MONKEY BUSINESS
What would you do if a band of monkeys stole your dessert? What would
you do if the monkeys came day after day to steal vegetables from your
garden? Such things used to happen to people living in a place called
Gibraltar.
Gibraltar is a narrow strip of land on the southern coast of Spain. The
Rock of Gibraltar stands at the water’s edge. Long ago, the British made
Gibraltar a powerful fortress to guard the entrance to the Mediterranean
Sea.
Barbary apes, the only wild monkeys living in Europe, scamper around
Gibraltar. These animals are called apes, but they’re really tailless
monkeys. A legend says that the British will never lose control of
Gibraltar as long as the Barbary apes live there. So the British keep
and protect the apes.
Today, the apes behave better than they once did. This is largely
because they are now fed by the British troops on Gibraltar. Usually,
the apes are very friendly. They will even sit on your shoulder. But
given a chance, they will pick your pocket! That’s how it is with the
Barbary apes of Gibraltar.
