He stood and looked about him in the dripping wet jungle. He felt
hungry, but he did not like to eat the palm nuts he was saving for his
mother, so he chewed some leaves from a tree, and nibbled a bit of
bark. But neither was as good as the palm nuts would have been.

Then, as Umboo stood there, he suddenly heard a loud, hissing noise.
It seemed to come from right under his feet, and, looking down, he saw
a large snake.

Now all jungle animals are afraid of snakes for the serpents can bite
and poison at the same time. So though a snake may not be very strong,
he can kill by poison some of the strongest beasts. Thus it was that
Umboo, who would have fought even a tiger, was afraid of the snake.

"Ah, ha! You would nip me, would you?" cried the elephant, as he
raised his big foot to crush the snake before it had a chance to bite
and poison him.




CHAPTER VIII

UMBOO FINDS HIS MOTHER


"Did the snake bite you?" asked Chako, the funny monkey chap, who was
hanging by his tail, upside down, listening to the story told by
Umboo. "Did the snake bite you?"