The Crocodile rose up to the surface again. He felt very glad he had not drowned the Monkey, because, as I said, he was a stupid creature, and did not see that the Monkey was playing him a trick.
“Oh,” said he, “where is your heart, then?”
“Do you see that cluster of round things up in the tree there, on the further bank? Those are our hearts, all in a bunch; and pretty safe too, at that height, I should hope!” It was really a fig-tree, and certainly the figs did look very much like a bunch of hearts. “Just you take me across,” he went on, “and I’ll climb up and drop my heart down; I can do very well without it.”
“You excellent creature!” said the Crocodile, “so I will!”
And he swam across the river. The Monkey leapt lightly off the Crocodile’s back, and swung himself up the fig-tree. Then he sat down on a branch, and began to eat the figs with great enjoyment.
“Your heart, please!” called out the Crocodile. “Can’t you see I’m waiting?”
“Well, wait as long as you like!” said the Monkey. “Are you such a fool as to think that any creature keeps its heart in a tree? Your body is big, but your wit is little. No, no; here I am, and here I mean to stay. Many thanks for bringing me over!”
The Crocodile snapped his jaws in disgust, and went back to his wife, feeling very foolish, as he was; and the Monkey had such a feast in the fig-tree as he never had in his life before.
