Elephants: The Tricks of the Jungle
Now I shall tell you how a little elephant learns all the tricks of
the jungle from its Mamma and Papa. By the tricks of the jungle I mean
all the things that an animal has to learn in order to get enough to
eat every day, what to do when food is scarce, how to be comfortable
and happy, and also how to escape from every danger; in fact, these
things are very much like what men have to learn, only in a different
way.
But the animal folks are better off in one way: what they have to
learn is not like a lesson in school, but just play. In fact they
learn everything by just playing it as a game! I shall tell you how.
When a baby elephant is quite small, its Mamma has to feed it with
milk. Afterwards, when it has teeth, she teaches it to feed from the
jungle. All elephants eat tender shoots, herbs, and fresh young
leaves; they seize a bough with the trunk, and pull it down in such a
way that the end of the bough reaches right into the mouth.
_Elephant Child Learns to Feed_
First, the Mamma elephant eats like that from several boughs, while
the little elephant watches her do it. Then she looks at a low bough
within easy reach, and says in the elephant language, "Eat that!"
The little one looks at the bough, grabs it anyhow with its trunk, and
pulls it down. But it cannot get the end of the bough _into its
mouth_! Instead, the bough pokes it on the forehead, or eyes, or
cheeks.
"Hold it straight!" says Mamma, laughing.
The little one tries several times, but still it cannot get the bough
to come right. Then its Mamma puts her own trunk over that of her
child, and turns it to right or left, till the bough comes exactly
into the little elephant's mouth.
"You must learn to use your trunk just like a _hand_," she says. "So
you must bend your trunk, or turn it, or twist it, to get the thing
you are holding exactly where you want it."
And that is the first great thing the little elephant has to
learn--_how to use its trunk as we use our hands_. After that
everything else comes easy.
Now I am going to tell you about the childhood of the most wonderful
elephant in the world, who actually lives to-day in the courtyard of a
palace in India. He is the biggest elephant that ever was; that is why
he lives in a grand palace, and does nothing except carry a King, or
some other great man, on his back on days of festival.
In fact he was the leader among all the elephants in a long procession
at a grand festival called the Durbar, held in honor of the King of
England. On that day a lovely cloth of silk woven with gold was put on
the elephant's back, and around his tusks were placed rings of solid
gold studded with real diamonds, rubies, and pearls.
At another time he carried on his back the Crown Prince of Germany,
when he visited India a few years ago; and at other times he has
carried Grand Dukes of Russia and Arch Dukes of Austria when _they_
visited India.
So you see, he is quite the grandest elephant in the world. He has a
real name, just like a man, and it is written down in books with the
names of all the grand officers of the palace. His name is Salar
Jung; so we shall call him Salar for short.
He was born in the jungle, and his Papa and Mamma were quite wild
then. It was only after he grew up that Salar came to live in a
palace.
_Elephant Child "Swats" Tormenting Flies_
But now about Salar's early boyhood. After his Mamma had taught him to
swim, to eat from the boughs of trees, and to drink for himself by
dipping his trunk into the water, she had another useful thing to
teach him. In the jungle there are swarms of tormenting flies; they
come buzzing around the elephants, and bother them, just as they
bother us. Now, _we_ can whisk off the flies with our hands, but how
about an elephant?
Of course, you will say, his trunk is his hand; and so he can use the
trunk to slap the flies or whisk them off. True, but the trunk will
not reach more than halfway down the side of the body; and the
elephant is too stiff to bend his body as we do; and his tail is too
short to reach even a yard each way. Then how can he get rid of the
flies where he cannot reach them? Just think!
If he only could make his trunk _longer_! But how could he do that?
Very simply! Of course he cannot actually make the trunk longer, but
he breaks off a small bough of a tree and holds it at the end of his
trunk; then he uses the bough like a fan, and whisks off, or brushes
off, the flies with it.
And that is what Salar's Mamma taught him to do. After that he was
very comfortable.
Not quite; he had just one more thing to learn from his Mamma, to make
him quite comfortable. The sun gets very hot, and when the elephants
are feeding from tree to tree, or marching through the jungle, they
feel the hot sun on their backs dreadfully--although they have a thick
skin.
Now, how could they guard themselves from the hot sun? Just think!
Why, just as _we_ do, you will say, by using a kind of umbrella! Of
course you mean that an elephant could break off a large bough, and
hold it over his head and over his back! But his trunk would soon get
tired of holding anything as big as that! Besides, he has to use his
trunk all the time to feed! If _you_ had only one hand, you could not
eat with it and at the same time hold an umbrella over your head with
it! Then how _does_ the elephant manage it?
_Elephant Covers his Back from Hot Sun_
I shall tell you. He breaks off many small boughs, one at a time, and
lays them on his back with his trunk; he is careful to lay them in
proper order, and to criss-cross them, so that the boughs will not
fall off. In fact, he tries to arrange them very much like the
thatched roof of a cottage. That is very clever of him, is it not?
But then he does something else, still more clever! When a cottager
builds his thatched roof, he has to plaster the ceiling to prevent any
rain or sunshine from creeping in through the little spaces between
the thatches. So also the thatch on the elephant's back has many gaps,
through which the hot sun can still beat down on his skin. So what
does he do to fill up the gaps?
