CHAPTER VIII
MAPPO AND HIS TRICKS
Mappo, the merry monkey, gave one look at the big dog rushing at him, and then, with a chatter of fright, sprang right up on the shoulder of the circus man. There Mappo sat, shivering, and looking down at the dog who kept on barking.
"Oh ho! So you're afraid, are you?" asked the man, as he put up his hand and patted Mappo. "Well, you don't need to be, little chap. Prince wouldn't hurt you a bit, would you, old chap?"
"Bow wow!" barked the dog, and I think he meant that he certainly would not—that he loved monkeys. In fact, any one would have loved Mappo, he was so kind and gentle, even though he had not had much training.
"Now, Prince, just show this monkey how you can stand on your head," went on the circus man. "Show him how it's done."
The dog kicked his hind legs up in the air, and there he was, standing up partly on his head, and partly on his forepaws.
"That'll do, Prince!" the man called. "Down!"
"Bow wow!" barked Prince, as he turned a somersault, and stood on his four feet.
"You'll soon be doing tricks like that, little monkey," went on the circus man, speaking to Mappo, as though the little chap from the jungle could understand and answer him.
And, as I have told you, Mappo could understand pretty nearly all the man said, but he could not talk back to him, except in monkey language, and that the man did not understand.
"Now, Prince," said the circus man, "Mappo is going to have a ride on your back. I want you to go slowly with him at first so he will not fall off. Later on, you may run fast, and we'll have a race, with other monkeys on the backs of other dogs. And, when Mappo has learned to ride dog-back, I'll teach him to ride pony-back."
"Bow wow!" barked Prince, just as though he understood it all.
A bright red blanket was strapped around Prince, like a saddle on a horse, and over the dog's head were put some straps like the reins of a horse. Those were for Mappo to take hold of, and pretend he was driving the dog around the ring.
"All right now. Here we go!" cried the man. "Come, Mappo!"
Mappo, who had been watching Tum Tum learn to stand on his hind legs, now looked at the man and dog. The man lifted up the monkey and set him on the dog's back. He also put the reins in Mappo's little paws.
"Now go, Prince!" said the man, and he walked along with the dog, holding Mappo on the back of Prince.
At first Mappo did not understand what was wanted of him, and when Prince started off, the little monkey grew afraid, and tried to jump down and run away. But the man spoke gently to him.
"There now, old fellow," said the circus man kindly. "No one is going to hurt you. You'll be all right. Just sit on. Prince won't run away with you."
Mappo was not so frightened now, and as the man held him on the dog's back, he did not fall off. [Around and around in a ring went Prince carrying Mappo.] Finally the monkey saw that he was in no danger of falling, and he sat up straighter.
"I guess you can go alone now," said the man. "Go on, Prince!"
Mappo sat up proudly, holding the reins. He was riding alone, though of course not very fast, for Prince only walked now.
For two or three days Mappo practiced this trick, and each day he did it better. Each day, too, when he had finished it, he was given something good to eat, and so was Prince.
"Now we'll try it faster to-day," said the man, after Mappo had been in the circus about a week. "Run, Prince, and give Mappo a fast ride."
Off started Prince, almost before Mappo was ready for him. And, just as you might expect, Mappo fell off and rolled over and over in the sawdust.
"Chatter-chatter-chat! Bur-r-r-r! Buz-z-z-z-z! Wur-r-r-r-r!" went Mappo, excitedly.
"Bow wow!" barked Prince, capering about.
"Hold on! That's not the way to do it! You must hold on tightly!" cried the circus man.
"Did you hurt yourself, Mappo?" asked Tum Tum, the jolly elephant, who was resting, after having stood up on his hind legs. He had seen Mappo fall.
"No," answered the monkey, "I didn't hurt myself, but I don't like to fall that way. I don't like that trick."
"Never mind," spoke Tum Tum kindly. "The next time you do it, and Prince runs fast, just wrap your tail around him, as you used to wrap it around a tree limb in the big jungle. Then you won't fall."
"That's a good idea—I'll do it!" cried Mappo.
