Book I, that an antelope looks like a deer; but it is a little different

Produced by Chris Curnow, Carla Foust, Joseph Cooper and

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Transcriber's note

On page 156 are macrons for the letters "o" and "e"; these are

represented by [=o] and [=e] respectively. Printer errors have been

changed and are listed at the end. The author's spelling has been

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[Illustration: Elephants at Work

From a photograph copyrighted by the Keystone View Co.]

_HEATH SUPPLEMENTARY READERS_

THE WONDERS OF

THE JUNGLE

PRINCE SARATH GHOSH

Book Two

[Illustration]

D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO ATLANTA

DALLAS SAN FRANCISCO LONDON

COPYRIGHT, 1918,

BY D. C. HEATH & CO.

3 B 1

PRINTED IN U.S.A.

TO THE CHILDREN

My dear, I am now going to tell you many more Wonders of the Jungle, as

I promised to do in Book I.

In that Book, as you will remember, I promised to tell you more about

the elephants and about the laws of their herd. So I shall do so now.

Then I shall tell you about some animals which I did not describe in

Book I. Among these you may like to know especially about the tiger, the

lion, the leopard, and the wolf.

You may like to know how really _clever_ some of these animals are, and

how some of them have _affections_, just as we have.

But while you are reading about them, you must try to _think_. Then you

will understand _why_ these animals do certain things. And that will

show how clever _you_ are!

I have used a few new words in this Book. But I am sure you know them

already.

Now I shall begin with the laws of the elephants.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE ELEPHANT HERD A REPUBLIC 1

The Duties of the President 2

He Must Provide Daily Food 3

He Must Provide Daily Drink 9

He Must Keep Order in the Herd 12

He Must Avoid Danger from Outside 18

II. WAR AND NEUTRALITY IN THE JUNGLE 26

Wise Elephant Leader Avoids War 27

Wise Elephant Leader Keeps Neutral 29

When it is Impossible to Remain Neutral 29

III. THE POLICEMEN OF THE ELEPHANT HERD 31

IV. THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED ELEPHANT 39

The Princes and the Bad Elephant 40

The Trial of the Criminal Elephant--as in a Court of Law 55

The Infliction of the Punishment 57

The Rogue Elephant 61

The Brand of the Rogue 63

The Reward of Repentance 64

V. FLESH-EATING ANIMALS: THE FELINES, OR THE CAT TRIBE 66

The Feline has Strong Fangs 67

The Feline's Tongue is Rough 68

The Feline's Claws are Retractile 68

The Feline has Padded Paws 71

VI. THE TIGER 73

The Life History of the Tiger Family 78

The Tiger's Family Dinner 83

VII. THE TIGER CUBS' LESSONS 87

Tiger Cubs Learn to Kill Prey, After their

Parents have Caught It 88

Tiger Cubs Take Part in Hunt to Catch Prey 90

Tiger Cubs Learn to Catch Prey by Themselves 91

VIII. THE TIGRESS MOTHER'S SPECIAL DUTIES 97

The Truce of the Water Hole 100

IX. THE SPECIAL QUALITIES OF TIGER AND TIGRESS 102

Both Tiger and Tigress Defend Their Cubs 104

The Tiger Family's Lost Dinner 110

The Tiger as a Heroic Husband 116

X. THE LION 128

The Lion Has the Fangs, the Tongue, the Claws,

and the Paws of a Cat 132

How the Lion is Different from Other Cats 138

XI. THE LION'S DAILY LIFE 142

XII. THE LION A NOBLE ANIMAL 156

Androcles and the Lion 156

The Lady and the Lioness 163

XIII. THE LEOPARD 168

The Leopard's Ground Color and Spots 169

Why the Leopard has Spots 170

XIV. THE LEOPARD'S HABITS 176

The Panther: Popular Name For Large Leopard 180

How the Leopard Seizes his Prey 181

The Leopard's One Amiable Quality--He Loves Perfumes 182

The Leopard and the Lavender 183

XV. AMERICAN LEOPARD: THE JAGUAR 188

XVI. THE DOG TRIBE 194

The American Gray Wolf 196

The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Gun 200

The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Trap 202

The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Poison 205

ILLUSTRATIONS

ELEPHANTS AT WORK _Frontispiece_

PAGE

ELEPHANT LEADING HERD THROUGH THE JUNGLE 5

TRAINED ELEPHANTS AT THE COURT OF A KING 23

ELEPHANTS GUARDING A BAD ELEPHANT 33

POLICEMEN ELEPHANTS ARRESTING A CRIMINAL ELEPHANT 45

GOOD ELEPHANT HEADING OFF A CRIMINAL ELEPHANT 51

TIGER 75

TIGER PROTECTING HIS CUB 107

TIGER CHARGING HUNTING PARTY 121

GROUP OF LIONS 129

PUMA 129

AFRICAN LION 133

GIRAFFES 147

KANGAROO 147

ANDROCLES AND THE LION 161

LEOPARD 171

JAGUAR 171

THE CHAIN OF CONFLICT IN THE JUNGLE 191

GRAY WOLF 197

THE WONDERS OF THE JUNGLE

CHAPTER I

The Elephant Herd a Republic

An elephant herd is a kind of republic, something like the United States

of America, only much smaller and much simpler. So its leader is a sort

of president. He is usually the wisest elephant in the herd.

You may like to know how the elephants choose their president. I shall

tell you how they do that.

But you must first consider how the people of the United States choose

_their_ President. They find out who among their important men is best

able to lead them in all the great duties of the nation. Then they

choose _him_.

But if afterward they find that he is _not_ leading the nation in the

wisest manner, then the people of the United States choose another man

to be their President the next time.

The elephants in a herd do something like that. They first follow the

elephant who, they think, is best able to lead them. But if afterward

they find that he is not leading them through the jungle in the right

way, and that another elephant could lead them in a better manner, then

they follow him instead. He then becomes the president of the herd.

"But what is the best way of leading the herd through the jungle?" you

may ask.

I shall now tell you about that. The best way to lead the herd is _to

satisfy all their needs_. So the president of the herd has four great

duties.

_The Duties of the President_

First Duty: He must lead the herd in such a manner that all the

elephants will get enough _food to eat_ every day.

Second Duty: He must lead the herd in such a manner that all the

elephants will get enough _water to drink_ every day.

Third Duty: He must _keep order_ in the herd, and not allow any naughty

elephant to fight or quarrel.

Fourth Duty: He must guide the elephants in such a manner as to _avoid

all danger from outside_; and if such danger does happen to come, he

must guard the herd from that danger.

I shall now tell you about these four duties more fully.

_He Must Provide Daily Food_

Elephants are such large animals that they need a great amount of food.

So they have to walk a long way every day, munching the leaves of the

trees as they go.

They walk in line, one behind another, as that is the easiest method of

walking through the thick jungle; for then one gap through the jungle is

enough for all the elephants to go through, one at a time, and they need

not make a different gap for each elephant.

Now you will understand that if that one gap is big enough for the

_largest_ elephant to go through, it is of course big enough for _all_

the elephants to go through. So, if the largest elephant walks first, in

front of the line of elephants, he can force a way through the thick

jungle that will be big enough for all the other elephants who come

behind him.

So usually the largest and strongest bull elephant is the leader of the

herd--if he also has the other qualities of a president, which I shall

presently describe more fully. To have all the qualities of a president,

he must not only be strong, but also wise and clever. Why? Because even

in merely going through the jungle a wise leader avoids many

difficulties. It might be that the jungle straight ahead was very thick,

and it would be hard to force a way through it; but by turning a little

to the right or to the left, an easier passage could be made. This a

wise leader would find out, and then turn in that direction.

Again, in the jungle, the ground is sometimes too soft; it might be made

of clay which had become soft owing to rain a few days before. But

elephants are such heavy animals that they cannot go far over soft

ground, as their feet would sink in too deep. And the ground might be

covered with bushes or tall grass, so that the elephants could not _see_

to what distance the ground was soft. They might not mind going over

soft ground for a few yards, but they would not like to go over such

ground for a whole mile.

So a wise leader would know by glancing around how far the ground was

likely to be soft; and if he learned that it was likely to be soft

for a large area, he would turn at once and go around it. But a foolish

leader might take the herd right into the soft ground, and they would

all be stuck in the mud, and have a lot of trouble getting out of it

again.

[Illustration: Elephant Leading Herd through the Jungle]

So if the herd has chosen merely the biggest and strongest elephant to

be their president and he makes such mistakes as that, they soon depose

him; that is, they no longer follow him. They look around for some other

leader who can discover a better way, and they follow him instead. And

if afterward they find that he is wise and clever, and does not make

mistakes, they follow him as their leader every day after that, even if

he is not quite so big and strong as the other elephant was.

He then becomes the new president, if he is at least strong enough to

make a good gap through the jungle. Most of the elephants could pass

through that; only the biggest bull, the deposed president, would have

the trouble of enlarging the gap with his body in going through it. And

this would serve him right!

In the same manner the leader of the herd must not go over ground that

is _too hard_, for elephants are such heavy animals that it jars the

bones of their feet to go over hard ground for a great distance. If

there has been no rain for several weeks, then in a hot country the

ground gets very hard in some places. So if there has been no rain near

a herd for some time, a wise leader avoids these hard places.

So, as you see, an elephant leader has to be quite clever in merely

avoiding difficulties, in the daily search for food. And that is not

all! The food itself may be plentiful in one part of the jungle, and

rather scarce in another; for in one direction there may have been just

enough showers recently to bring out the fresh leaves on the trees; but

in another direction there may have been no rain at all for some time,

and so there would be no fresh leaves there.

