
“The whispers came with the wind,” Jackal said softly. “The stories flowed down the river. It told us where you were.” We sat quietly for a time before Jackal spoke again. “Then Lion told me to fetch you.”
We sat for a while longer then Jackal asked shyly: “Is it true that you often come to stay in our bush?”
“Yes, Jackal,” I said. “That is true.” We sat together for a little longer then Jackal wished me a good night and went off on his own. I yawned and crawled into my little tent. I fell asleep immediately.
~~***~~
I woke up in the middle of the night. Was there a noise outside?
Yes, there it is again!
What was it?
It was very, very close!
Just outside my tent?
Yes, just outside my tent! There, just outside, I can hear the rustles!
What is outside? Who is outside?
Help! Should I call for Jackal?
No, wait. Not yet. Maybe it is only one of the Little Animals.
I opened the flap of my tent just a little bit. I took a peek with only one eye.
“Who is there?” I croaked.
“It’s me!”
“Who is it?”
“It’s only me!”
“But who are you?” I whispered urgently. Then I saw him.
“Porcupine!” I cried out in relief. “It’s only you!”
“But that’s what I said.” Porcupine’s quills bristled angrily. “It’s only me!”
“Well, it is the middle of the night,” I explained. “I am only a Human Animal. I cannot see so well in the night.” But Porcupine wasn’t listening. He wanted to tell me something.
“Don’t be scared,” he said. “I will be close at night. You told good stories about me. I will see that you are safe.” He scurried away before I could reply.
~~***~~
“Wake up, Storyteller! Wake up!” Monkey pushed his head through the opening of my little tent.
“Quickly, get up!”
“Why Monkey? What’s the matter?”
“You have to draw a picture of me, before the others wake up!”
“You have to wait your turn, Monkey, like everyone else.”
“Well, I’m not like everyone else,” Monkey proudly puffed out his little chest. “It was my idea, I have to tell you!”
“What was your idea, Monkey?” I asked warily.
“Well, that we must fetch you, of course.” Monkey looked at me as if I was silly. “And yesterday I told Lion that you must draw our pictures!”
“You are the one, Monkey?” I was now fully awake. “You are the one who got me into all this trouble with Lion?”
“Shhh, you’ll wake the others,” Monkey warned. “I want my picture drawn.”
“No! First you get me into trouble. Then next you want to jump the queue!” I was cross.
“Please?” Monkey gave me a wide grin and then he pleaded, “Pretty please?”
“You’ll get me deeper into trouble, Monkey.” Monkey kept on grinning and eventually I had to smile as well. I couldn’t stay angry with Monkey. So I got out of my tent and drew him his first picture.
“You’re not too bad for a Human Animal,” he said when I was done.
~~***~~
I did not get many pictures done that day. Jackal called Duiker, but Duiker was nowhere to be found. We waited a long time. Jackal said that we should call Eagle while we waited for Duiker, but Monkey made a big noise about that.
“You heard what Lion said, Jackal,” Monkey said. “We have to stay in order.” But before I could point out to Monkey that he got me to draw his picture that very morning, Lion strolled by.
“Shhh.” Monkey put his finger to his lips, while looking at me innocently.
When Jackal explained to Lion what our problem was, Lion said we should continue with Eagle.
Eagle had a couple of demands. Firstly he insisted that I draw him from the correct angle. It must be just so.
“That will show the Human Animals that I am very regal,” he said snobbishly. Then Eagle demanded that I draw a special frame around him. He wanted a very fancy frame with lots of twirls and whirls. Finally he demanded that all the Animals stand away, to allow him space to fluff out his feathers so that he would look his very best.
But Baboon wouldn’t get out of the way. First he sat next to Eagle and just when Eagle was satisfied that he was in the correct pose, Baboon would ruffle his feathers. Then Baboon pulled faces, which irritated Eagle very much. When Jackal finally threatened to call Lion, Baboon jumped up into the tree under which we were sitting.
“Thank you, Baboon,” I said. But Baboon allowed his tail to dangle down, in front of Eagle’s face. He would not remove it.