Around and around in a ring went Prince carrying Mappo. ([Page 87])
"Now we'll try it again," said the circus man. "Go a bit slower this time, Prince."
"Bow wow! I will!" barked the dog.
Once more Mappo took his place on the red blanket on the dog's back. He took the reins in his little paws, that were almost like your hands, and then, remembering what Tum Tum had said to him, Mappo wound his tail around the neck of Prince, but not so tightly as to hurt him.
"Bow wow! What are you doing that for?" asked the dog. He knew how to speak so Mappo would understand him.
"I am doing it so I will not fall off when you run fast, Prince," answered Mappo.
"Ha! Ha! Very good!" laughed Prince, in the only way dogs can laugh, which is by barking softly. "That's a good trick, little monkey. If other monkeys were as smart as you they would learn their lessons more quickly. Now hold on tight, for I am going to run!"
"I will!" promised Mappo.
The circus man looked at what Mappo had done.
"That is a smart little monkey," he said. "Now he will not fall."
And this time, when Prince started off, and ran very fast around the sawdust ring, Mappo did not fall off. His tail, which was as good as a hand to him, was wrapped about the neck of Prince, and kept Mappo from slipping.
Mappo could now do the dog-riding trick very well. No matter how fast Prince ran, the monkey would not fall off. A few days later more dogs and other monkeys were brought into the circus ring in the big barn, and they, too, raced around. But none of them could go as fast as Mappo and Prince, and, each time, they won the race around the sawdust ring.
"That certainly is a smart little monkey!" the circus man would say over and over again. "I shall teach him many tricks. I will now see how he can ride on the back of a pony, and, after that, I will teach him to jump through paper hoops."
Mappo did not very well understand what this meant, but he made up his mind he would do whatever was asked of him, and that he would do it as well as he could.
A few days later some little Shetland ponies were brought into the barn, and Mappo was placed on the back of one of them. The pony was a little larger than Prince, and Mappo was farther from the ground. But the little monkey had climbed tall trees in the jungle, and he was not afraid of going up even on an elephant's back. So, of course, he was not afraid on Trotter, the pony.
A blanket was strapped on Trotter's back, and as there was an iron ring in the strap, Mappo stuck his tail through that, and so held on. The other monkeys, who were also to ride ponies, saw what Mappo was doing, and they did the same thing.
"Ha! It's good to have a smart monkey in the circus," said the man. "He shows the others what to do."
Mappo was so smart, and such a good rider, that he easily took the lead in the race, and kept it. The ponies ran faster than the dogs had done, but, even then, neither Mappo nor any of the other monkeys fell off, for their tails were in the iron rings of the straps.
"Well, how are you coming on?" asked Tum Tum of Mappo one day, when they were resting after having eaten their dinners.
"Fine!" answered Mappo. "I can do many tricks now. What are you learning?"
"Oh, many things," answered Tum Tum. "I have to play ball, grind a hand-organ with my trunk and make music, I have to play soldier, march around, and stand up on my hind legs and on my head."
"Is it hard work?" asked Mappo.
"Yes, but I like it," said Tum Tum. And some day soon, in another book, I shall tell you the many adventures of Tum Tum, the jolly elephant.
"Well, now for a new trick," said the circus man to Mappo, one morning. "Soon it will be time for the circus to go out on the road, under the big tents, and I want you to do many tricks for the boys and girls."
"I'll do all I can!" chattered Mappo, in his monkey language.
This time, after he had ridden around the ring once or twice on the back of Prince, the circus man brought out some big wooden hoops, covered with paper.
"You are to jump through these, Mappo," said the man. "Come, let me see how you can do it." Mappo was riding on Prince's back. All of a sudden, as Prince went around the sawdust ring, he came near to one of the rings the man held out. Mappo did not in the least know what he was to do, but, all at once, the man caught him up off the dog's back, and fairly tossed him through the paper ring. The paper burst with a crackling noise, and Mappo felt himself falling.
"Oh dear!" thought the little monkey, "I wonder where I shall land!"