He cannot do anything to _plaster_ his back; but I shall tell you what
he does do. He just draws into his trunk a lot of dust from the
ground; then he curls up the trunk over his back, and blows the dust
over the gaps in the thatch on his back. Of course he has to do that
many times to fill up all the gaps; but at last, when he does not
_feel_ the sun any more, he knows that his back is quite covered.
Is not that a very wonderful thing for the elephants to think out, all
by themselves? And that is what Salar's Mamma taught him to do.
But, a few years later, he came to the age when boys among men usually
have to go to school. Then Salar passed to the care of his Papa. In
feeding through the jungle, when all the elephants march and eat from
tree to tree, Salar walked with his Papa, and began to learn lessons
from him. And his Papa's way of teaching him was quite different from
that of his Mamma, and often very funny!
_How Elephants Walk under Water_
The first thing he taught was at the stream at midnight. By this time
Salar could swim quite well; so he was enjoying himself with the
grown-ups. But his Papa kept watching him with the corner of his eye.
Little by little he drew nearer and nearer to Salar, and waited till
the youngster came to a part where the water was not at all deep. Then
suddenly his Papa gave Salar a butt with his head. Down went Salar
under the water, snorting and spluttering and hollering.
"Hold up your trunk, you simp!" cried his Papa.
But Salar was too frightened to remember to hold up his trunk; so his
Papa caught Salar's trunk in his own and hoisted it clear out of the
water. Then what was Salar's joy and surprise to find that he could
breathe quite well, though his feet were actually touching the bottom
of the stream. Of course he kicked out, and tried to get up to the top
of the water again. But--
"Stay there!" cried his Papa, giving him another butt, though still
holding the youngster's trunk carefully out of the water.
Then Salar lost all fear of the water; he was not a bit afraid of
being ducked, so long as the tip of his trunk was out of the water. So
he learned to do a wonderful thing--he learned to remain completely
under the water, so that his feet were actually resting on the bottom
of the stream, with only the tip of his trunk out of the water. No
other animal can do that.
And the most astonishing thing about it is that the elephants have
taught themselves to do that trick; so that _a whole herd of
elephants can walk into a stream in time of danger, and disappear
from sight_, the smaller ones standing in the shallow parts, and the
full-grown ones standing in the deeper parts.
I have known of lots of hunters, who were chasing a herd of elephants
and who saw the elephants run ahead toward a river, to find to their
surprise, on reaching the river, that the whole herd had disappeared
as if by magic. They saw nothing, and did not dream that the little
things floating here and there, no bigger than your fist, could mean
anything. But of course they were the tips of the trunks of the
elephants hidden under the water.
To have thought out even that one trick for themselves proves that the
elephants are the wisest of all animals, next after men folks. And
they have thought out many more tricks, as I shall tell you very soon.
But now I shall tell you the next trick that Salar's father taught
him. An elephant often has to break down trees in the jungle to clear
a way for himself; or sometimes he has to do that to make an open
space where he can lie down comfortably. So this is the way Salar's
father taught him to break down trees.
_How Elephants Break Down or Pull Out Trees_
First he chose a small tree, not much thicker than your wrist; this he
pulled out easily with his trunk, just as you might use your hand to
pull out a small shrub. Then he chose a tree about six inches thick.
He tried it first carefully with his trunk; but the tree was too
strong to pull out in that way.
So the old elephant put his foot on the side of the tree, and pressed
with all his weight--as you see in the picture. The tree bent more and
more, and then suddenly broke off near the ground with a loud crack.
"I can do that!" cried Salar, frisking around his father, impatient to
show what _he_ could do.
Salar looked around and saw a tree of about the same size. He made a
dash at the tree, put his right foot on it, and--
His father winked, but said nothing. For all elephants love a joke.
Now the wily old elephant knew that this tree was a banana tree,
although the fruit had not yet started growing on it. The tree looked
quite hard and strong, but it was really very soft and easy to break,
like all banana trees. But Salar did not know that yet!
[Illustration: An Elephant Breaking a Tree with his Foot]
Instead, when he pressed on it with his foot and put his whole weight
on it, just as he had seen his father do to the other tree,--snap went
the tree like a twig, and Salar tumbled head over heels and went
rolling over the ground.
"Haw! Haw! Haw!" laughed the merry old elephant. "Did I not show you,
silly, how to try it first carefully, with your trunk, before putting
your foot on it?"
"Of course you did!" Salar said, remembering.
"That is what men folks mean when they say, 'You have put your foot
into it.' You must remember _never to put your foot into anything
before trying it first with your trunk_," the old elephant went on to
say. "Now watch me knock down a still bigger tree."
This tree was as thick as a man's body. After trying it first with his
trunk and then with his foot, the wise old elephant put his back on it
and _heaved_. Little by little the tree bent on that side, but not
very much. The elephant stopped heaving, came around and looked at the
tree. Then he began to heave from the _other_ side of the tree.
You have seen a man trying to loosen a nail from a board? He first
hits the nail on one side, and then on the other side; and he goes on
hitting the nail from side to side, till it is quite loose.
Well, that cunning old elephant did just the same thing to that tree;
he first heaved the tree from one side, and then he heaved from the
other side; and he went on heaving from side to side, till he loosened
the tree from the ground. Then he pushed the tree with his foot, and
it came out of the ground and fell with a loud thud.
And that is how Salar learned to heave with his body, though of course
he could not loosen so big a tree just yet.
There were many other tricks that Salar learned from his father, and I
shall tell you one of the best of them in the next chapter.