Why, even in your own town there may be a good shower of rain in one

part of the town, and no rain at all in another part. So it might be in

the jungle; a wise leader would know this by instinct, and he would take

the herd along that part of the jungle where there had been recent

showers of rain, and where there would be enough fresh leaves.

_He Must Provide Daily Drink_

After the elephants have had enough to eat for the day, they must have

enough clear water to drink. And to get this is _the hardest daily duty

of the leader_.

In the jungle, even if the leader makes a little mistake and goes the

wrong way, there may still be enough to eat, because the elephants can

always find enough trees in the end by going a little farther: so they

would have only a little more trouble in getting their food, if the

leader made a mistake. But with _water_ it is quite different--the

leader may find no water at all, if he makes a mistake and leads the

herd the wrong way.

"Then how must he lead the herd so as to find water, as well as food?"

you may ask.

I shall tell you. In most jungles there is a river or even a small

stream from which the elephants can drink. But the river or stream may

go winding in and out of the jungle, so that it is in one part of the

jungle but not in another part. So a wise leader tries to keep his herd

near one of those parts of the jungle through which the river flows.

In fact, if the elephants and even the other wild animals are lucky

enough to find a fairly big river, and the jungle near that river has

plenty of food in it, then the animals stay near there almost all the

time. They eat from the jungle and drink from the river; and sometimes

they come to the very same place to drink--as at the Midnight Pool,

which I described to you in Book I.

So if the leader of the elephant herd is lucky enough to find such a

jungle, with plenty of food and a big river in it, he keeps the herd

there all the time; and then they have no more trouble about food or

drink.

But suppose the leader cannot find such a place? Suppose there is a

river, but not enough food near the river? Then what does a wise leader

do?

He leads the herd in such a way as to make _a kind of curve_. He goes

into the jungle by the easiest way in the beginning; then, after the

elephants have eaten a little, he starts turning slightly toward the

direction in which the river flows. When the elephants have eaten a

little more, he turns still more in that direction.

In this manner he leads the herd in a kind of curve toward the river,

browsing all the way from the trees near by. So, at the end of the day,

when the elephants have had enough to eat, they reach the river and have

also enough to drink. Is not that a very clever method of providing both

food and drink for the herd?

If the herd sleep near the bank that night, they start from there the

next morning in their search for food; and they usually go into the

jungle by the same path by which they came. But on _returning_ to the

river to drink that night, the leader need not bring them back by

exactly the same path.

The fact that they did not have enough to eat right near the river shows

that the jungle is not very thick there; so the elephants will have no

trouble in making a fresh path, a little higher up the river, or a

little lower down. A wise leader usually does that: he leads the herd to

the river slightly higher up or lower down, and so he makes a slightly

different curve through the jungle. Why? Because if he kept to exactly

the same curve from the jungle to the river every day, the herd would

eat up all the leaves along that path in a few days. So, by changing the

curve a little from time to time, he allows fresh leaves to grow there

meanwhile.

You now understand why the president of the elephant herd must be wise

and clever to do all that I have told you so far. Even among men the

President of a Republic has similar duties to attend to, though in a

different manner: he too has to govern his country in such a manner as

to provide the people with their daily wants, if they obey the laws and

do honest labor.

In the elephant herd everyone has to do honest work, as he has to gather

his own food; and he has also to obey the laws of the herd. I shall now

tell you about that.

_He Must Keep Order in the Herd_

The third duty of the elephant leader is to keep order in the herd. Most

elephants are by nature gentle, docile, and obedient. That is why men

can tame them and make them work; otherwise, if elephants were by nature

fierce and disobedient, men could not train them so perfectly as to

perform at a circus, or carry people in a procession. So even in the

jungle, where the elephants are wild, they usually obey the leader and

keep the laws of the herd.

These laws chiefly concern their daily food and drink. As I have told

you, in their daily search for food the elephants march in a line, one

behind another. A selfish elephant in the middle of the line might want

to stop and eat up _all_ the leaves on a tree near him; and if he did

so, he would block the way for those behind him, and besides, there

would be no leaves on that tree for them to eat when they came to it.

So there is a general rule in the herd that each elephant must take just

a few of the leaves from a tree, and then _move on_; and if instead he

does block the way, the elephants behind him may push him forward and

make him move on.

"But," you may ask, "why can't the other elephants behind him also stop

and eat up all the leaves on the trees near them?"

Because then all the trees on that line of march would be bare of

leaves, and it might take a whole month for fresh leaves to grow there

again. But if the herd took only a portion of the leaves from each tree,

there would be enough food for them along that path if they happened to

visit it again in a few days.

In fact, the elephants need make only a few such paths through the

jungle, if they eat only part of the leaves at a time along any of the

paths. Then they can visit these paths in turn on other days, and always

find enough food there--because the fresh leaves constantly growing on

the trees would make up for the small portion they had eaten.

So you understand how wise the elephants are in having that law in the

herd.

"But," you may say, "if they were to eat _all_ the leaves on a tree,

their path would be a short one; while if they eat only a portion of the

leaves, their path would be much longer, as they must nibble from many

more trees to satisfy their hunger."

That is quite true. But there is no advantage in having a short path,

because at the end of their march in search of food they must find water

to drink, as I have already told you--and they may have to go several

miles to reach the nearest stream. So they might as well nibble from the

trees all the way to the stream, especially as elephants can easily

march ten or twelve miles in that manner every day.

Besides, after taking a bunch of leaves from a tree, they must chew it

before taking the next bite; so, meanwhile, they might just as well walk

on to the next tree. In fact, if they have not quite finished chewing,

most elephants pass by one or two trees before taking the next bite.

That shows how really wise they are. For then they are _sure_ of finding

enough food along that path when they visit it again a few days later.

It is the president of the herd who sets a good example to the others in

doing all these wise things. As he walks at the head of the line, he

sees at a glance what is the best thing to do in that particular path,

whether to nibble a little from every tree, or to pass by a few trees

without nibbling from them at all. And whatever he does, all the other

elephants do after him.

My dear children, it is exactly the same among us. When food is scarce

in a country and people must be careful, then it is the President who

tells us how to portion out the food supply in the country. Otherwise,

some people would be wasteful and throw food away--and others would not

have enough to eat.

It is very important to learn from your childhood to be careful of food.

Do you know that in the United States every man, woman, and child on an

average throws away every year seven dollars' worth of food _on the

plate_? That would be enough to feed all the people in the poorhouses

and the hospitals.

Elephants are most careful of their food. Their president is all the

time thinking of the best method of making the food supply of the jungle

last them from season to season. But the other elephants must help him

to do that, by following his good example. If any particular elephant is

selfish and wants to eat up at once all the food near him, he is pushed

out of the line by the other elephants, as I have already told you. If

he is naughty again, he is more severely punished.

How he is punished, I shall tell you in another chapter. I shall then

tell you how all sorts of naughty elephants are punished; for, just like

people in a country, I am sorry to say that there are in the jungle a

few elephants that do not obey the law.

An elephant can be selfish not only in eating, but also in drinking. You

will remember what I told you in Book I--how all the elephants stand in

a line along the bank of a stream and drink; and after they have all

satisfied their thirst, they may jump into the water to bathe and swim.

It would be very selfish for an elephant to jump into the water before

the others had finished drinking; for then he would muddy the water

which some of the others were still drinking. And for such conduct an

elephant is very severely punished.

But the very worst offense in an elephant herd is quarrelling and

fighting; for, sometimes, two elephants do quarrel and fight, just like

a couple of naughty boys in school. But there is never any real need to

quarrel in an elephant herd; for if one of the elephants has done wrong

or broken the rules of the herd, he will be punished by the president of

the herd--just as in school a naughty boy would be punished by the

teacher or by the head of the school.

It is not necessary for any other elephant in the herd to quarrel or

fight with the naughty elephant, even if he has been injured by him; the

president of the herd will punish the naughty elephant soon enough. So

if two elephants do fight, _both_ of them are punished; of course the

one who began the fight is punished more severely than the other.

_He Must Avoid Danger from Outside_

The president of the herd must lead the elephants in such a manner as to

avoid any danger that may come to the herd from outside. In the jungle

there are other wild animals; most of them are, of course, too small to

be able to hurt so large an animal as an elephant; but a tiger is so

strong and so fierce that he could kill a small, half-grown elephant.

The tiger could hide in the jungle, and if the small elephant happened

to stray from the herd, the tiger could spring upon it and kill it. So

the president of the herd usually keeps the elephants away from any part

of the jungle which he knows to be infested by tigers.

How does he know that? By the paw marks made on the ground by the

tigers. For the tigers leave plenty of paw marks on the ground in coming

in and out of their dens to hunt their prey every day. So if the

president of the elephant herd comes across a line of such paw marks, he

turns aside and leads the herd in another direction.

Of course, if the herd happened to meet a tiger quite suddenly, they

would at once face the tiger. And the tiger would never dare to attack

even the smallest elephant if the big ones were near, for they could

drive him off with their tusks or trample upon him.

But the greatest danger that can come to an elephant herd from outside

is from men. Men sometimes go into the jungle to shoot wild elephants

with guns, or to catch them alive in huge traps. So the leader of the

herd must find out where the traps are, or where the hunters are hiding;

and then he must avoid such places.

You will remember what I told you about Salar and his father in Book I.

Salar was the boy elephant who nearly fell into a most tricky trap, but

his wise old father suspected the trap and called to Salar to halt; and

because Salar obeyed his father and halted at once, he just escaped

falling into that awful trap.

Well, in the jungle hunters lay all kinds of traps to catch wild

elephants alive; and sometimes for several years the hunters try over

and over again to catch the elephants, if they fail to catch them at

once. So the president of an elephant herd has to look out for traps all

the time; and the herd that has the wisest president escapes capture for

the longest time.

