Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of Animals — John Shaqi
Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of AnimalsLee, R., Mrs.
General
Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of Animals
Lee, R., Mrs.
Animal behavior -- Juvenile literature
A monkey, of I know not what species, was domiciled in a family in
Yorkshire to whom my mother was paying a visit of some days. A large
dinner-party was given in honor of the guest, the master of the house
helped the soup; but as he was talking at the time, he did not observe
its appearance. Presently all to whom it had been served, laid down
their spoons, or sent their plates away. This of course attracted
attention, and on inspection, the liquid was discovered to be full of
short hairs. The servants in attendance were questioned, but they
declared they were ignorant of the cause; and the wisest and politest
proceeding was, to send the tureen from the table, and, serving the
fish, make no further comment. The mistress of the family, however, when
the ladies left the dining-room, slipped away from her friends, and
summoning the cook to her presence, received an explanation of the
mystery. The woman said, she had left the kitchen only for one minute,
and when she returned, she saw the monkey standing on the hob of the
kitchen grate, with one fore-paw resting on the lid of the boiler which
contained the soup. "Oh, Mr. Curiosity," she exclaimed, "that is too
much for you, you can't lift that up." To her horror and amazement,
however, he _had_ lifted it up, and was putting it on again after
popping the kitten in, whose remains were discovered at the bottom when
the soup was strained. The poor cook was so bewildered, that she did not
know what to do: it was time for the dinner to be served, and she,
therefore, for the look's sake, thought it best to send the soup in as
it was, even if it were sent out again immediately, "because you know
ma'am," said she, "that would prove you had ordered it. I always thought
the monkey would do the kitten a mischief, he was so jealous of it, and
hated it so because it scratched him, so he seized it when asleep."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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