Produced by Chris Curnow, monkeyclogs and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A MONKEY [Illustration] FOUND AND PICTURED BY HY. MAYER VERSES BY ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE [Illustration] NEW YORK R. H. RUSSELL MDCCCXCVII Copyright 1897 BY ROBERT HOWARD RUSSELL [Illustration] 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. [Illustration] 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. [Illustration] [Illustration] 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. [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration] 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. [Illustration] 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. [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration] 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! [Illustration] _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! [Illustration] [Illustration] _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._ [Illustration] 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. [Illustration]