In fact, as Salar is an actual elephant, not an imaginary one, I may

tell you that his father was such a wily leader of his herd that he kept

them from capture for ten years longer than the leader of any other

elephant herd in that jungle.

As for hunters who seek to kill wild elephants with guns, the leader of

the herd has to be even more careful in avoiding them. These hunters

usually hide behind bushes, and try to creep up to the elephants; and

when they are within a hundred yards of the elephants, they begin

shooting them. Then the leader of the herd has to prove his wisdom.

A foolish leader would stand still, or even try to charge the hunters;

and then more of the elephants would get killed. But a wise leader gives

the signal to _run away_ as soon as he hears the sound of the first gun;

then at most only one or two of the elephants are killed--and sometimes

none at all.

Why? Because to kill an elephant with a gun a hunter must hit him

exactly in one particular place on the body--behind the elephant's ear,

where the skin is thin. At the first shot the hunter may not hit the

elephant just there, but inflict only a trifling wound elsewhere on his

thick skin. So by running away at once an elephant may save his life.

But as all leaders are not so wise, the hunters usually manage to kill

one or two of the elephants. I may tell you that these hunters kill the

elephants merely to get their tusks, which they sell as ivory.

It is a shame to kill such wonderful animals just for money; and you

ought to know that in some parts of Africa almost all the elephants have

now been killed. If the hunters continue to do that, there will be no

elephants left in Africa in a few years. Then the hunters will not be

able to get the very ivory for the sake of which they now kill the

elephants.

But you will be pleased to know that in India and other countries of

Asia nobody is allowed to kill a wild elephant; for if anyone did so, he

would be put into jail. Special hunters are allowed to catch wild

elephants alive, as I have already told you; and then the elephants are

tamed and trained to do all kinds of useful work, such as to pile logs,

build bridges, make roads, and lay water-pipes (see Frontispiece). Some

of these elephants are also taught to do tricks in a circus, or to carry

grand people in a procession.

"Then how do people in India get their ivory, if they never kill an

elephant?" you may ask.

They get the ivory when the elephant dies naturally; and the ivory is

just as good then as before. Is not that very wise? The people of India

first get the help of the elephants in doing all their heavy work, and

at last they get the ivory also.

There are huge buildings in India, some of which are more than two

thousand years old, which are so wonderful that engineers in America and

Europe do not know exactly how those buildings were erected. There is a

particular temple on the top of a mountain; and that mountain is 6000

feet high. The ceiling over the center of the temple is a huge circular

piece of marble; and that marble ceiling is so large that for a long

time people in America and Europe did not know how it was dragged up to

the top of the mountain, and then placed over the temple. But now we

know that a team of trained elephants was used to do that.

You will be pleased to know, too, that the people who built that temple

are called Jains, whom I mentioned in Book I, page 163 (footnote), as

the people who are kind to all animals, and who never hurt even the

smallest insect. Instead, these mild and gentle people have taught dumb

animals to help them build one of the greatest wonders of the world.

[Illustration: Trained Elephants at the Court of a King]

How the elephants were taught to do that, I shall tell you in the next

Book.

CHAPTER II

War and Neutrality in the Jungle

Now I must tell you about another duty of the president of the elephant

herd: he must avoid another kind of danger that may come to the herd

from outside.

I am sorry to say that herds of elephants sometimes fight with one

another, just as nations of people do. Alas, although elephants are

usually such wise animals, they are sometimes as foolish as men! Two

herds of elephants may find the same feeding ground, which has plenty of

trees to eat from, and a convenient stream of water to drink from. Then

the two herds may start fighting for that new feeding ground--just as

two nations sometimes fight for a new land.

Among elephants the herd that first finds the feeding ground usually

keeps it; but another herd may come there at about the same time, and

claim to have found it first--and may fight the other herd for that new

feeding ground. Or it may happen that the second herd really came there

later, but is stronger than the first herd, as it has more bull

elephants in it. Then the second herd may try to drive away the other

herd, which really found that feeding ground first.

_Wise Elephant Leader Avoids War_

Then what does the president of the first herd do? Alas, he usually

stays there to fight it out. But he gains nothing by it; instead, some

of his bulls get killed or wounded--and in the end his herd has to flee

just the same. A very wise leader would have done that from the first;

for he might find another feeding ground just as good somewhere near.

And besides, the quarrelsome herd will be punished soon enough!

"How will it be punished?" you may ask.

I shall tell you. A quarrelsome herd gets into the _habit_ of

quarrelling with other herds, just as a quarrelsome boy gets into the

habit of quarrelling with everybody--or even as a quarrelsome military

nation gets into the habit of quarrelling with other nations. Then that

quarrelsome boy might meet a stronger boy some day--and get a good

thrashing! And the quarrelsome nation might attack a more powerful

nation some day--and get a good thrashing!

So also that quarrelsome herd of elephants might some day attack a herd

which proves to be stronger. Then that naughty herd would also get a

good thrashing. So it is foolish, indeed, for the president of a herd to

domineer over weaker herds in the jungle.

Indeed, there is a still greater punishment for a quarrelsome herd. I

have already told you that there are hunters who lay traps to catch wild

elephants alive. Well, these hunters try specially to catch a

quarrelsome herd first! Why? Because quarrelsome herds kill or injure

other wild elephants with whom they fight. But the hunters do not want

to have any of the elephants killed or injured, as they want to catch as

many of them as possible in order to teach them to do useful work. So

they catch the quarrelsome herd first, before it can kill or injure many

of the other elephants.

Of course, the hunters know which is a quarrelsome herd, because they

send men into the jungle from time to time to watch different herds and

keep track of them.

_The Wise Elephant Leader Keeps Neutral_

There is still another duty that the leader of the elephant herd must

do. Sometimes it happens that as he is taking his herd through the

jungle, he meets two other herds that are fighting. Then what must he

do?

He must lead his herd by another path. He must not take part in the

fighting between the two other herds. He must keep _neutral_.

What does that mean? It means that he must not meddle with other

peoples' fights and quarrels. He must not take sides; that is, he must

not help either of the herds to beat the other. That is the usual rule

in the jungle which a wise elephant leader tries to keep.

But there is an exception to that rule. It sometimes happens that it is

impossible for the president of an elephant herd _not_ to take sides.

When does that happen? I shall tell you.

_When it is Impossible to Remain Neutral_

When two herds are fighting, they may get very reckless. When men make

war, they knock down houses with their guns, and trample on growing

corn. In the same manner, when two herds of elephants fight they knock

down trees, and trample on shrubs and bushes--sometimes the very trees

and shrubs and bushes for which they are fighting! _There never is a

fight of any kind without a lot of damage being done._

So it may happen that one of the fighting herds gets so reckless that it

comes into the ground of the herd that has kept neutral, and does a lot

of damage there. Then what must the president of the neutral herd do? He

must defend his own ground from damage.

So long as the fighting herds kept to their grounds, he must not

interfere. But when one of the fighting herds comes into _his_ ground

and does damage, he must defend his rights. A wise elephant leader

always does that; for he has bull elephants of his own who can drive out

the intruders.

CHAPTER III

The Policemen of the Elephant Herd

I have already told you that the president of an elephant herd must keep

order within his own herd; that is, he must not allow a naughty elephant

to commit a crime, such as to attack any other member of the herd. And

if a naughty elephant does commit a crime, it is the duty of the

president to punish him.

I shall now tell you how he does these things. _There is a wonderful

police system in an elephant herd._

You will understand that better if I tell you first about an old police

system among men. You will read in history books about the Anglo-Saxons,

who were the forefathers of most of the people of England and of the

United States of to-day. These Anglo-Saxons had a police system like

this:--

In a village or in a town all the grown-up men were divided into groups

of ten men; and if any man tried to commit a crime, all the other nine

men of his group tried to prevent him. If he committed the crime

_before_ the other nine men could prevent him, they at least arrested

him. Then they took him before the judge for punishment.

It is something like that in an elephant herd in the jungle; only, as

there are not so many bull elephants in a herd as there are men in a

village, it is not necessary to divide the bulls into different groups.

As there are only twenty or thirty grown-up bulls in an average elephant

herd, it is the duty of _all_ the grown-up bulls to prevent a bad

elephant among them from committing a crime; and usually it is the bulls

nearest to him who actually stop him from committing the crime. If he

manages to commit the crime _before_ they can prevent him, they surround

him immediately and keep him there like a prisoner, till the president

of the herd comes to punish him.

My dear children, that is a great lesson for us. A good citizen always

helps to keep the law; if he sees anyone breaking the law, he tries to

prevent him from doing so. Some men do nothing, if they see a person

breaking the law; they say, "It is no business of ours." Elephants are

much better citizens of the jungle in that respect; they always try to

prevent a bad elephant from breaking the law.

[Illustration: Elephants Guarding a Bad Elephant]

Now I am going to tell you something that will astonish you--as it has

astonished a good many clever scientific men. Do you know why people are

at all able to use elephants in a circus, and give you pleasure by

making them do tricks? Suppose one of the elephants suddenly went mad?

Then he could kill a dozen people in a minute by just rushing at them

and trampling on them. No _men_ could stop him, even if they had guns

ready all the time; for it might take several minutes to kill an

elephant even with a special kind of gun. And meanwhile the mad elephant

could trample upon scores of people in a crowded circus.

And it is just the same in a procession, when elephants are used to

carry grand people--kings and queens, princes and princesses, lords and

ladies. An elephant in a sudden fit of rage could kill many of them.

Then why do people use elephants in a circus or in a procession? Why do

they trust themselves with such large and strong animals? Just think!

"Because an elephant is naturally docile and gentle," you may say.

