Monkey See, Monkey Do

A ZIMI AND DAUD sat in the sunshine teaching their pet monkey, Hitam, to do tricks.

- Carolyn Gard

“Hitam will do anything we do,” Azimi told his brother. “He’s the smartest monkey in Malaysia!”

Daud clapped his hands. The monkey clapped his hands. “Stop, Hitam,” Daud said. Hitam stopped.

Azimi did a somersault. The monkey did somersault after somersault. “Stop, Hitam,” Azimi said. Hitam stopped.

“Azimi! Daud!” their mother called from the house. “Your father is fishing today. You need to pick one hundred coconuts to sell at market tomorrow.”

“OK, Mom!” the boys shouted. They got the cart and pulled it to the coconut grove. Hitam followed them. Twenty-five feet above them coconuts hung on the branches.

“That’s high,” Daud said. “I wish our father was like Uncle Tahar. He uses monkeys to get the coconuts.”

“We have a monkey,” Azimi said. They watched Hitam scramble up the tree.

“But he’s not trained like Uncle’s monkeys,” Daud said.

“He’s smart. He can learn.”

“How?”