“I may land on the back of Tum Tum, for all I know,” he thought.

But, just as he said that to himself, he came down on the back of Prince, as if nothing had happened.

“Hello, here we are again!” cried Prince, running on around the sawdust ring, with Mappo on his back.  “You did that trick all right.”

“Yes, but the man tossed me through the paper-covered hoop,” spoke Mappo, wonderingly.

“That was to show you how to do it,” went on Prince.  “I have seen many monkeys do that trick.”

“Oh, I see,” said Mappo.  “There’s the man with another hoop.  Shall I jump right through it?”

“Yes, don’t wait for him to toss you,” Prince said.  “Though he didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“Not a bit,” laughed Mappo, who rather liked doing that trick.

The circus man stood up on a little box, holding the ring, all covered with red paper, ready for Mappo to jump through.  And the man would have picked Mappo up, and tossed him through the ring, only the monkey did not wait for that.  Instead, he gave a jump himself, and right through the ring he went, coming down on Prince’s back as nicely as you please.  Prince kept right on running around the sawdust ring.

“Fine!  That’s the way to do it!” cried the circus man, clapping his hands.  “I’ll have to get you to show the other monkeys how to do it, Mappo!  You’re the first monkey who ever learned that trick so quickly.”

I guess I told you Mappo was a smart little chap.

The rest of that day he spent practicing jumping through more paper-covered hoops, doing some of his jumps from the back of Trotter, the pony.  Then other monkeys were brought in, and they watched Mappo.

“Now let’s see if they can do it,” said the man, after Mappo had done his trick several times.  Well, the other monkeys tried, and while some of them could do it pretty well, others fell off, or else were afraid of the paper hoops.  No one did it as well as Mappo.

From then on, the little monkey learned many circus tricks.  He did not learn all of them as easily as he had learned to ride the dog and pony, or jump through the hoops.  In fact, it took him several days to learn the trick of turning a somersault.  And it took him longer to learn to sit up at a table, and eat with a knife, fork and spoon, dressed up like a little boy, with real clothes on.

All this while the circus animals had remained in the big, warm barn, for it was still winter.  But spring and summer were coming, and would soon be over all the land.  Then the circus would start out with the tents, and the big red, green and golden wagons.

Other animals were being trained, too.  Tum Tum, the jolly elephant could do many tricks, and Mappo loved to watch his big friend, with the long trunk, and the long white teeth, or tusks, sticking out of his mouth.  Tum Tum’s trainer would sometimes sit on these tusks, or on Tum Tum’s trunk, and ride around the ring.  Tum Tum liked his keeper, or trainer, very much, just as Mappo liked his own circus man.