Post #1999 by MonkeyGod on Wed, Jun 5, 2002 9:51 AM

I'm going to have to take a stab in dark here (or at least in pretty low light). The natural habitats of monkeys don't extend into Europe, except for the far south (Gilbralter, for instance). Most monkeys reside in Africa and South America, with some species also having their habitats in Asia. But Europe is pretty low on monkeys.

The organ grinder, however, is originally a European phenomenon from what I've read. Italy, France, Britain, Spain, etc. So I would assume it's likely that the monkeys were imported from North Africa, a place where the fez is in great abundance. Maybe the organ frinders placed cute little fezzes (is that the plural of fez?) on the cute little monkeys because it added to the North African mystique.

Here's one more possibility. Children wear fezzes. Children do not, however, wear bowlers, pirate hats, or coconuts for that matter. So a fez in a monkey's size was easy to find.

I suppose the monkey could have worn a yarmulke instead of a fez, but that would just be silly, wouldn't it?