Down they all clambered, and in a very short time they were sitting beside him on the grass.
“Monkeys,” said he, “I have been a good friend to you, letting you eat my nuts and apples. And now I want to take a holiday. Will you water my garden while I am away?”
“Oh yes, yes, yes!” cried the Monkeys. They thought it a great joke, and leaped for joy.
So the gardener handed over his watering-pots to the monkeys, and put on his Sunday clothes, and went away to the fair.
Meanwhile,the Monkeys held a solemn council, sitting in a ring round the Monkey chief.
“Brothers,” said the Monkey chief, “our good friend, the gardener has given us charge of this garden and all there is in it. We must take care not to hurt anything, and, above all, not to waste the water. There is very little water, and I really don’t think it will go round.”
It was in fact a well, very small at the top, but very deep, and at the bottom the water was always running. You might have watered till doomsday out of that well; but monkeys, though they are cunning, are not wise, and these monkeys thought that a little round hole could not hold very much water.
“So you see,” the Monkey chief went on, “you must give each plant just enough water, and no more; and I think the best way will be, to see how long the roots are.”