Personal reminiscences of Henry IrvingStoker, Bram
General
Personal reminiscences of Henry Irving
Stoker, Bram
Actors -- Great Britain -- Biography; Irving, Henry, Sir, 1838-1905
“Would he give you some of that, now?” The man shook his head as he
answered:
“He doesn’t like to, but he will if I ask him. I have to be careful
though.” He asked Jock, who very unwillingly let him take the tumbler,
following it with his paws. The arms stretched out as it went farther
from him; but the paws always remained close to the glass. The man just
put the edge of the glass to his mouth and then handed it back quickly.
The monkey had acted with considerable self-restraint, and looked
immensely relieved when he had his drink safe back again. Then Irving
said:
“Let me see if he will let me have some!” The keeper spoke to the
monkey, keeping his eye fixedly on him. Irving took the glass from his
manifestly unwilling paws and raised it to his own lips. Being a better
actor than the keeper he did his part more realistically, actually
letting the liquid rise over his shut lips.
The instant the monkey saw his beloved liquor touch the mouth he became
a savage—a veritable, red-eyed, restrainless demon. With a sudden
hideous screech he dashed out his arms, one paw catching Irving by the
throat, the other seizing the glass. It made us all gasp and grow pale.
The brute was so strong and so savage that it might have torn his
windpipe before a hand could have been raised. Fortunately Irving did
instinctively the only thing that could be done; he yelled suddenly in
the face of the monkey—an appalling yell which seemed to push the brute
back. At the same moment he thrust away from him the glass in the
animal’s other paw. The monkey, loosing his hold on his throat, jumped
back across the wide table with incredible quickness without losing its
seated attitude, and sat clutching the tumbler close to his breast and
showing his teeth whilst he manifested his rage in a hideous trumpeting.
Before that, at our first coming into the room he had nearly frightened
the life out of Ellen Terry. She had sat down on the bench along the
wall. The monkey looked at her and seemed attracted by her golden hair.
He came and sat by her on the bench and, turning over, laid his head in
her lap, looking up at her and at the same time putting up his paw as
big as a man’s hand and as black and shiny as though covered with an
undertaker’s funeral glove. She looked down, saw his eyes, and with a
scream made a jump for the doorway. The monkey laughed. He had a sense
of humour—of his own kind, which was not of a high kind.
A little later he regained his good temper and forgave us all. When we
went round the gardens he got on his tricycle and came with us. In the
monkey house was a great cage as large as an ordinary room, and here
were a large number of monkeys of a mixed kind. Our gorilla—for such he
really was—started to amuse himself with them. He got a great stick and
standing close to the cage hammered furiously at the bars, all the while
trumpeting horribly. In the midst of it he would look at us with a grin,
as much as to say:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account