CHAPTER XII
THE ELEPHANT’S STORY
THE next night being Wednesday, the day they had decided to have their Club meeting, all the animals that had joined the club appeared promptly at the appointed hour, which was eleven thirty, in the middle of the circus tent. This tent being rather small and very quiet at that hour of the night, it was found that all the animals in the cages surrounding the ring could hear plainly every word the speaker said. And the night watchman being such a sound sleeper, their conversation did not awaken him. So without any fear the elephant began his story.
“Dear friends, I am about to tell you not only the story of my life which will seem a long one to you, as I am in my two hundred and fiftieth year, but many things about elephants. As this is to be a Club not only for amusement, but for education as well, I hope you will bear with me if I seem tedious. It is astonishing how little any of us know of the lives and habits of our friends in their free and native state in the countries where they live so far away from us. All we know of them is just what we see of them day by day in the circus, so in my talk to-night I will try to tell you as much as I can about elephants, leaving out all unnecessary details.
“The first thing of importance in my life I remember distinctly was walking between my father and mother (two magnificent looking animals) behind a herd of nine elephants in a wonderful, huge, beautiful forest in Siam, a country in Southern Asia bordering on the Indian Ocean. While walking along I was wondering how the big trees five and six feet in diameter get there with their long limbs and good tasting leaves. For while I was only a baby elephant three or four months of age, I distinctly remember admiring the many different colored and shaped flowers that bloomed on the trailing vines and seemed to festoon themselves everywhere. But beautiful and sweet smelling as the flowers on these vines were, my father and mother did not appreciate them for they tore them rudely aside as the ropelike festoons hindered their progress through the jungle. I have often heard my father complain to my mother that these vines and the sharp thorns on the thorn bushes, with the rotting logs under one’s feet, quite spoiled all the pleasure of walking in the jungle, and he would greatly prefer walking on the plains if it were not for the broiling hot sun and no trees to shade one.
“Just then a loud trumpeting was heard from the leader of the herd away ahead to warn the herd that there were hunters in sight looking for them. Quick as a flash my father pointed with his trunk to a thick, dark clump of trees and told my mother to take me and hide there while he went to reconnoiter. All elephants are very brave when their young are attacked and will defend them with their lives. The male elephants always try to protect the females and young by keeping them in the rear of the herd when on the move, while they march ahead.
“My mother and I were scarcely concealed behind the big trees, drooping vines and low bushes when I saw a tall, slender native with only a breech cloth round his loins push his head through the bushes close beside the place where we had been standing when the leader trumpeted his warning. This man held in one hand a long spear with a sharp arrowhead top, and a coiled rope in the other. And I heard my mother give a frightened sigh and say to herself: ‘The king’s head elephant hunter! He has been on our track for days. We surely are lost for he always gets his prey. He has captured four of our most splendid elephants recently.’
“At that moment the man happened to cast his eyes down and I saw a slow, cruel smile of triumph spread over his face as his big red lips opened and disclosed his sharp, white teeth. He had discovered our footprints in the soft mud at his feet. Looking around quickly in all directions and peering into the bushes and dark places in the forest, I felt he must see us, he looked so straight in our direction. Then he drew himself to his full height and sniffed the air, and again that cruel, triumphant smile lit his jaw. My mother, who was watching him as closely as I, drew in a frightened breath and whispered to me: ‘He has scented us! We are lost! But he may pass us by. Don’t move a muscle or take a deep breath.’
“Closely following the tracks, nearer and nearer he drew to us without stopping until he came to the place where my father’s tracks left ours and went north. Here the man hesitated and looked closely as if to decide which of the tracks to follow. Then he lay flat on the ground with his ear close to it and listened, and when he got up he had another of his hateful smiles on his face, straightened himself and again sniffing the air, he started and came straight as an arrow to the place where we were hiding. But as he separated the bushes behind which we were standing, my mother stretched out her trunk, caught him around the neck and threw him over her head. I heard him go crashing between the big limbs of the trees and fall to the ground.
“‘There, he is done for,’ said my mother, ‘but it was a close call. His friends, if they ever do find him, will discover him dead from a broken neck.’
“Just then she gave a groan of pain and sank to the ground, but as she fell she sent out an agonizing trumpet of pain and warning to my father and the herd. By a miracle the man’s neck had not been broken and on regaining his feet he had thrown his sharp, murderous spear at her and it had penetrated her back in a tender part and killed her.
“I was wondering what to do when my father, in answer to her death cry, came charging back, followed by the leader of the herd and two other strong elephants. Discovering my mother was dead, they became furious and began looking for the person who had killed her, for they knew on seeing the spear how she had met her death as they had been hunted so much and knew from experience what those cruel spears would do. They began tearing up young trees by the roots and stamping the ground in the hopes of finding the person who had killed her hiding under a log or up in a tree. But no one could they discover until with a bellow of rage my father’s hind foot was caught in a slip knot of a rope thrown from the limb of a big tree by the native who had killed my mother. The tree was too big for my father to uproot but he began to tear off all the limbs he could reach, but to no purpose—as he tore off the lower ones the native only climbed up the higher.
