softly, softly, catchee monkey

Etymology
. Commentators refer to a variety of African languages or nations, but generally lack specific detail. Benham's Book of Quotations suggests the phrase originated from Black English, but is unclear. Compare the proverb, Ndànk-ndànk, mooy jàpp ci ñaay (“Slowly, slowly one catches a monkey in the forest”).

Although the phrase is attested with non-standard assonant mainly from the twentieth century,  suggests it was probably coined in the late nineteenth. Quotations from the mid-nineteenth century use catch or.

Phrase

 * 1) Proceed cautiously or gently to achieve an objective.
 * 2) Capture a target without startling it and causing it to run away.
 * 1) Capture a target without startling it and causing it to run away.
 * 1) Capture a target without startling it and causing it to run away.
 * 1) Capture a target without startling it and causing it to run away.
 * 1) Capture a target without startling it and causing it to run away.