The Autobiography of a Monkey

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
And followed the minstrel away.

And thus did we give up the forest
To dwell with our brothers, the men —
Farewell to the beautiful jungle!
'Twas long ere I saw it again!

Part Second

THE WAYS OF MEN

Then away to a far distant country
On a drift that they said was a ship,
And I studied the ways of my master
And profited much by the trip.

And we sailed to his home in fair Naples,
Where I studied the language of men,
And I sat on a bench with his children,
But soon we went sailing again.

And I made some nice friends on the voyage,