“‘Ha! Ha! My fine fellow,’ laughed the native, ‘I have you at last! I have gone without sleep, rest and much food to catch you for the king’s stables. He wants just such a good-looking elephant as you to train to carry him in his houdah on your back in the next state procession. So the quicker you get over your fury and become docile, the better you will be treated. Yours will be a life of ease, and no pulling of heavy logs in the river out in the broiling hot sun. You will have a cool, shady pagoda to stay in when the sun is up and a cool deep marble bath to bathe in, and plenty of good food to eat. What more could you wish? And when you take my master for a ride on your back in his houdah you will head the procession of elephants with the nobility and flower of Siam on elephants behind you. Your houdah or seat for the king and all its trappings will be of crimson velvet embroidered in gold, set with precious stones, while theirs will be of silver. Come now, stop that struggling or I shall have to tie up another leg and fasten you to a tree. You won’t? Then here goes!’ and he put his fingers to his lips and gave the sharpest, most penetrating whistle I ever heard or hope to hear. From the bushes on all sides of us appeared other half naked huntsmen, bringing a trained elephant with them to help them subdue my father. And with the elephant’s help they soon had my poor tired father hobbled so he could scarcely move. And here the head huntsman left my father with the natives and returned to the king’s palace to acquaint him with his find.
“Elephants are also caught by drawing a herd into a strongly constructed enclosure by frightening them with noise and fire until the poor things are so confused they don’t know where they are going. Once in the enclosure, with the help of tame decoy elephants, they are quickly fastened to trees by tying one leg at a time. Here they are kept until they become docile and tame enough to be taught what the natives wish them to do.
“There is one interesting thing about elephants and it is this: If for any reason one elephant leaves a herd or is driven from it, he is not allowed to join another or come back to his own. He is forced to lead a solitary, lonesome life and he soon becomes morose and ill-tempered and takes delight in destroying everything. These elephants are called rogues.
“And while I am about it, I will tell you a few more facts about elephants before I go back to what happened to myself.
“The tusks of elephants are nothing more than enormously elongated front teeth. They grow to be seven or eight feet long and often weigh from one hundred to two hundred and fifty pounds. This with the weight of the animal is considerable, as they frequently weigh from four thousand to nine thousand pounds. Their usual height is from nine to ten feet but they have been known to reach the height of fifteen feet. Though so large and strong, they are rather delicate in captivity and require being fed with care. When working they are fed two hundredweight of green food, half a bushel of grain and forty gallons of water each day. When once tamed and trained, they are of immense value in the East where they do the heavy work like pulling and hauling logs, road building and so on as well as being used by royalty on state occasions to carry them on their backs in gaudy houdahs, a kind of seat with a canopy or top over it. At such times the elephants are bedecked in great splendor with head pieces of gold and silver set with precious stones.
ON THAT LONG TABLE SET FOR A HUNDRED FIFTY PERSONS,
EACH ANIMAL FOUND SOMETHING TO HIS TASTE.
“You have heard of the Sacred White Elephants? Well, there is a dispute about them. Some authorities say they are simply albinos, which means a person or animal all white with red eyes. Others say the white hair is due to a skin disease. Whichever way it is, the people of India consider them sacred and great care and attention is lavished on them. They have pagodas of their own, cooling baths and servants to look after them.
“Elephants are found in Africa, Asia, and Ceylon. The African elephant differs from the species in Asia in being taller, having larger ears and a different shaped forehead. The African elephant is hunted for its tusks which are of great value when made up into ivory trinkets, toilet articles and other things. The natives of Africa in the jungle count their wealth by the number and size of the elephant tusks they have. They are more fierce than the Asia elephants and are not used as beasts of burden so much on that account.
“Now I have given you a few statistics about elephants in general and will go back to where my father was caught and I was still undiscovered beside my dead mother.
“As night came on I began to grow terribly frightened, for in the darkness I could see the blazing eyes of wild beasts around and snakes peering at me through the bushes. They had been attracted by the smell of blood and were only waiting to pounce upon my mother and eat her when they found out whether she was alive and sleeping or dead.
“The natives had built a fire and were preparing their supper not twenty feet from my father who stood stock still now, having completely worn himself out fighting and straining to loosen the ropes that bound him. The natives’ fire made a patch of light in the inky black forest and I was truly thankful for it, as it made me less afraid. But the blazing eyes kept creeping nearer and nearer where I stood until I was trying to make up my mind to brave the natives and run to my father when my mind was made up in a hurry. Hearing the leaves above rustle, I looked up and what should I see but a big tiger about to spring on me. With one bound I was out of the bushes and running toward my father. On seeing me he caressed me with his trunk and told me not to be afraid but to be brave. My sudden appearance surprised the natives very much and with one accord they jumped up and came toward us and before I knew it, I was tied up.
“The natives were very good to us and when my father saw that they did not intend to hurt either of us, he soon had confidence in them. At the end of two weeks the natives thought my father was docile and tame enough for them to start out of the forest with him to the king’s stables.
“I have had many, many masters and trainers in my long life, but none that I loved as I did the first one that brought me out of the jungle.
“I should like to tell you about my trip to America in the big ships across the oceans, but I see I have already talked over my time. So thanking you for your kind attention, I will bid you good-night,” and with much applause Jumbo returned to the side of the ring to listen to what the next speaker had to say, which all had voted must be Billy Whiskers.