The Autobiography of a Monkey
Albert Paine




Paine Albert Bigelow

The Autobiography of a Monkey





Part First

THE DEPARTURE FROM THE FOREST



		Where the light laughs in through the tree-tops
		And sports with the tangled glade,
		In the depths of an Afric forest
		My earliest scenes were laid.

		In a bower that was merry with smilax
		From the grimace of no-where, I woke
		I was born on the first day of April
		And they called me a jungle joke.

		And the voices of birds were about me —
		And the beat and the flutter of wing;
		While morning returned at the trumpet
		Of Tusky, our elephant king.

		My nurse was a crooning old beldame
		Who gazed in the palms of my hands
		And vowed I was destined to travel
		In many and marvellous lands.

		But little I heeded her croaking,
		For I gamboled the whole day long,
		And swung by my tail from the tree-top,
		Or joined in the jungle song.




THE SONG OF THE JUNGLE


		The Elephant:
		Oh, I am the lord of the forest and plain!
		The Lion, Tigers, etc.:
		And we are the beasts that acknowledge your reign!
		The Birds:
		And we are the minstrels that come at your call!
		The Monkeys:
		And we are the jesters that laugh at you all!
		Chorus, All —
		Oh, yes! Oh, yes! Oh, yes! Oh, yes!
		The tribes of the jungle are we —
		Our home is the darksome wilderness
		That never a man shall see.
		The Elephant:
		Oh, the jungle was meant and was made for my will!
		The Lions, Tigers, etc.:
		For the sport of the chase and the zest of the kill!
		The Birds:
		For the beating of wings and the echo of song!
		The Monkeys:
		For gambol and grimace the whole season long!
		Chorus, All:
		Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Oh, yes!
		For all of the tribes that be
		With homes in the tangled wilderness
		That never a man shall see.

		But, alas, for the boasts of the jungle!
		The men came among us one day,
		And one with a box that made music
		Enticed foolish monkeys away.

		The birds and the beasts of the forest
		Were mute at the marvellous song,
		But the monkeys crept out of the tree-tops —
		An eager and wondering throng.

		The birds and the beasts of the forest
		Kept hidden and silent that day,
		But the monkey-folk formed a procession




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