Beppo : or, The little rose-colored monkey by Carlo Collodi

Beppo by Carlo Collodi is a children’s fairy tale written in the late 19th century. The story follows a mischievous rose-colored monkey whose encounters with humans, animals, and rogues explore gluttony, imitation, and the importance of keeping one’s promises. Beppo lives with his family in the forest, idolizes human habits, and loses his splendid tail after teasing an old crocodile. Kidnapped in a sack and nearly starved, he’s rescued by a kind boy, Alfred, who offers him food, clothes, and a place as his travel companion. Vain and tempted by fruit, Beppo balks at becoming “like a man,” runs home when his father appears, and basks in a rapturous family reunion, even as a glowing serpent warns him to keep his word. A band of assassins led by Dry-throat abducts him to appease a blue-haired fairy angered by his broken promise. Beppo flatters Dry-throat at an inn, tricks a cat into taking his place in the captor’s pocket, and escapes; Dry-throat is blinded. Wandering, Beppo is crowned emperor by a tribe of monkeys, but ruling proves joyless and absurd, and he flees a riot. A blue rabbit shelters him and repeats the lesson about fidelity to one’s word. Caught again by the blind Dry-throat and forced to perform in a port city, Beppo is finally recognized, bought, and freed by Alfred, and the two set off together on their long-promised voyage—affirming friendship, humility, and the duty to keep a promise. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

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About this eBook

Author Collodi, Carlo, 1826-1890
Translator Cramp, Walter S. (Walter Samuel), 1867-1932
Title Beppo : or, The little rose-colored monkey
Original Publication Boston: Small, Maynard & Company, 1907.
Credits Hendrik Kaiber, Carol Brown and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Language English
LoC Class PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres
Subject Adventure stories
Subject Monkeys -- Juvenile fiction
Category Text
EBook-No. 78089
Release Date
Copyright Status Public domain in the USA.
Downloads 208 downloads in the last 30 days.
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