NAUGHTY MONKEY

 
I remember one day when we were all gathered together around Baba, I believe the year was 1939. Anyway, the subject of monkeys somehow came up in the conversation. Norina was telling Baba how adorable monkeys are and expressed a desire to have one for a pet. "Oh, Baba," she exclaimed, "monkeys are so cute and you know they are quite smart and can be trained too!"

Baba did not say anything at the time, but it wasn't long after this talk that a tiny new pet made his appearance in our household. Someone had given Baba a cute little baby monkey and I will never forget how sweet Baba looked holding that tiny, fluffy, brown creature right in the palm of His hand. When Norina saw Baba holding the monkey, she smiled happily, telling Baba, "Oh, what a dear thing he is!"

Whenever Baba would bring us a new pet, He would be the first one to feed it. Baba told us to bring some food. We gave Baba some bananas and He began feeding the new pet. Baba looked so pleased as He fed and played with the little monkey whose cheeks now bulged out like two balloons from the bananas. We all stood around enjoying the fun, until Baba handed over the monkey to Norina telling us that he was now in her charge.

Norina, with the other Westerners, was staying upstairs in the room we now call the Study Hall, above the Museum at Upper Meherabad. The accommodations for the Westerners, considering their backgrounds, were quite sparse. Each one had her own bed and a small table nearby on which to keep her personal possessions.

Now little Lucky, after a few days, became very mischievous. He took Norina's things from her table and began throwing them out the window. Lucky grabbed Norina's toothpaste tube and began squeezing it and biting it.

Imagine what a mess — toothpaste on the table, chair, window, everywhere you looked was toothpaste! And what a sight was Lucky. He had it all over his mouth and chin and you know how frothy toothpaste gets. Well, we just could not stop laughing. It was really too funny for words.

There was Norina running after her dear Lucky shouting, "Naughty monkey. Mustn't do that. Come here you naughty monkey!" until she finally caught him and promptly tied him up.