It was Jam, Chola's pet monkey. A cousin of the gardener had caught it
in his field one night when he was guarding his crops from the monkeys.
These mischievous animals would often dash out in droves from the
near-by forest at night and eat up the farmers' crop. He did not wish to
kill the little monkey; for, like many Hindus, he thought it a sacred
animal. So he had brought it to Chola for a pet.
The boys had great fun with Jam, though often he would play mischievous
pranks on them. To-day Jam thought this was just his chance to have fun.
Spying Chola's turban lying beside his clothes on the steps of the tank,
he pounced upon it and carried it up into the mango-tree.
"Oh, son of mischief, just wait until I catch thee! Bring back my
turban!" cried Chola, as he scrambled out of the water and climbed up
after Jam in a jiffy. It would never do for him to lose his turban, for
it would be very bad manners for him to be seen without this curious
head-covering. But as Chola went up the tree, Jam climbed down by an
out-stretching limb and swung himself to the ground, then away he went
tearing around the garden with Chola after him. Suddenly Jam tossed the
turban over the garden wall and flew to the top of the house, wild with
joy at having given Chola such a chase.
"Oh, Mahala, find it for me," said Chola, as he dropped breathless on
the grass.
Mahala ran out into the road and was back directly.
"Here is thy turban all unrolled," he laughed, throwing what seemed to
be many yards of white cloth at Chola.
"Just wait until I take a good bamboo stick to thee, wicked one," said
Chola, shaking his fist at Jam, now safe out of reach, and beginning to
wind the cloth around his head.
After their bath it did not take the boys long to dress, for they just
wound a long white garment around and around them, and slipped over this
a little jacket.
"Let us go to the cook-room now and see what the women are cooking; to
dream of sweets does not take away one's hunger," said Mahala, after the
boys had given their teeth a vigorous washing and rubbing with little
sticks, which was another one of their religious duties.
As the boys ran across the courtyard, scattering the goats, doves, and
fowls which were picking up seeds and grain, a voice called out: "Give
me food, oh, little princelings!"
"That must be a beggar, but I do not see him," said Mahala, looking
around.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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