In Kali's Country: Tales from Sunny India

ribe of

de porch, was asleep over his sewing. Between the rows of potted ferns and palms along the front veranda appeared glimpses of white as if the occupants of the bungalow might be taking their siestas on the open rattan couches in preference to the warmer curtained beds within, one of which could be seen through an open bedroom door. A mongoose, tied to a post of the veranda, had, for a m

on in India after a morning's combat with the heat how could Nature do aught but sleep in whatever shade she could find for her weary head? But even in sleepy

ide him. The mongoose tugged at his cord. And a frightened woman started up from her couch on the front veranda, as a little whit

Mother! O

ned. An ugly chattering, sounding from behind the house, kept up for some moments as the mother, having gathered the child up in her

is the matter? Te

nkeys! The monkeys!

here with mother now and the monkeys can

uld calm herself enough to tell th

. I had just turned to put the plate back in the cupboard, when I heard a scrambling noise behind me and there was a monkey. He grabbed the cake from baby's hand and ran up a tree, chattering. He was a great, big fellow, the big

any more. And you were giving her cake, too, when I have told you that she mus

e monkey looked so ugly and grabbed the cake right out of my hand just as I

o-night. We will tell him and he will send the monkeys away. Something has got to be done, for we ca

around in the sun without your topi. Go into the house now and let ayah fix your hair and wash your face. Then you can come out again and we will watch for father together, for he will surely

the bungalow before her native nurse, forgetful of her fear, for her father was coming home

rection of the railway station. But soon she retreated to a chair near the door, for the branches of the biggest tree near the por

tively taking up in her hand a paper weight which lay on the table beside her. "We just canno

m the native city and very close to the other few European residences. To him the bungalow had appeared to be far enough away from the native quarter to be free from all unpleasant sights, odours, and visitors, the usual unpleasant associations of too close proximity to

, over the houses, in and out of the windows, apparently the most respected denizens of this most holy city. To kill a monkey is a most heinous sin in the eyes of a Hindu! Did not Haunamon and his monkeys help the great god Ram and rescue his wife Sita when she had been carried off by his rival? Besides, these animals are surely some Hindu's beloved dead. Therefore no one in Sindabad ever touc

y such company in the compound. Then she had felt better and both of them had forgotten all about the monkeys. However, the very next morning after her husband's departure a strange running and jumping on the roof had awakened Mrs. Burbanks, who, peering cautiously from the window of her roof-bedroom, a room which the most fortunate of India's foreign residents consider a requisite of their bungalows for the hot weather, she had seen a coup

anks again aloud but in a more decided tone, as she saw th

eys vanished; and Mrs. Burbanks forgot her annoyance in greeting her husband

to stretch out at once in a big chair and take a cup of tea from his wife's hand, while he listened drowsily to her account of the happenings of the week of separation. Little Marjory came out for her petting

l to look at his eyes which he had made very round in imitation of her own when she had mentioned the monkey. Then not satisfied with just looking at such "funny" eyes, Marjory pulled them up at the corners to see how they would look that way. After a moment's critical survey, she shook her head and went on with her story. "The monkey jumped down from a tree. Ayah had just giv

r father's white-clad figure, "I b'lieve I'd like monkeys better if they wore white. Do monkeys ride on railway trai

his daughter, laughed and said, "I've never met a monkey on a

aid any more now for mother said you wouldn't let t

raising her head from his arm, pointed towards a tree a little to the right, where was a lar

monkey and her baby with great interest unt

their troubles with the monkeys during her husband's a

believe they will do any harm. In fact they seem to me to be rather interesting creatures. That one out there on the lawn this afternoon appeared perfectly harm

oman that she was, she said no more, but wisely left the matter to time. Even when they were awakened at an early hour the nex

torn; his pens were lying scattered about the room; and the books on the table were all in confusion. The servants declared that all had been in perfect order the night before. The ayah said that Marjory had not entered the room. So Mrs. Burbanks, after inspecting the strange confusion, was about to leave the room in perplexity when sh

just the opposite to most animals. You cannot treat one or control him in the same w

amusement, Mr. Burbanks addressed him fretfully. "Boy, can't you

usually obedient boy ra

as closed by the long bamboo pole, for-"The monkeys must be kept out e

news. He laid himself in a comfortable chair preparatory to listening to his wife's reading, for he always preferred to hear her comments and exclamations as she read aloud than to read th

t here!" she exclaimed

hich neither really enjoyed. But scarcely had Mr. Burbanks reached the second page of the first letter when an exclamation of surprise from his wife stopped the reading and he fo

ued from the dangerous place where they had evidentl

with her work in silence, although she had to hang her head to hide her smiling lips at some of his muttered remarks when he returned from an attempt to clear up the papers on his offic

t something in play to his little daughter, when a quick motion on the wall behind her attracted his attention. Afraid to move or speak for fear of bringing greater danger to the child, the father watched in silence. An immense monkey slid down the wall and jumped into the chair beside the little girl, with his eye on the fruit before her. The child,

nger! Mr. Burbanks went back to his study and called

monkeys away?" he a

raid. Monkeys belong gods,"

efully and decided that first of all after it had become dark he would fire off his pistol and perhaps frighten the monkeys away without harming them. So, as soon as night had come and all were in bed, he told his wife

f trees at a little distance from the bungalow. A sharp, shrill, almost human cry came from the t

es won't mind. But it is over now and we need not worry. If they do make a fuss we will just have to face the music,

oof, stood a female monkey and before her lay a tiny, baby monkey, dead, with a hole in its breast. The mother patted it with her paw; she stroked it; then she ran around it and jumped up and down as if to attract its attention. Then she took it up and put its arms about her and started to spring away, evidently expecting it to cling beneath her as it had always done; but the little thing fell limply back upon the roof. Again and again the mother tried, with the infinite patience of a mother

anks turned to her husband. "You

a choice between her baby and mine and, of course, I am glad that it was

r parents never told Marjory why they had gone, she watched for them for a l

little black dog. When she playfully asked him why he had bought her the dog, expecting that he

snakes are afraid of mongooses and now I have a dog because monke

r would next assail his child in this strange land, he swung her up on his shoulder and, as it was sunset, carried her tenderly int