Once upon a time there was a little boy who lived in Ceylon. His name was Suppiah, and his mother and father were very poor.
It grew bigger and bigger, and one day Suppiah's mother said:
"It's all very well, but that creature looks to me more like a crocodile! And it's a funny thing, but several of my chickens have been missing lately."
"Oh! But Jebuncus only eats mangoes!" cried Suppiah.
Soon after this, his father told him they were going on a long journey to look for work on a tea estate.
One day he was sitting under a cocnut palm. Several nuts had fallen from the tree and, as he was thirsty, he cracked one open to drink the milk. To his surprise the shell was as thin as an egg, and out popped a little animal like a lizard. He took it home and fed it, and called it Jebuncus.
"Can we take Jebuncus too?" asked Suppiah.
"Certainly not," said his father. "You must take him down to the river and throw him in!"
Poor Suppiah cried and cried, and ran to tell Jebuncus the awful news. He took a large basket of mangoes as a special treat for his pet.
Jebuncus looked at them coldly, but said "Thank you" politely, "I'll eat them presently, if you don't mind," he said. "Is your mother keeping goats this year, do you think?"
"They are going to take me away!" sobbed Suppiah. "Nobody loves you but me. They all think you are a crocodile!"
Jebuncus looked very thoughtful at that, and changed the subject.
The following day they packed into their bullock-cart and off they went. Jebuncus crept into the river and wept big tears.
After a few years, Suppiah came back to the village. As he was passing by the river, an enormous crocodile ran after him with his mouth wide open and a very fierce look on his face.
Suppiah was very frightened, but the crocodile said: "Oh! I beg your pardon. You've grown such a big boy I didn't recognise you!" It was Jebuncus!
They were delighted at seeing each other again, and Jebuncus showed Suppiah a beautiful grove of mangoes.
"Look," he said, "all the mangoes you gave me to eat I planted, and now they are big trees, and you can sell the mangoes in the market and make a lot of money!"
And Suppiah did so and grew very rich.
He built a lovely new house for his mother and father, and they all had new clothes.
But he often wondered what Jebuncus had fed on as he hadn't eaten the mangoes . . . .
Perhaps the less said about that the better!
THE END
