by Ruskin Bond
The Adventures of Toto is an amusing story written by Ruskin Bond. This story features the antics of a naughty monkey named ‘Toto’. The narrator’s grandfather was very fond of animals. One day, he bought a small baby monkey from a tonga-driver for a sum of five rupees. Grandfather had a collection of many animals in his private zoo, such as a tortoise, a tiny squirrel, a pair of rabbits and a pet goat. Toto was a new addition to the group. Toto was a cute little monkey with sparkling eyes and was very mischievous by nature. He had pearl-white teeth and a long tail that served as his third hand. The narrator’s grandmother, on the other hand, was not so fond of animals, so Grandfather decided to keep Toto in a secret place. He kept the baby monkey in the narrator’s little closet in his bedroom and tied Toto to a peg fastened to the wall. Being a mischievous monkey, Toto created a nuisance from the first day itself. He spoilt the ornamental wallpaper, damaged the peg and tore the narrator’s blazer into pieces. Seeing all this mischief, Grandfather realised that Toto was a smart animal. Soon, Toto was transferred to a huge cage; they kept him where the servants stayed along with Grandfather’s other animals who lived together amicably. But the monkey had a troublesome nature and created a nuisance for the other pets. So, when Grandfather had to travel to Saharanpur to collect his pension, he secretly took Toto along with him. He packed the monkey in a big black canvas kit-bag so that the animal could not come out of it. However, he jumped and rolled inside the bag on the floors of the Dehradun railway station. However, when Grandfather reached Saharanpur, Toto peeped out of the bag and smiled at the ticket-collector at the railway station, who charged Grandfather a fare of three rupees for carrying a ‘dog’. Grandfather argued that Toto was not a dog, but he still paid the fare. He had his pet tortoise along with him, for which the ticket-collector didn’t charge anything. Finally, Toto was accepted by Grandmother. Soon after that, Grandfather shifted him to a comfortable place in the stable along with his family donkey, Nana. But Toto would always tease Nana, and they never became friends. Toto created a lot of nuisances wherever he went. He enjoyed taking hot water baths during winter. At one instance, he almost boiled himself alive when he jumped into a huge kitchen kettle that was kept on the fire for making tea. When Grandmother saw this, she quickly pulled him out and saved him from getting burnt. As days passed, Toto’s mischief went on increasing – he tore clothes into pieces and broke utensils in the house. One day, Toto was having pulao from a large dish kept on the dining table during lunch-time. When Grandmother saw this, she screamed, and another woman came forward. Toto splashed water on the face of that woman. When Grandmother came closer, Toto took the pulao plate and jumped into the branches of a jackfruit tree. He purposely threw the plate from the tree that broke it into many pieces. Everyone in the family was feeling very annoyed with Toto’s mischievous traits. It was becoming difficult to manage him as his menace increased by the day. With a heavy heart, Grandfather decided to give Toto away to the tonga-driver and sold him for three rupees only.