Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 August 1883 — An Ape’s Revenge. [ARTICLE]

An Ape’s Revenge.

'Apes, when their anger is aroused, are very dangerous creatures, as they will dare almost anything in order to avenge their wrongs. Many of their deeds of revenge are well known, but the following anecdote, which comes from Italy, is as amusing as any that we have yet heard of. II Bosso, a disciple of Angelo, resided in Florence in a house overlooking a garden belonging to some friars. II Rosso possessed an ape which was on friendly terms with one of his apprentices called Battistoni, who employed the animal to steal the friars’ grapes, letting it down into the adjacent garden and drawing it up again by a rope. The grapes being missed a watch was set, and one day a friar caught the ape in the very act. He tried to inflict a thrashing, but the ape got the best of it and escaped. II Rosso, however, was sued, and his pet sentenced to wear a weight on its tail. But a few days elapsed ere the culprit had an opportunity of avenging this insult. While the friar was performing mass at a neighboring church the ape climbed to the part of the roof under which the altar stood, and, to use Vasari’s words, “performed so lively a dance with the weight on his tail that there was not a tile or vase left unbroken, and on the friar’s return a torrent of lamentations heard that lasted three days.” —Harper's Young People.