That is quite true. But still a bull elephant might get into a _sudden_

fit of rage about something, just like a naughty boy; and as a naughty

boy in a sudden fit of rage might break things, so also that bull

elephant might rush about and trample on people.

Then why do people trust themselves with elephants? Think again!

It is because of the _police system among the elephants themselves_.

Because if any elephant in a circus or a procession tried to do any

mischief, even in a sudden fit of temper, all the other elephants there

would prevent him! The _men_ there might not be able to prevent him; but

the other _elephants_ could, and they would.

Nobody need tell the other elephants to do that. Without being told to

do so, they would rush to him, surround him, and prevent him from doing

any mischief. And if only one bull elephant happened to be near enough

to him at that time, he would at least head him off--that is, throw

himself in the way of the angry elephant. I shall tell you a wonderful

story about that presently.

I have said that nobody need tell the other elephants to prevent a bad

elephant from committing a crime. The other elephants would do that

themselves, because _they have got into the habit of doing so in the

jungle_.

I must tell you that almost all the elephants you see in a zoo or a

circus were once wild in the jungle; they have been caught, then tamed,

then trained. But they still remember the laws of the jungle; and they

follow those laws whenever necessary--just as children who get into the

habit of keeping the rules of their school also form the habit of

keeping the law when they grow up. So the men who use elephants allow

them to practice this particular law; that is, they allow and encourage

the elephants to continue this police system among themselves.

From this you will understand that people do not usually use a bull

elephant singly; that is, they usually use a number of bull elephants

together, so that all the others would prevent a bad elephant from doing

any sudden mischief.

Wise people who know the habits of elephants usually use a number of

them at a time. But there have been many foolish people who have used a

bull elephant by himself; then somebody has ill-treated that elephant,

and in his rage he has done a lot of harm.

That actually happened in a big zoo recently. Then they had to shoot the

elephant. That shows that the people at that zoo knew very little about

the habits of elephants. They should have kept that elephant with a few

other elephants.

You may like to know how wise people in Europe and America have learned

the habits of elephants. They learned them from the people of India many

centuries ago. The people of India first observed wild elephants in the

jungle; and they discovered that the elephants had wonderful laws in

their herds--which I have described to you. Then the people of India

caught the wild elephants, and tamed them, then trained them to do

tricks and also useful work.

About 2250 years ago there was a famous king in Europe named Alexander,

who went to India. There he and his followers saw the wonderful things

that the people of India had taught the elephants to do. So they brought

some of these people to Europe, with their elephants. That is how the

people of Europe first learned about the wonderful habits of elephants.

In our own times, wise people who bring elephants to Europe and America

also bring a few men who know the habits of elephants.

That is why it is such fun to watch the elephants at a circus.

CHAPTER IV

The Punishment of the Wicked Elephant

Now I shall tell you how naughty elephants are punished. I have already

told you that if a naughty elephant attacks any other elephant in the

herd, all the other bulls surround him and keep him there, till the

president of the herd comes and punishes him. Now I shall tell you how

that is done.

The bull elephants stand in a ring a few yards away from the culprit;

but they all face him, so that they can watch him all the time. Then the

president of the herd steps into the ring, and walks toward the back of

the culprit.

"But if the culprit keeps turning round, so that the president cannot

get behind him?" you may ask.

Then two of the bulls forming the ring step in; and they come and dig

the culprit in the ribs with their tusks, one on the right side and the

other on the left side. Then the culprit cannot turn; he must stand

still and take his punishment.

And this is the way the punishment is given. The president gores him

with his tusks on the hind quarter, just as a father spanks his naughty

boy--only much harder! In fact, after two or three blows from the

president's tusks, the culprit's back is very sore.

How long does this punishment last? Well, just about as long as the

spanking of a naughty boy by his father. How long is that?

"Till he says he is sorry, and won't be naughty again," you may say.

That is exactly what happens to the bad elephant. The president goes on

goring him till he _says_ and _shows_ that he won't be wicked any more.

Yes, an elephant can _say_ that he won't be wicked again by whining; and

he can _show_ it by the way he holds his head and trunk. You will

understand that better from the story I shall now tell you. It is a true

story. It is about a bad elephant in the service of men after the

elephant had been tamed; but the punishment for being wicked would have

been just the same if he had been a wild elephant in the jungle.

_The Princes and the Bad Elephant_

It happened a few years ago, when King George and Queen Mary of England

went to India. At that time a young reigning prince in India had just

succeeded to his father's throne. So there were many ceremonies at the

palace, and festivities among the people. These functions lasted a whole

week, and several elephants were used in processions.

One day the elephants were taken to a place ten miles away to do useful

work, such as to pile timber for building a bridge. Among these

elephants was one called Mukna.

Mukna was a bad-tempered elephant. His tusks never grew more than

half-size. Bull elephants whose tusks do not grow to their full size are

sometimes bad-tempered; they seem to have a grudge against everybody.

Such elephants are always treated with special kindness, as if to make

up to them for their loss.

But in spite of all the kindness Mukna received, his temper grew worse

and worse. He was punished for that, though very lightly; he was merely

deprived of delicacies in his food. Elephants in the service of men

usually get hay, grass, and leaves to eat; but on special days they get

sugar cane, bananas, and a kind of pancake, all of which are great

delicacies to an elephant.

Mukna's keeper had deprived him of these delicacies for his bad temper,

just as a naughty boy's father may deprive the boy of ice-cream. That

should have been a lesson to Mukna to be good. But it was not. Instead,

he got worse.

One morning, when all the elephants were working, Mukna's keeper ordered

him to lift a log. Mukna did not obey. He merely stood still.

Now, disobedience is a serious fault in an elephant--just as it is in a

child. In fact, it is the beginning of all faults on earth, as the Bible

says. If people once allowed even an elephant to be disobedient, they

could not control him any more--just as if a naughty boy were to be left

unpunished for disobeying his parents or teacher, he would get worse,

and disobey his superiors, and even the law, when he grew up.

So Mukna's keeper looked at him sternly and said, "I command you for the

second time to lift that log!"

But Mukna would not yet obey. He merely stood still.

Then all the other elephants looked up from their work, just as grown-up

men in a workshop look up if they hear the foreman scolding a bad

workman. Those other elephants knew what an awful crime disobedience

was.

Then in a deep and stern voice Mukna's keeper said to him, "I command

you for the third and last time to lift that log!"

But for the third time Mukna refused to obey.

"Then you shall hear about this!" the keeper said, just as if he were

talking to a disobedient workman.

The keeper did not say anything more. But two of the nearest bull

elephants stepped up to Mukna, one on each side of him--just like a

couple of policemen arresting a criminal. Then a third bull came up in

front of Mukna, and stood with his back to him, so that all three police

elephants faced the same way as Mukna--as you see in the picture on page

45.

Then at the same time the three police elephants stepped _backward_, so

that Mukna also was forced to step backward. Step by step the three

police elephants went backward till Mukna's hind legs came against the

trunk of a tree. There Mukna was held for a moment, so that he could not

wriggle away. For the elephant in front prevented him from moving

forward, and the tree prevented him from moving backward; and the two

elephants on the sides prevented him from moving sideways.

Then the keeper stepped to the tree and fastened one of Mukna's hind

legs to the tree with a chain--so that he could not run away. The three

police elephants then went back to their work.

Now I must tell you that in a herd in the jungle a bad elephant is

punished at once by the president. But it is slightly different among

elephants in the service of men, because there they have no elephant

president, but a man president, who might be away at that time. That man

is called the elephant master.

That is just what happened when Mukna was disobedient. The elephant

master happened to have gone to the palace on a visit. So Mukna's keeper

called a messenger and sent him to the palace to report Mukna's

disobedience. The messenger had to ride on another elephant to go that

distance.

Mukna saw that elephant going toward the palace with the messenger.

Mukna knew why! It was to fetch the elephant master, who would punish

him! Even a dog that has been naughty will cringe and whine at the sight

of a whip, because it knows that its punishment is coming.

[Illustration: Policemen Elephants Arresting a Criminal Elephant]

But Mukna did not cringe and whine. Instead he became defiant--just like

a very bad boy. He held up his head and curled his trunk tight in a

spiral in front of his chest. In an elephant that is a sign that he is

defiant or determined, just like a man who folds his arms tight across

his chest. Mukna was unrepentant.

The messenger reached the palace and reported Mukna's disobedience; and

the elephant master said that he would come that afternoon to punish

Mukna.

The reigning prince said that he also would come. As he had just

ascended his throne, he wanted to teach a lesson to all criminals in his

domain from the beginning of his reign, and Mukna was the first to

commit a crime in the prince's reign. For, I must tell you, all

elephants in service in India are treated just like men; they are

rewarded as good citizens or punished as criminals. So Mukna was

regarded as a criminal.

The prince asked three other young princes, his cousins, to come with

him. A young American was then staying in the palace as a guest, and he

also was invited to come.

That afternoon the royal party went with the elephant master to the

place where the elephants were; there were about thirty bulls, besides

Mukna. The place was a clear space, about a hundred yards across, with

a lot of trees along the sides. Mukna was tied by the hind leg to one of

those trees.

The royal party got out of their carriages and entered the open space on

foot, quite near the spot where Mukna was tied up. They were not

thinking of Mukna just at that moment, as they were talking of the grand

feasts at the palace. So they did not notice Mukna at once.

Meanwhile Mukna had been brooding all day. He knew that his punishment

would come very soon. "I will do it--I will do it!" he must have been

saying to himself all the time. In that way he had worked himself into a

fury.

When the royal party entered the open space, the young American happened

to be nearest to Mukna. As he had just arrived from America, he did not

know much about elephants; so the young American did not notice that

Mukna was chained up to the tree by the hind leg, and that _he_ was the

bad elephant they had come to punish. Instead, the young American

thought that Mukna was just one of the ordinary tame elephants working

there.

