Ashley ,the Rabbit has three new friends! They are Sophie, Josh and Tom. Today she is playing with Sophie in the garden behind Sophie’s house.
"Are you dry today, Ashley?" asks Sophie. She is making a joke about the day Ashley fell in the pond in the park. "Yes, I am dry today," smiles Ashley. "Thank you for helping me to get out of the pond."
Sophie and Ashley are sitting under a big tree at the back of the garden. Plop! Something falls down from the tree. "What was that?" asks Ashley. "I don’t know," answers Sophie.
Plop! Plop! It happens again two times! "Look at this," says Sophie. Ashley moves closer to Sophie. Sophie is pointing at something. Ashley looks at it. It’s a banana peel!
They look around the ground. They find two more banana peels. Plop! It’s another banana peel. But this time it drops down right on top of Sophie’s head. Yuk!
Sophie and Ashley hear someone laughing. They look up into the tree and what do they see? It’s a monkey. It’s a very naughty monkey. It’s Baba, the Monkey!
"Hey, you, up there!" says Sophie. "What are you doing?" But Baba does not answer; he only laughs. Plop! He drops another banana peel. This time it drops on Ashley’s head!
Sophie and Ashley are not happy. This is a very naughty monkey. Why is he dropping banana peels down to the ground? Why is he dropping banana peels on top of their heads?
"You come down here right now!" says Ashley. "Yes," says Sophie. "You must help us clean up this mess." But Baba just laughs. Now he starts to swing from branch to branch. Oops!
He misses a branch. He falls to the ground. Plop! But this time it’s not a banana peel. This time it’s a naughty monkey. He’s not moving. Oh, no! Is Baba hurt?
Sophie and Ashley are scared They are not happy about the banana peels. But they don’t want Baba to be hurt They run over to see if Baba is okay He is on his back. They look down at him.
He jumps up and laughs and runs around in circles. He is not hurt He was just pretending to be hurt He runs and jumps and does cartwheels and somersaults.
Sophie and Ashley laugh at Baba. He is a naughty monkey, but he is also a very funny monkey. "My name is Baba!" he says as he runs around. "I’m Sophie and this is Ashley," says Sophie.
Sophie and Ashley start to run around with Baba. Now they try to chase him, but he is too fast. He runs around the tree and they follow him. He looks behind him and does not see the banana peel on the ground.
Baba slips on the banana peel. His feet go way up into the air. Plop! He lands on his back again. This time Sophie and Ashley sit on top of Baba. He can’t move now!
Why are you sitting on top of me? shouts Baba. Let me go! Let me go! We can’t let you go until you answer a question. says Ashley. Yes, says Sophie. Why do you drop banana peels?
"I don’t know," laughs Baba. "I don’t know what to do with the peels after I eat the bananas." "But this is not good," says Sophie. "We don’t want banana peels in our garden."
"You’re right," says Baba. "I’m sorry. I made a mess and now I must clean it up." So Baba starts to pick up banana peels. There are many banana peels, so Sophie and Ashley help Baba.
Now the garden is clean. "Thank you for helping to pick up banana peels," says Sophie. "Let’s have a snack. What do you want to eat?" "How about a banana split?" says Baba.
