In fact , so great was their relief that they gave the monkey such a kind welcome , and were so anxious to make him happy and comfortable , that he soon forgot all the fears that had beset him as to his fate , and was generally quite at his ease , though every now and then a fit of home-sickness would come over him , and he would hide himself in some dark corner till it had passed away . It was during one of these attacks of sadness that a jelly-fish happened to swim by . At that time jelly-fishes had shells . At the sight of the gay and lively monkey crouching under a tall rock , with his eyes closed and his head bent , the jelly-fish was filled with pity , and stopped , saying , ` Ah , poor fellow , no wonder you weep ; a few days more , and they will come and kill you and give your liver to the queen to eat . ' The monkey shrank back horrified at these words and asked the jelly-fish what crime he had committed that deserved death . ` Oh , none at all , ' replied the jelly-fish , ` but your liver is the only thing that will cure our queen , and how can we get at it without killing you ? You had better submit to your fate , and make no noise about it , for though I pity you from my heart there is no way of helping you . ' Then he went away , leaving the ape cold with horror . At first he felt as if his liver was already being taken from his body , but soon he began to wonder if there was no means of escaping this terrible death , and at length he invented a plan which he thought would do . For a few days he pretended to be gay and happy as before , but when the sun went in , and rain fell in torrents , he wept and howled from dawn to dark , till the turtle , who was his head keeper , heard him , and came to see what was the matter . Then the monkey told him that before he left home he had hung his liver out on a bush to dry , and if it was always going to rain like this it would become quite useless . And the rogue made such a fuss and moaning that he would have melted a heart of stone , and nothing would content him but that somebody should carry him back to land and let him fetch his liver again . The queen 's councillors were not the wisest of people , and they decided between them that the turtle should take the monkey back to his native land and allow him to get his liver off the bush , but desired the turtle not to lose sight of his charge for a single moment . The monkey knew this , but trusted to his power of beguiling the turtle when the time came , and mounted on his back with feelings of joy , which he was , however , careful to conceal . They set out , and in a few hours were wandering about the forest where the ape had first been caught , and when the monkey saw his family peering out from the tree tops , he swung himself up by the nearest branch , just managing to save his hind leg from being seized by the turtle . He told them all the dreadful things that had happened to him , and gave a war cry which brought the rest of the tribe from the neighbouring hills . At a word from him they rushed in a body to the unfortunate turtle , threw him on his back , and tore off the shield that covered his body . Then with mocking words they hunted him to the shore , and into the sea , which he was only too thankful to reach alive . Faint and exhausted he entered the queen 's palace for the cold of the water struck upon his naked body , and made him feel ill and miserable . But wretched though he was , he had to appear before the queen 's advisers and tell them all that had befallen him , and how he had suffered the monkey to escape .
But , as sometimes happens , the turtle was allowed to go scot-free , and had his shell given back to him , and all the punishment fell on the poor XXXXX , who was condemned by the queen to go shieldless for ever after .
attacks councillors days escape first home-sickness hours jelly-fish left war