So as the royal party happened to pass about ten yards in front of

Mukna, the young American stepped aside and said, "Hello, I must pat

you!" Saying that, he raised his hand and stepped toward Mukna to pat

him.

But meanwhile, when Mukna had seen the elephant master arrive with the

royal party, he knew that the moment of his punishment had come! "I will

do it--I will do it!" he had kept saying before. So when the young

American raised his hand, Mukna suddenly made up his mind _to do it

now_!

Mukna gave just one short trumpet. The next instant he gave a vicious

tug with his hind leg--and snapped the chain! With a huge stride he came

toward the American and the royal party. He would "do it" now! _He would

kill them all!_

Nothing could stop him from doing it, it seemed. He would knock them

down and trample them to death.

But meanwhile the elephant master had heard the trumpet Mukna had given

a moment before he broke the chain. And in an instant the elephant

master realized what would happen.

"Run for your lives!" he shouted to the young American and the four

princes. And he ran himself.

But an elephant can run much faster than any man. It seemed that nothing

could save those six men; they would all be trampled to death. The only

direction in which they could run was toward the middle of the open

space--away from Mukna. Even if they reached it, they would still have

to run toward the trees on the far side. Could they reach the trees in

time? No! Mukna was gaining upon them. It seemed that in a few more

strides Mukna would hurl himself upon them, and there was nobody to stop

him.

But yes--there was!

For meanwhile, just as the elephant master had heard the trumpet Mukna

had given, all the thirty bull elephants had also heard it. Most of them

were too far off, near the line of trees; but there happened to be a

bull a little nearer the middle of the open space. He saw at once that

he could not overtake Mukna, if he merely chased him. So, how could he

stop Mukna from murdering the six men?

I shall tell you. This is what that bull elephant did. As soon as the

men had started running, he saw in what direction they were going. So he

turned slightly, and ran also _in that direction_. As Mukna gained

upon the men, he too came nearer and nearer to the men.

[Illustration: Good Elephant Heading off a Criminal Elephant]

Mukna had come within three yards of the young American and the reigning

prince, who were running together. "Now I have got them!" Mukna must

have thought. One more stride, and he would trample them to death!

But that instant the other bull elephant also ran close up to the two

men--and hurled himself _between_ Mukna and the two men.

Mukna's blow fell upon the bull elephant's side, and knocked him down.

But Mukna tripped over him, and also fell. The two elephants rolled over

and over upon the ground.

Meanwhile the young American and the reigning prince and all the other

men, ran on to safety behind the trees.

When Mukna regained his feet, he realized that the men he had attempted

to kill had escaped. And he also realized that now his punishment would

be most terrible--first for the disobedience, then for the attempted

murder. So in an instant he made up his mind to run away; he would

escape to the jungle and become a wild elephant once more--even if he

had to be a solitary wanderer in the jungle.

Sometimes in the wild West of America in the past, men who had

committed crimes would escape from the sheriff into the wilds and become

outlaws. Mukna wanted to do just that. So he turned toward the trees on

the side of the open space, to run away into the jungle.

But a most wonderful thing had happened. Without a word of command from

anyone, all the other bull elephants had stepped to the gaps between the

trees, each to the gap nearest him--as they would have done when they

were wild elephants in a herd, to stop a criminal among them. And all of

them were now facing Mukna.

Mukna turned to the right to find a way of escape to the jungle; but all

the gaps on the right were guarded by bull elephants. Mukna turned to

the left; but all the gaps on the left were guarded likewise. Mukna

turned in all directions; but in all directions the gaps were guarded.

He could not escape.

Then the elephant master recovered from his fright. He stepped out from

behind the tree where he had hidden. For the first time he gave a

command.

"March!" he cried to the elephants.

And the elephants marched toward Mukna. They came nearer and nearer,

till they formed a ring around Mukna near the middle of the open space.

Mukna looked frantically this way and that way; but he saw a ring of

elephants all round him, a dozen yards away; and the tusks of all were

pointed toward him like a row of bayonets.

Then the elephant master and the royal party came and stood just outside

the ring, at the back of the elephants.

_The Trial of the Criminal Elephant--as in a Court of Law_

There they held a trial, just as in a court of law. Mukna was accused of

two crimes: first, disobedience; second, attempted murder. A man was

appointed to defend him at the trial, just as in a court of law a

criminal may have a lawyer to defend him.

The elephant master presided at the trial of Mukna. He was the judge.

When the trial began, Mukna's keeper first gave evidence; that is, he

said that Mukna had disobeyed his order, not only once, but three times.

Then several other keepers came forward as witnesses, and gave evidence;

that is, they said that they _saw_ Mukna disobey the order.

Then the man who was appointed to defend Mukna spoke for him; he was

called the elephant counsel. The elephant counsel argued that Mukna must

have been ill-treated to make him disobedient. So he questioned all the

keepers. But all the keepers said that Mukna had not been ill-treated to

make him disobedient.

"He may not have been ill-treated just that minute," the elephant

counsel still argued. "But was he not ill-treated before? _An elephant

has a long memory; he never forgets an injury, or an act of kindness._

An elephant has been known to remember both injury and kindness for more

than twenty years. Then did not Mukna's keeper _ever_ ill-treat him?"

But all the other men who were in charge of all the elephants gave

evidence that Mukna's keeper had never ill-treated him; nor had anybody

else ill-treated him--except that Mukna had been punished before for bad

temper by being deprived of delicacies in his food. So Mukna had no true

cause for disobeying the order that day.

Thus the charge of disobedience was proved against Mukna.

Then came the second crime of which Mukna was accused, namely, attempted

murder. And that was very quickly proved, as everybody there had just

seen that crime.

So the elephant master, who was the judge, pronounced sentence of

punishment on Mukna. Mukna was ordered to receive ten blows for the

disobedience, and ten blows more for the attempted murder.

_The Infliction of the Punishment_

Now among the bull elephants forming the ring around Mukna was one who

had huge tusks. So the elephant master ordered him to give Mukna the

twenty blows. Of course the elephant could not _count_ the number of

blows he was to give. So the elephant master was to count for him, and

tell him when to stop.

The elephant who had the huge tusks stepped into the ring, and tried to

get behind Mukna, but Mukna turned around to prevent him from doing so.

Then the elephant master ordered two other elephants to step into the

ring. These two came and pointed their tusks at Mukna's ribs on each

side. So Mukna could not turn. In defiance he held up his head, and

curled his trunk tight before him.

"Hit me, if you like, but I won't give in!" he seemed to say.

Five blows he took from the other elephant's tusks without flinching.

But at the sixth blow he stumbled forward, and fell to the ground.

The elephant master stepped into the ring.

"Arise!" he commanded.

But Mukna would not rise.

Then the elephant master made a sign to the two bulls. They came to

Mukna from each side, and prodded him in the ribs with their tusks. So

Mukna was forced to stand up.

He steadied himself and received four more blows. Then at the next blow,

which was the eleventh, he fell again.

"Arise!" the elephant master commanded.

Mukna again refused to arise. So the two bulls on the sides prodded him

again, and forced him to arise.

This time Mukna stood only two more blows; then he fell again. The place

where he was receiving the blows was now raw and bleeding. So the

elephant master gave him a chance.

"Is it enough?" he asked.

But Mukna defiantly arose to his feet, without waiting to be prodded.

And he defiantly held up his head and curled up his trunk.

"You may hit me as much as you like, but I won't give in!" he seemed to

say.

At the next blow, which was the fourteenth, Mukna again fell. He was

getting weaker and weaker, and now he could not stand more than one blow

at a time.

Seeing his weakness, the elephant master allowed him to lie there for

five minutes.

Then he asked Mukna, "Is it _now_ enough?"

Slowly, painfully, Mukna got up. He looked around with bleary, bloodshot

eyes; he thought, "Can I not yet escape?"

But a row of tusks, like a row of bayonets, faced him on all sides.

Still he would not give in. With a fierce resolution he tried to curl up

his trunk in defiance. He could not do so at once, but after an effort

he succeeded.

"I won't give in, even if I die!" he seemed to say, though he was

rocking unsteadily in growing weakness.

"Then we shall break your obstinate spirit!" the elephant master cried.

So Mukna received the next blow, which was the fifteenth. He fell. But

after a while he rose again in defiance, and received the sixteenth

blow. Then he fell in a heap. The side of his head hit the ground, and

he rolled over.

"Is it enough at last?" the elephant master asked. He waited.

Three times Mukna tried to raise his head in defiance, even as he lay on

the ground; and three times he tried to curl up his trunk. His head went

half-way up, and his trunk curled half-way. He lay on the ground just

like that for a minute or two, his whole body quivering with pain and

weakness.

Then perhaps the memory of all the kindnesses he had formerly received

came back to his mind. Yes, an elephant never forgets an injury, but he

never forgets a kindness either. Perhaps Mukna remembered at that moment

all the petting he had received when he was a good elephant, all the

sugar-canes and bananas and pancakes--and all the rewards for being

gentle and docile and obedient. And now he realized that, instead of

receiving these good things, he was receiving a most terrible punishment

for being wicked, and for being _obstinate in wickedness_. How foolish

he was!

He saw it all clearly in that moment, as he lay in shame and disgrace

before all his comrades, all the other elephants. Then Mukna's head

began to droop and droop; and his trunk began to unwind. The trunk hung

loose and limp before him; and his head sank lower and lower, till it

lay humbly in the dust.

A low cry, almost like a moan, escaped his lips. It seemed to say, "I am

sorry for being wicked and obstinate! I repent! Forgive me!"

