Monkey Toes

by James von Dielingen

Deep in the jungle, where the Nana Tree grows
Lived a young, little monkey who was ruled by his toes.

When mischief arrived, his head would say, “No!”

But each footy digit would say “Go, Monkey, go!”

He once saw a Nana pie cooling on a sill.

He knew it belonged to a toucan named Jill.

His noggin was saying it was a no-no,

But the ends of his feet desperately wanted to go

His eyes didn't look as his feet did their deed.

Of what his head said, his feet did not heed.

The pie was soon swinging from limb to limb

As the monkey made his escape, pie in tow with him.

He swung and he climbed to the top of the trees,

When a nasal sensation caused him to sneeze.

Away towards the earth, the sweet dessert plunged.

The monkey cried out and for the pie he lunged.

He bounded and bounced hitting this branch and that,

But he wasn't in time to prevent a small splat.

To catch the pie, the monkey was too late.

That pie would not look good on anyone's plate.

When Jill the toucan found that her pie was not there

She let out a yelp 'cause of her robbery scare.

A knock from a hand the size of a needle

Was rapped on Jill's door by a rhinoceros beetle.

“Hello, Mrs. Beetle”, the big beaked bird sobbed,

“I can't talk right now, for I was just robbed!”

The beetle replied, “I saw the whole thing.

The identity of the culprit to you I bring.”

“The monkey who lives with us here in this tree

I saw take the pie and then hastily flee.

He went that-a-way toward the top of the tangles

And between his feet your pie precariously dangles.”

“I lost him as soon as he passed that big leaf,

But if you hurry you might be able to nab that thief.

I tell you that monkey has far passed the last straw,

And now he thinks he can break any old law.”

The bird interrupted with a polite “thank you”

And a hasty and questionably pronounced “adieu”.

Jill took to wing toward the monkey's escape

To give a piece of her mind to that naughty ape.

She soon heard a whimper far down below.

To whom it belonged, she wanted to know.

It belonged to the monkey who had stolen her pie,

So, she flew down closer to discover what she might spy.

The monkey was weeping and Jill heard him proclaim

That his naughty toes were the culprits to blame.

The colorful bird landed by the primate

She decided not to be coarse or irate.

Jill put a wing on the young monkey's shoulder,

And the monkey cried and sobbed as he told her,

“I'm so very sorry from the depths of my soul,

But, when it comes to my toes, I am not in control.”

“My head was telling me 'No, Monkey, No!'

But my toes soon changed it to 'Go, Monkey, go!'”

Jill understood the poor monkey's plight.

She hugged him and told him that it was all right.

Jill had some advice to bestow on the youth,

And you better believe that it was the truth.

“When considering mischief, don't think of the act

Think of the victim and how they may react.”

“Speaking as one familiar with your hijinks

I can tell you undeniably that it really stinks.

I worked very hard on my sweet Nana pie,

But when it went missing I couldn't help but cry.”

“But come along back to our big Nana Tree,

And you can start to make it up to me.

We'll bake a new pie, the two of us, together.

There's no misunderstanding that true friends can't weather.”

“Next time, promise me you'll use your head

And not your mischievous toes instead.

Because, as everyone in the jungle knows,

You should listen to your head, not your monkey toes.”