The Visitor

The visitor in this humorous story is none other than a monkey… Oded comes home from school and can’t believe his eyes: The place is all upside down and there is a small monkey in the kitchen. Oded is not easily frightened or at a loss – hasn’t he already raised a crocodile? (See Egypt the Crocodile) But what should he do? Mommy and Daddy are out, so after giving the monkey a banana, Oded goes downstairs to consult Dalya the policewoman. Dalya, with her detective instincts, tries to find the monkey’s owner – she phones the zoo, the police station, the Society for the Protection of Animals, the Nature Preservation Society and the Municipality. But no one has reported a missing monkey. At last she tries the circus – and the mystery is solved. The manager of the circus tells her that Albert the Monkey had disappeared, and how very fortunate that Oded has found him, because this very evening Albert is booked to ride on a bicycle…

The circus manager is a funny-looking, kind man. As soon as he walks into Oded’s house, the monkey leaps into his arms and hugs him. The circus manager helps Oded tidy up the apartment and gives him two free tickets to the circus. In the evening Oded is in the audience and sees Albert, dressed in short trousers and a wide-brimmed hat, riding a bicycle. Oded waves to the monkey, who waves right back. This time Albert treats Oded to a banana.