[Illustration]
New York
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
1912
Copyright 1912 by
CHARLES DWIGHT WILLARD
To Ulysses’ loyal friend
M. O. H.
this story is dedicated
by the Writer.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE FALL OF ULYSSES
_An Elephant Story_
I cannot deny that I was entirely to blame for the calamity that
overtook Ulysses; and if I call attention to the high social and
literary standing of the gentleman whom I employed as an accomplice in
the affair, it is not at all with the hope of thereby lessening my own
responsibility. It is certain that I furnished the unfortunate creature
the cause for his desperation. I ought also to confess that I felt a
sense of profound relief when he accepted the only means apparent to his
limited understanding of freeing himself from his dilemma. But what was
I to do? When a man has an elephant on his hands he should be judged
with a kindly consideration for the awkwardness of his situation.
My elephant was decidedly more trying than the average variety, for the
reason that he was not metaphorical, but real. What I mean is, that I am
not speaking in figurative language about some officious friend or
troublesome relative, but about a genuine Asiatic elephant, Ulysses by
name, who came into my possession several years ago, and of whom I have
but recently managed to rid myself. Physically he was a well-developed
specimen, having no special characteristics to distinguish him from the
rest of his kind. Intellectually, however, he was a species of monster,
and I was the unfortunate Frankenstein that was responsible for his
existence.
The purchase was effected by a series of complicated negotiations,
carried on in my behalf by a half breed elephant trainer, known as Jerry
Rhahob, with the owner of Ulysses. Had I undertaken the job myself I
might have found an elephant a more expensive luxury than I cared to
possess. My agent, the half breed, had the reputation of knowing more
than any man in Madras about the habits and characteristics of elephants
and the means by which they could be most successfully trained. For some
time he had been in charge of the yards where the animals owned by the
British government were prepared for service in war or road building.
Before setting out for my bungalow, I thought best to consult with
Jerry, who spoke English perfectly, as to the course of education to
which I proposed treating Ulysses.
“I intend to teach this animal all that an elephant can be made to
learn,” said I.
“You will not have time to do that,” said Jerry, significantly.
“Do you mean,” I asked, “that there is no limit to what an elephant can
be taught?”
“My experience has led me to believe that it depends upon the patience
of the man, and not upon the capacity of the brute, how far the
instruction may be carried.”
“Very well,” I said; “I shall have patience. What I most need is advice
about gaining the creature’s confidence and affection.”
The fact that I am a bachelor does not prevent my entertaining an
extensive code of opinions on the subject of the proper rearing of
children. The suggestions of Jerry Rhahob on the training of elephants
seemed to me much the same that I would have offered a young and
inexperienced parent if he had applied to me for advice about his
offspring. Reduced to its fundamental principles, Jerry’s theory was
that an elephant should be regarded as a dumb and deformed human being,
possessed of a keen appreciation of right and wrong, delicate
sensibilities, exceptional capacity and high character. From the mental
and moral qualities with which Jerry’s conception seemed to endow this
being, I would have accorded him a place in the human species, among the
class that is said to be born and not made, the “genus irritable.”
One piece of warning he gave me in conclusion.
“The elephant knows as well as you do,” said he, “that he is an animal
and you are a man. He appreciates the distinction. He understands that
he is your physical superior, and that he could by a single blow of his
trunk dash the life out of you. As long as he is kindly treated he will
feel no desire to exercise that power. In the matter of intellect he
appreciates that you are greatly above him, and will obey and serve you
for that reason. Let him once get it into his head, however, that his
powers are on a level with your own, and his arrogance will become
insupportable. The relationship will be suddenly reversed, and you will
find yourself no longer his master, but his servant. Several years ago I
had a very intelligent elephant here in the yards whom I employed to
build stone walls. He became marvelously expert at it, picking out just
the right shaped rocks to fill the spaces with the best economy. The
stones are irregular in form, and you can imagine that no small degree
of skill is required. On one occasion he stood near watching me while I
endeavored to teach a younger elephant how the work was to be done. I
built several feet of wall, but the job was not a successful one—not, at
least, when compared with what Budan could do. Whenever I picked up the
wrong stone he gave a snort, and indicated a better one with his trunk.
At last he could stand it no longer, and brushing me aside, took hold of
the work himself, and soon had the young one taught. After that he made
no secret of his contempt for me. I saw that he was ruining my standing
with the rest of the herd, and I had to send him away.”
This story would have seemed quite ridiculous to me if I had not heard
many others more wonderful pass current without question, and had I not
often seen elephants employed in Madras at work which in America would
be assigned only to artisans of considerable skill.
“Believe anything you are told about the intelligence of an elephant,”
said a traveler from India to me once, before I visited that country;
“the chances are it is true.”
I engaged an experienced mahout, or driver, an intelligent native by the
name of Akbar. I determined, however, to make use of his services just
as little as possible, in order that Ulysses might learn to depend upon
myself alone. I attended personally to the matter of food and drink, and
took pains that my protegé should receive no favors from the hand of
anyone else. I soon learned the things that gave him pleasure, and put
myself to no little trouble to gratify him on every possible occasion. I
continued this process, combining with it instruction in such small
services as “house elephants” in India are always expected to perform,
until I saw that I had completely gained his confidence and affection.
During this period of his tutelage, Ulysses would have trusted and
obeyed me to any extent. I think he would willingly have laid down his
life or endured torture for my sake. Nothing made him happier than to be
near me as I sat under the banyan tree in my garden, smoking and
reading. When I opened his stall in the mornings and called to him to
come out, he fairly quivered with joy at the sound of my voice, and gave
vent to his satisfaction at seeing me by shrill trumpetings. His
devotion was annoying at times, and one of the first difficulties that I
experienced was in teaching him to be less demonstrative.
It is a fact, which most readers of this narrative have proved for
themselves by actual experiment, that animals may be taught the meaning
of words. An intelligent dog, for example possesses a considerable
vocabulary. I proposed to undertake a systematic course of instruction
in the English language with Ulysses and to ascertain to what extent he
was capable of acquiring our vernacular. Whenever he learned a new word
I made a note of it in a book, and by constant review contrived to fix
it in his memory. As soon as he began to comprehend what my purpose was,
as he did after I had been laboring with him a couple of weeks, he
became very eager to learn, and greatly increased the rapidity of the
work.
The process of teaching him nouns was simple and easy. Each day I would
produce several new articles, tell him their names, and have him hand
them to me as I called for them. I taught him to say “yes” and “no” by
the waving of his trunk, and made him appreciate that he was to use that
means of signifying to me whether he understood me or not.
After I was well into the work, the morning lesson would go somewhat as
follows:
“Are you ready for your lesson, Ulysses?”
Ulysses lifts his trunk affirmatively. Although he does not understand
“lesson,” the word “ready” is clear to him by frequent use.