Animals, Part 4: Marmoset!

Page three of the animal book has a photograph of a marmoset. Marmosets are the smallest monkeys in the world; they are found in South American rainforests and the Skansen Aquarium in Stockholm. I wanted to see the Skansen Aquarium marmosets but I did not want to pay an additional 100 kronor to enter the aquarium section of the museum. I did, however, photograph the two signs advertising the presence of marmosets. I also browsed the gift shop in hopes of finding a marmoset souvenir. I didn't.

http://goodnature.nathab.com/pygmy-marmoset-cutest-animal-ever/

You are probably wondering why I am writing so much about marmosets, unless you are the person whose website's URL includes "pygmy-marmoset-cutest-animal-ever," in which case you are wondering why I am writing so little about marmosets.

Sometimes I used the animal book to learn Pulaar animal names and sometimes I used it to teach English animal names. "Marmoset" is one of the animals I decided the village children needed to know. E.B. asked if it was a monkey and I said, "Yes, it is a tiny, tiny monkey. It is a marmoset." He repeated "marmoset" perfectly, which is particularly impressive because E.B.'s entire English vocabulary consists of the numbers one through ten. And now, "marmoset." Actually, I was a little worried. I thought "marmoset" might be a Pulaar word for something other than a microscopic monkey, given E.B.'s flawless pronounciation of the word, but he didn't seem horribly confused. I mean, he did reply, "That's not a marmoset," but he had been saying "That's not a..." to every animal I'd named, even the ones I named in Pulaar, even the ones with unquestionable identity. "Ko sondu." "O wona sondu!" ("This is a bird." "It's not a bird!")

However, E.B. soon accepted that the marmoset was a marmoset, and in subsequent viewings of the book was quick to announce, "It's a marmoset!" until all the children learned the name.