Immediately the elephant master gave a sign. All the other elephants

fell back. Their task was done. They returned to their usual work.

Then several of the keepers came with buckets of water, and bathed

Mukna's wounds. Afterward they put on the wounds a poultice of herbs, to

cure the wounds in due time.

So Mukna received only sixteen blows, instead of the twenty, because he

repented of his crime.

"But if he had not repented?" you may ask.

Then he would have received the four remaining blows later on, when he

was strong enough again to receive them. For the sentence of punishment

must be carried out fully, like the sentence of a court of law, unless

the criminal repents.

_The Rogue Elephant_

Among wild elephants in the jungle it sometimes happens that an elephant

becomes so wicked that he does not repent when he is being punished by

the president of the herd. Then the president gives him as many blows as

he can bear; that is, till he _cannot_ rise from the ground. Then he is

left there to recover by himself.

Sometimes such an elephant goes from bad to worse. For a few months his

wounds may hurt him; and so he may be on his good behavior. But

afterward, when the wounds have healed completely, he may commit a fresh

crime. Then, of course, he is punished again. And now the place gets so

sore and raw that it takes much longer to heal, and even then the place

is full of scars.

If he should get unruly and commit a crime once more, would he be

punished just the same? Yes, he would be. But I must tell you that a

herd of elephants does not want a criminal among them. So after the

third or fourth crime all the other elephants drive him out of the herd.

Then this very bad elephant meets a most awful fate. He becomes a

solitary wanderer in the jungle. No other elephant will have anything to

do with him. He is a _rogue elephant_.

"But could he not go to another part of the jungle and join some other

herd of elephants who don't _know_ that he is a rogue?" you may ask.

He could. But those elephants would find out _at once_ that he had been

driven out of his own herd for being a rogue.

_The Brand of the Rogue_

How would they find that out at once? By seeing the scars of the wounds

on the place where he had been repeatedly punished. Those scars are _the

brand of the rogue elephant_.

So the new herd also would drive him out, for neither do they want a

rogue among them.

Thus, no matter what herd the rogue elephant tried to join, he would be

driven out.

Then he would be fated to roam the jungle by himself all his life--which

is a most awful punishment. An outlaw among men has a similar fate, as

he is shunned by all honest people.

A rogue elephant, being the _outlaw of the jungle_, does not live long.

Just as an outlaw among men gets shot by the sheriff's men sooner or

later, so also a rogue elephant gets shot by hunters. For, although the

hunters must not shoot an ordinary wild elephant that is a member of a

herd, they may shoot at sight a rogue elephant that is roaming in

solitude.

So, my dear children, remember that such a terrible fate comes to a

rogue elephant who may have _begun_ his downward path by just one act of

disobedience or some other fault--and who obstinately persisted in his

wickedness, and _would not repent_.

_The Reward of Repentance_

On the other hand, how much wiser it is to repent, even if one has been

so foolish as to do wrong! Mukna committed the most terrible crime--he

actually tried to kill people; and then he tried to run away into the

jungle and perhaps become a rogue elephant. But afterward, when he was

being punished, he repented of his crimes. So, what happened?

I shall tell you. Mukna was put on probation for a year; that is, the

keepers watched him for a year to see if he would behave well. And for

the whole year Mukna was on his best behavior; he was gentle and docile

and obedient, and he did whatever he was ordered to do, even the hardest

work. And he did that willingly, as if to prove that he had truly

repented.

Then those very princes whom he had tried to kill felt sure that Mukna

had begun a new life, and would always be good in the future. So the

princes took him back into favor.

And today Mukna wears a cloth-of-gold, with gold rings on his tusks, and

he walks in a royal procession. Sometimes he carries grand people on his

back, and sometimes children. And no elephant is more gentle and

thoughtful with little children than he is. For he actually curls the

end of his trunk near the ground for them to sit upon--and then he lifts

them up to his back, three at a time!

CHAPTER V

Flesh-Eating Animals: the Felines, or the Cat Tribe

So far most of the animals I have described to you are vegetarians, that

is, they eat vegetables of all kinds, for even leaves, herbs, and grass

may be classed as vegetables. These animals are the elephant, the

buffalo, the deer, the antelope, and others. The bear is the only animal

I have so far described to you (in Book I) that eats both

vegetables--that is, the roots of trees--and the flesh of other animals

as well.

But now I shall describe to you quite a different class of animals,

namely, animals that eat only meat. Among these animals the most

important group is the Cat Tribe, or the _felines_, as they are

sometimes called. They possess many of the qualities of the ordinary

cat.

The principal felines are the tiger, the lion, the leopard, the puma,

and the jaguar. All felines have a special kind of fangs, tongue, claws,

and paws, which I shall now describe in detail.

_The Feline Has Strong Fangs_

Besides the ordinary teeth, every feline has two pairs of strong fangs

which look like big projecting teeth. One pair of fangs is placed on the

upper jaw, pointing downward; they are wide apart. The other pair of

fangs is placed in the lower jaw, pointing upward; they are not quite so

far apart as the fangs of the upper jaw. Why? So that the animal can

close its mouth comfortably without striking the lower fangs against the

upper fangs.

These fangs are three to four inches long in a tiger or a lion; they are

not quite so big in a leopard or other feline. The fangs of the tiger or

the lion are so strong that he can hold down a heavy bullock by gripping

it with his fangs. He can also drag the bullock along the ground by

gripping it in that way, and can use the fangs to tear out a large piece

of meat from the body of his prey.

When the tiger or the lion gets a piece of meat into his mouth, he uses

the upper fangs to pierce the meat: that is, the meat lies on the

ordinary teeth on the under jaw, and the two fangs of the upper jaw come

down on the meat and cut it into two or three pieces. The tiger or the

lion could chew the meat a little more, with the help of his ordinary

teeth, but he does not need to. Every animal of the Cat Tribe has a

strong digestion; so the tiger or the lion merely cuts up the meat a few

times with his fangs and then swallows it.

_The Feline's Tongue is Rough_

A feline's fangs, however, are too big to tear off _small_ pieces of

meat from a bone. So it uses its _tongue_ to scrape off the small pieces

of meat. That is the reason why a feline's tongue is very rough. So

again you see, as I told you in Book I, that every animal has the gift

it needs. If the feline did not have a rough tongue, it could not eat

the small pieces of meat on a bone; and so a portion of its food would

be wasted. No inhabitant of the jungle wastes food. It is only _we_ who

waste food.

_The Feline's Claws are Retractile_

The claws of every feline are _retractile_. That is, the claws can be

_drawn in_, or sheathed, whenever the animal desires; also, the claws

can be thrust out, whenever the animal desires to do that.

Why is it necessary for a feline to be able to do both--to draw in its

claws, and to thrust them out?

Because when the animal needs food, it must thrust out the claws to

seize it. But in just running about in the jungle, it does not need to

use its claws; so it draws them in. In fact, if it did not draw in its

claws then, the claws would soon be worn out by rubbing against the

ground. And even if the claws were growing all the time, they would be

also wearing off all the time. So to keep the claws sharp for use only

when the animal wants to seize something, it keeps the claws drawn in at

other times.

Here I ought to tell you that a dog's claws are quite different from the

claws of a feline, even from those of an ordinary cat. The cat's claws

are of course retractile, as I have just described to you. But a dog's

claws are _rigid_; that is, they are stiff and thrust out all the time.

Why? Because the dog does not use its claws. It seizes its food with its

mouth, not with its claws. It even defends itself with its mouth, that

is, with its teeth.

But a feline uses its claws to seize its food, and even to defend

itself. You may have noticed that even an ordinary cat defends itself

with its claws. When a dog chases a cat and corners it, the cat turns

and defends itself with its claws.

Once upon a time, many, many hundred years ago, the dog did use its

claws; they were then retractile. But the dog stopped using its claws;

then they became rigid. The dog lost the power of drawing in its claws.

In our own bodies, if we do not use a particular gift for a long time,

we lose the power of using that gift. When we are born, our left hand is

just as good as our right hand. But because we do not use the left hand

much in doing things, we lose the power of using it quite as well as we

use the right hand. Little boys and girls should practice using the left

hand. Then if by some accident the right hand is lost, they would not be

quite helpless.

As for the felines, they retain the full power of their claws by

constant use. So, because the claws are very useful, every feline takes

care of its claws,--especially the tiger. Why, _the tiger cleans his

claws every day_! In the jungle there are many trees that have a soft

bark. So the tiger goes to one of these trees every day, and digs his

claws into the bark. Then he draws his claws sideways along the bark,

and that cleans out the claws. The tigress also cleans her claws every

day in the same manner.

Some little boys and girls do not clean their nails every day. Then

sometimes a piece of dirt gets in under a nail and causes a sore. But

the tiger and tigress are wiser. If part of a piece of meat that they

have torn up were to remain under a claw, it would fester and cause a

sore. So the tiger and tigress clean their claws every day.

_The Feline Has Padded Paws_

The paws of every feline have also a special quality. The under part of

each paw is thickly padded with powerful muscles. That gives the feline

three advantages.

First advantage: it enables the feline to _stalk_ its prey. That is, the

feline can creep up to its prey quite silently. As its paws are padded,

they make no sound on the ground--just as your footfall makes no sound

when you wear rubbers over your shoes.

Second advantage: the padded paw enables the feline to strike down its

prey with a severe blow. When it wants to strike down its prey, the

feline hardens the muscles under its paw; the blow of its paw is then

something like that of a hammer. A tiger has often been known to smash

the skull of a buffalo with a single blow of its paw.

