Well, here is the second story in the epic saga of monkeys! (Epic saga? Yeah right...) I hope you enjoy.

"Give me back that mango, bird!" hollered Chivi into the branches of the tree where a macaw bird was holding his prize crop. "I've spent a week watching that mango ripen into the most perfect fruit this jungle has ever seen. You have no right to take it!"

"Caw!" replied the bird.

"Oh, don't you get cheeky with me," said Chivi. "You're messing with the wrong monkey."

"Caw! CAWW!"

"Why don't you just come down here and discuss it like a reasonable bird? You look like a bird of reason."

"Cawwwwww!"

"Fly away then!" shouted Chivi as the macaw took to the skies. "And take this with you!" He flung a stick at the bird but missed by a good ten feet. "You come back here again and I'm turning your feathers into a hat," he shouted after the now distant bird. "You hear me? A hat!" He sat down in a huff, grumbling to himself. "Cursed fiend. No right stealing my fruit. No right at all. I'd bet its parents would have a thing or two to say about such terrible behaviour."

"Hi grandpa!" said Billi as he dropped in front of Chivi's face from a branch above. Chivi lurched backward and nearly fell from his perch. "Who are you shouting at?"

"I ought to shout at you," replied Chivi as he attempted to regain his composure. "Dropping into the face of an old monkey as he's deep in contemplation, for shame." Billi giggled at his grandfather's tirade.

"Who were you yelling at?"

"I was yelling at the foul bird that stole my mango," replied Chivi. "It was perfect and I was waiting until this evening to go and get it." He sighed. "I'll never find another one like it.

"Why don't you go to the trees by the human village?" asked Billi. "They have lots of good fruit there."

"Trees by the village? The village?!" exclaimed Chivi. "Who's been taking fruit from there?"

"Uncle Giri. Why?"

"That fool," said Chivi. "He hasn't learned a thing."

"What hasn't he learned?" asked Billi. "What's wrong with taking that fruit?"

"It doesn't belong to us," replied Chivi. "That's reason enough. Why take what belongs to others if you have plenty of your own?"

"But it doesn't hurt anyone," replied Billi, confused.

"It doesn't, eh?" said Chivi. "Let me tell you the story of a young monkey named Tivo. She didn't think there was any harm in it either…"

Tivo stared at the bowl of fruit that had been left on the windowsill of the hut and licked her lips. Her friends had been raiding the hut for a few days but Tivo had been too cautious to venture inside. Besides, her parents had warned her about getting too close to the house.

"They don't like our kind" they had said. "It's best to just leave them be."

Now, with the bowl sitting so temptingly in the open, she was having second thoughts. Her friends had shared a few bites of their fruit with her and she knew that it tasted good. Surely it wouldn't hurt to take the fruit just once. Besides, she wasn't actually going into the house.

She skipped forward and crawled onto the windowsill. The fruit in the bowl was the best she had seen so far. There were mangos, bananas and others she had never seen before. Peeling the banana, she took a bite. It tasted different than usual but still good. She took a bite from the mango and picked up a small handful of berries. As she did, her vision began to blur. She tried to shake it off but it only made it worse. Her stomach began to hurt so she crawled down from the windowsill and collapsed in the jungle. She felt so very sleepy. ‘It must be evening,' she thought to herself. ‘That's why it's getting dark.' She curled up and the pain in her stomach began to leave. ‘I'll just get some sleep and I'll feel better in the morning,' she thought. ‘Just need sleep…'

"She was found in that very place the next morning," said Chivi sadly. "She had died that night from the poison on the fruit."

"But that's not fair!" exclaimed Billi. "She only tried the fruit once. She didn't go into the house. She was the best monkey!"

"Whoever said life was fair?" replied Chivi. "Sometimes someone will get away with something for a long time, but all it takes is once for them to get caught. It may not be death that catches you, but is it really worth the risk?"

"No, I don't think it is," replied Billi.

"Why don't you help me find some other mangos," said Chivi, putting an arm around his grandson. "There must be some up there that the birds haven't found yet."

"What if the macaw tries to steal them?"

"I guess we'll have some new hats then."