reach of the highest tide which might be driven on shore by a
west wind, but on the very edge of the town there had sprung up a
tree so large that half its boughs hung over the huts and the
other half over the deep sea right under the cliff, where sharks
loved to come and splash in the clear water. The branches of the
tree itself were laden with fruit, and every day at sunrise a big
grey monkey might have been seen sitting in the topmost branches
having his breakfast, and chattering to himself with delight.

After he had eaten all the fruit on the town side of the tree the
monkey swung himself along the branches to the part which hung
over the water. While he was looking out for a nice shady place
where he might perch comfortably he noticed a shark watching him
from below with greedy eyes.

'Can I do anything for you, my friend?' asked the monkey
politely.

'Oh! if you only would thrown me down some of those delicious
things, I should be so grateful,' answered the shark. 'After you
have lived on fish for fifty years you begin to feel you would
like a change. And I am so very, very tired of the taste of
salt.'

'Well, I don't like salt myself,' said the monkey; 'so if you
will open your mouth I will throw this beautiful juicy kuyu into
it,' and, as he spoke, he pulled one off the branch just over his
head. But it was not so easy to hit the shark's mouth as he
supposed, even when the creature had turned on his back, and the
first kuyu only struck one of his teeth and rolled into the