The Animal Fair

Monday at The Hole Making Shop saw a visit from Alan, one of the top men in the firm we lease our hole-making machinery from. Ask him anything you like about the hardware, software, kind of bendy-in-the-middle-hard-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside ware, and he'll have an answer for you.

It was a surprise to me, then, to learn that his four year old son had stumped him with a question......

The scenario was this: bedtime story had turned into bedtime singsong. The nursery rhyme of choice was 'The Animal Fair'. (Lyrics below...)

We went to the animal fair,

The birds and the beasts were there,

The big baboon by the light of the moon

Was combing his golden hair.

The monkey fell out of his bunk,

And slid down the elephant's trunk,

The elephant sneezed - Achoo!

And fell on her knees,

And what became of the monkey,

Monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey?

We went to the animal fair,

The birds and the beasts were there,

The big baboon by the light of the moon

Was combing his golden hair.

The monkey fell out of his bunk,

And slid down the elephant's trunk,

The elephant sneezed - Achoo!

And fell on her knees,

And what became of the monkey,

Monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey?


Now I don't wish to labour the point, but I do feel Alan's son has happened upon one of The Great Philosophical Questions of our time.......

What did become of the monkey???????