Читать книгу From Monkey to Man, or, Society in the Tertiary Age онлайн

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Shoozoo, the liar just mentioned, told some wonderful stories of a stone which he sharpened and the exploits he performed with it. He saw a lion, he said, sleeping at the foot of a tree, when, throwing the stone, he cut the tree from its stump, which, falling on the lion, killed him; and he would have brought the dead lion to verify the story, but it was so big that all the monkeys of Cocoanut Hill could not have carried it away; but he showed the sharpened stone as evidence.

He related also that when hunting owls at night, after killing all that were in the forest, and having nothing more to throw at, he threw his stone at the moon, and hit it with such force that he cut off a piece; and, as evidence of this, he pointed to the moon, which was, indeed, seen to have a large piece gone, so that many Apes believed him for once, though they knew he was habitually a liar. For the evidence of their senses was generally deemed enough for the Apes. Shamboo, however, doubted the story and asked Shoozoo why he did not bring home the other piece of the moon. “When I cut it off,” he replied, “it fell into the Swamp and was swallowed by an alligator. I expect to catch that alligator, and then I will show you the rest of the moon.”