monkey in stone "cage"" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}img"/>

So they put him in the larder, which was just a little piece at the end of their cave, built up with big stones, and while the lion built it up, the lioness lay ready to spring on him if he tried to escape. It was very dark and very cold, and Jacko did not like it at all.

They left a little window to feed him by, and every day they gave him as many bananas as he liked, because they knew monkeys ate bananas, and they could get them easily.

Then the lioness wrote a leaf-letter to the bear, asking him to dinner,[Pg 20]
[Pg 21] which he, of course, accepted with pleasure.

But Jacko did not get fat, and the reason of that was that he soon tired of bananas, and only ate one every day. He gave all the others to the rats.

The lion and lioness were rather worried because Jacko did not get fat, so one day they stole in to listen to him talking to the rats, and as it happened they were just talking about bananas.

"I am tired of bananas," said Jacko. "I wish I could get a cocoa-nut."

"It would make you very fat," said the rats.

"Yes," said Jacko, "and I don't want to be fat for those old lions."

"Ho, ho!" said the lions. "A cocoa-nut will make him fat; we'll get him one at once."

But when they came to the tree they could not reach a single cocoa-nut!

So the lion went back and told the little rats very fiercely that he would tear down the stones, and eat them all up at once, if they did not fetch him down some cocoa-nuts at once.

This terrified the little rats. They scampered up the tree, and gnawed off the cocoa-nuts as fast as they ever could.

But as the cocoa-nuts fell on the heads of the lion and lioness, and hurt them very much, the little rats took care to stay up the tree till it was dark.