From The Wish Fairy of the Sunshine and Shadow Forest by Alice Ross Colver; Henry Altemus Company, Philadelphia, 1919; pp. 35-40.
IN the long-ago years, you must know, Mr. Monkey Man’s tail didn’t curl up over his back the way it does now but was very short, and the end of it was bent over in a little hook.
Mr. Monkey Man could climb beautifully in those long-ago years, even though he had no tail to speak of to help him, and his arms grew long and strong, and his hands grew just like folks’ hands, and his feet were tough and rough, and his legs were all muscle. He used to make the other animals look at him in wonder, for he’d run like a flash out to the end of a branch and then he’d stoop down and fasten his little black hands around the branch, and — whiff! 36 He’d drop himself down, and swing and swing in the air until they’d all squeal and holler that if he didn’t look out he’d fall. Then Mr. Monkey Man would laugh and catch on with his toes again, and pull himself up and run to a higher branch and do it all over again.
Oh, he did wonderful stunts! Somersaults in the air, from one limb to another, were just play to him, and he loved best of all to climb to the tippiest-top of a tree and let go entirely with his hands and feet, and drop like a ball down, down, until all of a sudden when all his audience below him were holding their breaths for fear he’d come crashing down to earth, why, then, all of a sudden, he‘d shoot out his arms and catch onto a branch and giggle down at them.
But he pretty dearly did that stunt once too often.
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One time he drooped like a ball from the top of a tree, and about half-way down he shot out his arms, but his hands missed their grip! Then poor Mr. Monkey Man was frightened for fair, and he began to grab for branches with both hands and both feet, and all the time he was whirling down lower and lower and faster and faster, and his breath came in little scared sobs. And he wished as fast as he could think — “Oh! I wish I’d catch onto something somewhere!” He wished it so earnestly that it was almost a prayer.
Suddenly his tumble ended with a jerk.
What do you think had happened?
His short tail, with its little hook on the end, had caught onto a branch, and there he was hanging by his tail! His poor little short tail wasn’t used to having a big weight 39 on it like that, so it stretched, and stretched, and stretched until Mr. Monkey Man could reach out and catch hold of another branch with his little black hands.
Then he uncurled his tail, that had surprised him so, and cuddled up against the tree, until he caught his breath again and his teeth had stopped chattering. And I fancy he said a little prayer of thanks, don’t you?
And, of course, his little prayer of thanks went right straight back to the Wish Fairy. For, of course, it was the Wish Fairy who had saved his life. She has ears that hear wishes when they are only whispered — when they are only thought.
And she knew by the gaspy way the monkey was wishing that he was in great trouble.
So, in a twinkle, she had arrived and had seen Mr. Monkey Man tumbling and clutching. And in 40 the next twinkle she knew his hands and feet were too scared to hold tight. And in the third twinkle she knew his tail was just the thing to save him by, because he wasn’t thinking about his tail at all.
And do you know? From that day to this, Mr. Monkey Man’s tail has been long and has curled up over his back. In fact, Mr. Monkey Man thinks it’s the best thing he has to swing on. He likes it even better for that purpose than his good old-fashioned hands and feet!