Third advantage: the padded paws enable a feline to leap farther. After

a feline has crept up as near to its prey as it can, it has still to

leap upon its prey to seize it. Then the muscles under the paws act like

springs, and enable the feline to give a big leap. Even in running, the

muscles act somewhat like springs. You must have noticed that, in

running, a dog _gallops_, but a cat _bounds_. That is, the dog moves its

legs very quickly, but each space of ground it covers is not very long.

A cat moves its legs not quite so quickly, but the space of ground it

covers at each bound is much longer. The cat and all felines can give a

bigger bound because of the muscles under their paws.

Having told you all the qualities common to animals of the Cat Tribe, I

shall now describe some of these animals in detail.

CHAPTER VI

The Tiger

The tiger lives in most of the countries along the south coast of Asia,

that is, all the way from Persia to China. Some tigers are also found in

the northern countries of Asia, such as Siberia; but there are very few

of them there. And, of course, these few tigers in the cold northern

countries of Asia are a little different from those in the hot southern

countries. For the tigers in the cold countries have thick fur on their

skin, and a layer of fat under their skin--just to keep them warm. So

they are too fat to be as muscular and active as the slim and lithe

tigers that live in the hot countries in the south of Asia.

Now please remember one thing more about the dwelling place of the

tiger: _there is no tiger in Africa_. Even clever people do not always

know that. When ex-President Roosevelt went on a hunting trip to Africa

a few years ago, he shot many wild and ferocious animals there, and some

newspapers said that he had shot several tigers.

That was a mistake. The animals that he shot were leopards, not tigers.

You can at once tell the difference between a leopard and a tiger: a

leopard is _spotted_, but a tiger is _striped_. I shall tell you all

about that presently.

Even as regards the habits and character of the tiger, people often make

mistakes. There is no animal that has been so much abused as the tiger.

Most people call the tiger a "cruel" and "bloodthirsty" animal.

But that is not true. By "bloodthirsty" people usually mean that the

tiger kills his prey for the mere sake of killing, and that he kills

more animals than he can eat, just for the mere fun of killing.

That is not true. A tiger is not really "bloodthirsty" in that way, as I

shall explain to you presently. A tiger never kills for the mere fun of

killing. Some men and some naughty boys do that! They think it great

sport to kill harmless wild animals, which they cannot possibly eat or

use in any way; and some naughty boys kill frogs and lizards and other

small animals, just for the mere "fun" of killing, as they call it.

[Illustration: Tiger]

A tiger never does that--and he is supposed to be the worst animal of

all! For one thing, a tiger is not such a fool as to kill his prey for

the mere sake of killing. Men formerly ate the flesh of the American

bison, or buffalo, as it was generally called. But then they killed off

whole herds of these buffaloes. So now there are no more buffaloes left

for food in those places. A tiger is wiser. He does not destroy his own

food supply needlessly.

People are also wrong when they say that a tiger is "cruel," and that he

tortures his prey before killing it outright. That is not true of the

tiger. In fact, hardly any animal is _needlessly_ cruel, as some men and

naughty boys are--for instance, naughty boys who torture frogs and

lizards and then kill them.

It is true that a _tigress_ does worry her prey before killing it. But

why does she do so? Simply to teach her cubs how to catch and kill the

prey, so as to provide food for themselves when they grow up. I shall

explain that fully presently. So please remember this once for all:

hardly any animal is _needlessly_ cruel or bloodthirsty.

"But a cat does worry a mouse, before killing it," you may object. "Is

not that needless cruelty?"

That seems quite true. But there is a reason for it: the cat first began

to do that to teach her kittens how to catch mice, when she was a wild

animal in the fields. Once upon a time the cat was a wild animal, but

now people have tamed it into a domestic animal. So the cat still

retains some of its wild habits.

But you will understand all that when I tell you more fully about the

tiger, which is the largest and strongest animal of the Cat Tribe.

_The Life History of the Tiger Family_

I shall describe to you the actual life of a tiger family in the jungle.

A tiger family consists of the father, the mother, and from two to four

cubs. Three is the usual number of children that a tiger and tigress

have.

When the cubs are only a few days old, they are quite helpless. So the

mother stays with them in the den, while the father goes in search of

food. The den is usually a hollow under a large tree.

If the father tiger catches a prey which he can carry, such as a deer,

he brings it home with him. Then he and the tigress eat it together.

But if the prey is too large to carry, such as a bullock or a buffalo?

Then the tiger first eats a good portion right after catching it. Then

he comes home to the den and sends out the tigress to eat her share,

while he stays home in the den and takes care of the cubs.

But here is something for you to think of. In sending the tigress out to

eat her share of the prey, the tiger must _tell_ her where the prey is

lying; otherwise she might go the wrong way. Why? Because the prey might

be lying a mile or more from the den, so that she could not possibly

trace it merely by its _scent_. And the prey might have been caught in

any direction, especially if the tiger had to chase it or stalk it for a

long distance. So nobody could tell beforehand in what direction a tiger

might catch its prey.

The tigress could not merely follow the tiger's _paw marks_ to get to

the prey, as the tiger may have gone out several times that day or the

day before; and so there would be several lines of paw marks, and she

would have to search very long by following all the paw marks in turn.

Yet she always takes the right direction, and gets to the prey quickly.

Hunters in the jungle have found that out. How does she do it?

The only way to explain it is this--the tiger _tells_ her where the

prey has been caught and is now lying. That is what hunters believe from

the actual facts they have observed. Then that shows that animals have a

method of communicating with one another. Of course they do not use

_our_ words. They must have words or sounds, or even signs, of their

own.

Now I shall go on with the tiger family. The cubs, of course, drink

their mother's milk. They do that till they are three months old.

But meanwhile, when they are six weeks old, they can walk and trot. They

are then very playful, and they leap and gambol and tumble over one

another.

They are then able to go about with their father and mother for a short

distance. So if food gets scarce for the tiger and tigress, they leave

their old den altogether, and go to live elsewhere in the jungle where

food may be more plentiful.

In this house-moving the cubs can trot behind their father and mother

for a mile or two. Then, for fear of tiring the cubs, the tiger and

tigress scoop a hollow under a tree, and place them there. The tiger and

tigress go on ahead till they find the new home. Then they come back to

fetch the cubs.

If the cubs are now two months old, the father and mother need have no

fear in leaving them for a few hours. So in their new home the tigress

may go hunting with the tiger every day.

If food gets very scarce, the tiger goes out alone for a long distance

for two or three days at a time. In his absence, the tigress makes a

short trip from time to time in another direction, in case any other

kind of food may by chance be found there.

Tigers prefer to eat deer or antelope, just as you may prefer to eat

roast turkey. But if tigers cannot get deer or antelope, they have to

catch a bullock or a buffalo--which is just plain beef! As even that may

be scarce, tigers have to be satisfied with the wild pigs, which are

plentiful in the jungle,--that is, just pork! As a change now and again,

they may have mutton, because there are also wild sheep and wild goats

in the jungle.

But when the tiger and tigress are both away from the den in search of

food, are the cubs quite safe in the den?

They usually are, after they are two months old, when they are as big as

house dogs; and, until then, either the tiger or the tigress stays with

them all the time. When the cubs are two months old, they may stay by

themselves in the den; then a wolf or a hyena may perhaps come to the

den, and try to kill one of the cubs; but all the cubs would stand

together, facing the enemy, and would defend themselves.

They would change at once from being playful like kittens; they would

become little tigers in their nature. And woe to the wolf or hyena when

the mother returns! She would know at once by the cubs' actions that

they had been annoyed. Then the tigress would track down the intruder

and kill it.

At the age of three months the cubs can eat meat, but they cannot chew

it as yet, as their teeth are only beginning to grow. So the mother

chews the meat for them. If she or the tiger has caught a deer, she

chooses the tenderest part of the meat, and chews it into mincemeat.

Then she puts a little of it into the mouth of each cub. She does that

several times, till the cubs have had enough to eat.

When the cubs are four months old, their teeth have grown enough to

enable them to feed entirely by themselves--but only on very tender

meat.

_The Tiger's Family Dinner_

It is very interesting to watch a tiger family having their dinner. I

may remind you again that some hunters who go into the jungle sometimes

hide in trees and watch the family life of different animals. So this is

what they have observed at the tiger's family dinner.

Suppose that the tiger has brought home a blue deer, which is a great

delicacy among tigers. He drops the blue deer in front of the den. He

and the tigress lie down and watch the cubs, who eat first. The tiger or

the tigress will not tell the cubs which portion of the deer is the

tenderest; they must find that out by themselves. That will be their

_first lesson_ in life.

So the tiger and tigress keep aside, and see what their children do. One

of the cubs makes a sudden grab at a leg of the deer, and tries to tear

out a mouthful; but to its disgust the cub finds that it cannot bite the

leg of the deer at all. I suppose then the father tiger gives a sort of

wink at the mother tigress; at any rate, the tiger and tigress just look

on, and say nothing.

Then another cub has a bite; perhaps it tries the back of the deer's

neck. But this cub also finds to its disgust that its teeth will not go

through the meat there.

In this way the cubs jump about the deer, and try to bite it in

different parts. They get more and more disgusted; but still the father

tiger and mother tigress say nothing.

Then at last one of the cubs dives in, and makes a grab at the _throat_

of the deer--and to its delight it finds that the meat there is quite

tender, and that it can tear out a piece very easily. Of course that cub

eats it quite greedily, and then has several more mouthfuls. But then--

"You have had enough!" says its father. "Give Brother and Sister a

chance!" Of course the father tiger does not say that in _our_ words;

and he need not say it in any kind of words. He just comes to that cub

and tumbles it over with a gentle pat.

Then the other cubs come to the throat of the deer, and have their

dinner also. As there is not sufficient meat there to satisfy all of

them, they soon find that the under part of the deer is also tender

enough for them to eat.