I saw Monkey giving Baboon the thumbs-up sign. He had a mischievous gleam in his eye.
~~***~~
It took very many days to draw the pictures. Jackal started calling the name of the next Animal very early each morning and he only stopped when it was too dark to see. I looked up at the sky often. I could see the rain clouds building up. Each day there were more clouds in the sky. I could see that it would rain very soon. So I urged Jackal to call the next one.
“Elephant!” Jackal called. Elephant stepped closer, but we had to move out from under the tree, as Elephant couldn’t fit in under it.
“I will hurt Mouse if I try to squeeze in under the tree,” he explained.
“You must put Mouse down, Elephant,” Jackal said. “Mouse will get his turn later.”
But Elephant would have nothing of it. Mouse was his very best friend and wherever Elephant went, Mouse went along. Mouse was always sitting on Elephant’s head and Elephant wanted a picture of himself with his very best friend.
There was no other way, so I completed Elephant’s drawing with Mouse sitting on his head.
Zebra was around every day. Every day he would ask if it was his turn as yet. Every day Jackal had to tell him that his turn would only be at the end. But the next morning Zebra would be back, to ask if it was his turn as yet. Zebra always had a big grin on his face. His smile was stretching from ear to ear.
When I was done with Elephant’s picture, Jackal left Monkey in charge of calling the Animals. We waited a long time while Monkey called Frog. Frog was nowhere to be found.
“Who are we waiting for?” Jackal asked upon his return.
“Frog is nowhere to be found!” I was getting antsy.
“But didn’t Monkey tell you?” Jackal asked.
“Tell me what?”
“That Frog is hiding deep under the ground until it rains, of course,” Jackal said. “He won’t come out until then.”
“Monkey!” I was annoyed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Oops,” Monkey said innocently. “It must have slipped my mind.”
When it was Giraffe’s turn, Jackal had to ask him to lower his head so that he would fit into the picture.
“But I want to show the Human Animals how tall I am,” Giraffe protested.
“Then we’ll have to leave out your legs,” Jackal said.
“No,” Giraffe said indignantly, “you can’t leave out my legs.?
??
“Well, then we’ll have to leave out half of your neck and all of your face,” Jackal said.
Giraffe didn’t want half of his neck and all of his face to be left out of the picture, so he bent down to fit into the picture.
~~***~~
“Is it my turn yet?” Zebra asked. Jackal rolled his eyes and called Hippo.
“Hippo is in the river,” Monkey informed us. “He said he’s hot, he’s not coming out of the water.” Then Monkey laughed.
“What’s so funny, Monkey?” I was annoyed. “Look at the dark clouds in the sky. It’s going to rain soon!”
“Then you’ll have to stay with us until the rains are done, won’t you?” Monkey ran away before I could answer him. Jackal went with me down to the river.
“Hippo!” he called. Hippo didn’t answer. We waited for very many minutes. “Hippo!” Jackal called again. Slowly Hippo surfaced, not far from where we were standing.
“Where were you, Hippo?” I asked. “Where did you come from?”
“I was under the water, Storyteller,” Hippo said. “I can hold my breath for a very long time, you know,” Hippo boasted.
“I’m impressed, Hippo,” I said. “Would you mind coming out of the water so that I can get your picture?
But Hippo would not get out of the water. The sun was hot, he was hot, the water was cool and he did not want to stand in the sun to get his picture done. He promised to keep a little bit of his face above the water. But there wasn’t a lot to draw. All I could see of Hippo was his nostrils sticking out above the water.
Hyena was shy. He was hiding behind the tall grasses. Jackal begged him to come out. It was only when he threatened to call Lion that Hyena showed a little bit of his face. But that was all he was prepared to show.
Impala was nowhere to be found. Jackal called out many times and we waited for a long while. I started on Jackal’s picture, but Monkey was quick to point out that I was out of order. He was very loud about it. When Jackal went to ask Lion if we could continue without Impala, I could not keep quiet any longer.
“Monkey, I did your picture when it was not your turn!” I said.
“Tsk, tsk…” was Monkey’s response. “That was unficcial.”
“Unficcial? What’s that?” I asked.