CHAPTER XII
TINKLE IS HAPPY
Mappo, the merry monkey, picked up a long, clean straw and put it in his mouth, almost as a man might do with a toothpick. Mappo sat chewing on the straw and looking at Tinkle.
“Tell me about that nice home where you used to live, little pony,” said Mappo. “Maybe it will make you feel better to talk about it.”
“I think it will,” sighed Tinkle. “Oh, I just love to talk about George and Mabel, they were so good and kind to me! And so was Patrick, the coachman.”
So Tinkle told Mappo the story of his home and of his having been taken away in the moving van.
“Those were queer adventures,” said Mappo. “Almost as queer as those I had.”
“Did you have adventures, too?” asked Tinkle.
“Indeed I did,” answered the merry monkey, and he told his story of having once lived in the jungle-forest and of how he had been caught and put in the circus.
“I had so many adventures,” said Mappo, “that a man put them in a book, as he did those of Tum Tum, Dido and some other animals. Maybe you’ll be put in a book, too, Tinkle.”