The father tiger and mother tigress eat last, when all the children are

satisfied. The tiger and tigress of course can eat any kind of meat, so

they eat the legs of the deer. And if it is a deer of ordinary size, the

tiger family finishes it altogether at one meal!

So you see how kind the tiger and tigress are to their children. Suppose

that among us there was a family of five people, father and mother, and

three children; and suppose they were having a turkey dinner. Then if

the father and mother were as kind to their children as the tiger and

tigress are, they would give to their children the breast and all the

nicest titbits of the turkey--and after that the father and mother would

eat what remained of the turkey.

That shows that a tiger is an affectionate father, whatever faults he

may have. Among animals, the mothers, of course, are nearly always

affectionate to their children; but very often the fathers are not. In

fact, among some kinds of animals in the jungle, the fathers do not care

much for their children; they desert them.

But the tiger is different; he is usually a good father. That is an

important thing to remember. It shows that even if an animal is

supposed to be very bad generally, it may yet have some special virtues

of its own. That is a lesson for us. We may know people who are supposed

to be bad; but even then we should try to find out if they have some

good quality.

CHAPTER VII

The Tiger Cubs' Lessons

Do tiger children have lessons? Of course they have! Almost all animal

children have. You will remember the lessons in Book I which the

elephant child had to learn. In the same manner other animal children

must learn how to make a living in the jungle, and also how to avoid

dangers.

Among tiger children, their lessons begin even when the father and

mother are providing them with the food; for, as I have just told you,

the children must learn at least which part of the meat to eat, and

which not to eat.

But the most important thing they have to learn is how to catch the

prey, and how to kill it for themselves--that is, how to provide their

own food. Their parents teach them to do that gradually from time to

time, in many lessons.

_Tiger Cubs Learn to Kill Prey, After their Parents have Caught It_

As they are not yet big enough to _catch_ the prey, they are first

taught how to _kill_ the prey, after their father or mother has caught

it alive for them. And that is another wonder of the jungle, and another

good quality of the tiger. If the tiger catches a deer, even the largest

kind of deer, he could kill it at one blow, so as to eat it at once. But

if the tiger is the father of a young family, he thinks of his family

all the time; he remembers that he must not only provide his young

children with food, but he must also _teach them their lessons_.

So when he finds a big red stag, he jumps upon it, but he does not kill

it outright. Instead, he merely breaks its hind legs, so that the stag

cannot run away. Then he calls the cubs and the mother tigress. The

tiger and tigress stand aside, and tell their children to kill the stag.

They will not at first show the children how to do it. The children must

try first to find that out for themselves.

So the cubs first prowl around the stag, and try to seize it anywhere.

But the cubs cannot get their teeth deep enough into the stag's body;

and as the stag is still alive, it shakes them off. The cubs try to

seize the stag at other parts of its body, but each time they fail to

hold on; instead, the stag shakes them off. And if the cubs dare to come

in front of the stag, the stag can still use its antlers to drive them

off.

Then how can the tiger cubs manage to seize the prey at all with their

teeth? Well, one of the cubs may remember the very first lesson it had

several weeks before: that was to eat the _throat_ of the prey, because

it was the softest part--as I have already described to you. So it

remembers that the throat is the softest part.

Then that cub comes to the side of the stag, makes a sudden plunge

downward, and seizes it by the throat. Even then the stag tries to shake

off the cub--but the other two cubs then come to their brother's help;

they also seize the stag by the throat, one from each side.

Thus the three cubs begin to _worry_ the prey, that is, they shake it,

and pull it, while their father and mother watch them. The prey holds up

its head and struggles, but gets more and more exhausted with the weight

of the three cubs. At last the prey is unable to hold up its head any

more. Its head sinks to the ground. Then the three cubs kill it easily.

_Tiger Cubs Take Part in Hunt to Catch Prey_

When the cubs are six months old, they can take part in the actual hunt

for the prey. So they go into the jungle with their father and mother.

When they sight the prey, the cubs stay a little behind, while the

father and mother stalk the prey.

Suppose the prey is an antelope. You will remember what I told you in

Book I, that an antelope looks like a deer; but it is a little different

from a deer, because an antelope has horns, and a deer has antlers.

Well, the tiger creeps around to the side, then more and more around,

till he gets behind the antelope.

Meanwhile the tigress creeps around the opposite way. So when the tiger

makes a sudden jump at the antelope, and the antelope tries to run away

in either direction, the tiger or the tigress is there to catch it. And

meanwhile the cubs also have crept nearer and nearer, hiding behind

shrubs and bushes. They can take part in catching the prey by preventing

it from escaping in their direction.

_Tiger Cubs Learn to Catch Prey by Themselves_

"But when do the tiger cubs actually learn to _catch_ the prey?" you may

ask.

Well, that takes a little longer to learn. For when the cubs have

learned to catch different kinds of prey--wild pigs, wild sheep, wild

goats, deer, antelope, cattle--their education is almost finished, just

as in the case of a boy who has learned to earn his living in several

different ways. So it takes the tiger cubs at least the next four

months, from the age of six months to ten months, to learn to catch

different kinds of prey, as I shall now describe to you.

In the beginning the cubs learn by example; that is, they watch and see

how their father or mother catches the prey. Some kinds of prey are very

easy to catch, such as wild pigs or wild sheep, as they cannot run fast,

and are also very stupid. A tiger can just rush at a wild pig or a wild

sheep, and catch it. So the cubs soon learn to do the same. And as I

have already told you that wild pigs and wild sheep are the usual food

of tigers, the cubs soon learn to earn their _ordinary_ living.

But then they have to learn a little more difficult lesson--to catch

animals which are not so easily caught; and these animals supply them

with a more tasty kind of food than just pork or mutton. These animals

may be divided into two classes.

First, the prey may be weak, but it can run fast--even faster than the

tiger. The deer and the antelope belong to this class.

The second class of prey is just the opposite; it is strong, but it

cannot run fast--at least, not as fast as the tiger. Buffaloes,

bullocks, and all kinds of cattle belong to this class.

In catching these two different kinds of prey, the tiger or the tigress

uses different methods. First I shall describe to you how a tiger

catches an animal of the first kind, that is, an animal that is weak,

but which can run faster than the tiger, such as a deer.

Can you think how the tiger does that? He cannot _chase_ the deer and

run it down in the open country, because the deer can run faster than

the tiger.

"The tiger can hide in the tall grass near a river, and wait for a deer

to come to drink," you may say. "Then the tiger can jump on it."

That is quite true. And the black stripes on the tiger's yellow body

make him appear very much like the tall grass where he is hiding. So the

deer does not notice the tiger, and it often comes quite close to the

tiger to drink--and then the tiger jumps on it and catches it.

But a tiger may also catch a deer by _stalking_ it. If he sees a deer

browsing at a distance, he tries to creep quietly toward the deer. He

hides behind bushes and thickets every few minutes, then he creeps on

again toward the deer. He does that very cleverly. If the deer is bent

on feeding, the tiger creeps on for a few yards. But if for a moment the

deer stops feeding, the tiger hides at once.

In this manner the tiger sometimes creeps to within a few yards of the

deer. Then he gives a sudden spring and falls on the deer. If he cannot

approach the deer near enough to fall on it with just a spring, he first

makes a swift rush and _then_ he gives the spring.

When a tiger or a tigress is teaching the cubs to stalk a prey in that

manner, the cubs of course stay in the rear and hide behind a bush, and

from there they watch. So they see how their father or mother stalks the

prey--as I have just described to you. Of course, they have to watch

their father or mother several times before they learn that lesson

fully.

Now I shall tell you how a tiger catches prey of the other kind--that

is, an animal that is strong, but which cannot run fast, such as a

bullock. The tiger comes toward the prey from the side or from the back,

but never from the front. Why? Because the prey has horns, and if the

tiger tried to attack it from the front, the prey would gore the tiger

with its horns and perhaps kill the tiger.

So the tiger creeps toward the prey from the side or the back. As the

prey cannot run very fast, the tiger does not trouble to stalk it all

the way. Instead, the tiger creeps up to within a hundred yards of the

prey; then he gives a number of quick rushes, till he reaches the prey.

And he is always careful to reach the prey from the side or the back.

"But if the prey turns in time and faces the tiger with its horns?" you

may ask.

Then the tiger turns also. He dodges from side to side. A tiger can

always turn faster than any horned cattle. A tiger may even come to

within a few yards of the prey, and jump clear over it! Then on landing

on the ground, the tiger can turn at once and reach the prey from the

side. Then he gives a quick blow with his paw on the neck of the prey.

One blow is usually enough to stun the prey and knock it down.

Sometimes the prey is so frightened when it first sees the tiger, that

it does not try to face the tiger with its horns at all. Instead, the

prey stands trembling with terror, and lets the tiger come right up to

it from the side. Then the tiger gets up on his hind legs, places one

paw on the prey's shoulder, and with the other paw he gives a terrific

blow on its neck.

But if the prey is not too frightened, and it struggles when the tiger

is trying to strike it, then the tiger uses a different method. He

plunges downward and seizes the prey from underneath by the _throat_. He

plants his hind legs firmly on the ground, a little bit away from the

side of the prey. In that way he gets a little more "leverage," as it is

called.

You have seen a man tilt a heavy box over on its side by placing a

crowbar under it, then lifting up the crowbar. Well, the tiger acts

somewhat like that. While still holding the prey by its throat in his

jaws, he gives a sudden jerk upward with his head. In that way the prey

loses its balance and topples over on its side, just like the box.

When the tiger or the tigress is teaching the cubs to catch horned

cattle in these different ways, the cubs of course stay a little behind

and watch how their father or mother does it.

So in every case, as you will understand, the tiger cubs have to learn

from their parents how to get their living in the jungle.