PUCK AND THE PHONOGRAPH 41 



words that he was not afraid, and at the same time betray- 

 ing fear in every act. Puck did not cry, but his intense 

 fear made the grin on his face rather ghastly. Again he 

 approached the mirror and listened to the sounds which 

 tame from the horn. His conduct betrayed the conflict in 

 his little soul. It was evident that he did not believe the 

 monkey which he saw in the glass was making the sounds 

 which came from the horn. He repeatedly put his mouth 

 to the glass and caressed the image, but tried at the same 

 time to avoid the monkey which he heard in the horn. 

 His conduct in this instance was a source of surprise, as 

 the sounds contained in the record were all uttered in a 

 mood of anxious, earnest entreaty, which contained no 

 sound of anger, warning, or alarm, but, on the contrary, 

 appeared to be a kind of love-speech. I had not learned 

 the exact meaning of any one of the sounds contained in 

 this cylinder, but in a collective and general way had ascribed 

 such meaning to them. From Puck's conduct it was to be 

 inferred that this was some kind of complaint against those 

 monkeys occupying the other cage. They had made life a 

 burden to little Pedro. It was evident that Puck inter- 

 preted the actions of the monkey seen in the glass to mean 

 one thing, and the sounds that came from the horn to 

 mean quite another. 



Their language is not capable of relating narratives or 

 giving details in a complaint, but in general terms of griev- 

 ance it may have conveyed to Puck the idea of a monkey 

 in distress, and hence his desire to avoid it. The image 

 in the glass presented to him a picture of a monkey in 

 a happy mood, and he therefore had no cause to shun it. 



