The following anecdote shows the elephant's perception of what is right.
A large elephant was sent a few years ago to assist in piling up timber
at Nagercoil. The officer who despatched it, suspecting the honesty of
the driver, requested the wife of a missionary, to whose house the
animal was sent, to watch that he received his proper allowance of rice.
After some time the lady, suspecting that her charge was being
defrauded of his rice, intimated her mistrust to the keeper, who,
pretending surprise at having such an imputation made against him,
exclaimed in his native tongue, "Madam, do you think I would rob my
child?" The elephant, which was standing by, seemed aware of the
subject of the conversation, and kept eyeing the keeper, who had on a
bulky waist-cloth; and no sooner had he uttered these words than the
animal threw his trunk round him, and untying the waist-cloth, a
quantity of rice fell to the ground.