But the deer has heard the footfall! For she can hear even a leaf when it falls to the ground. And in that one second, even while she was drinking, the red deer has turned and leaped to the side. The tiger has also leaped at the same time, and he aimed at the place where the deer _was_. But the deer has just left that place, and the next second she gives another leap, like a flash, and gets out of the tiger"s reach.
The tiger stands where he leaped, and growls with rage. He knows it would be no use chasing the deer, as _the deer can run much faster_.
So he stands there, and growls for quite a while. Then, as he did not get any supper that night, he can at least have a drink. So he drinks and goes away, still growling.
Now all is quiet at last at the midnight pool, as all the animals have gone away.
_The Law of the Jungle--Clear Water for All_
But before _we_ leave the place, I want you to remember something. I showed you first the elephants; they were on our right--that is, _down_ the stream, the way the water flows. And the elephants drank first among all the animals.
Then all the other animals came to the stream, but more to our left--that is, _up_ the stream. Why was that? Think!
I shall tell you. By the time the elephants finish drinking by dipping their trunks into the stream many times, the water begins to get muddy. In fact, after drinking, the elephants jump into the water to have a bath and a swim, as I shall tell you in the next chapter.
So the water gets muddy near the elephants and all the way down stream from that place, as the water flows that way. And as the other animals do not want muddy water to drink, they always go _up_ the stream, where the water is still clear.
That is _The Law of the Jungle_, though it is not written down in a book, like the laws among men. The Law of the Jungle says that as the elephants are the lords of the jungle, they shall drink _first_: but they must be careful to drink _down the stream_, so that all the other animals may have a place higher up, where they can get _clear water to drink_.
And that law has never been broken, for many thousands of years, among all the different sorts of animals.
But with men the laws among the different sorts of people, called nations, are often broken, because some of them want all the best things and the best places, and do not care if they muddy the water that their neighbors have to drink.
So, my dear children, we can learn many things from the animals, even how to be better men and women when we grow up.
CHAPTER III
The Elephants" Bath
I have just told you that, after drinking, the elephants jump into the water and have a bath and a swim. That is, all the grown-up elephants do that, while the little ones stay on the bank and play about.
But, you may ask, why does not the tiger try to grab one of the little ones then? Because even when the Mammas go into the water they keep their eyes on the babies, who play quite near by, so that the Mammas can come to them any minute.
And the Mammas can _smell_ a tiger a little before he gets there, so that they have enough time to climb out of the water. Besides, the babies themselves can smell the tiger when he is coming; then they call out to their Mammas by making a queer rumbling sound in their throats, and the Mammas come to them at once, before the tiger can get there.
So all the grown-up elephants can go into the water, without any worry. And at first they have a regular shower bath.
How do they do that? Why, each elephant fills his trunk with water; then he curls up the trunk in the air over his head and squirts the water out, and it falls in a shower all over his body. You can see how he does it in the picture. All the grown-up elephants do that, and even those that are half grown.
After the shower bath, they swim about; but the Mamma elephants do not do that. Why? Because they have to get busy and bathe their little children. They call to the children to stop playing, and come and have a bath--just as our Mammas do.
How do they call? Why, I must tell you at once that all kinds of animals have _a language of their own_. They do not speak exactly as we do, but make different sounds through their mouth or nose, and each sound _means_ something.
If the Mamma elephant wants to say "Come here," she makes one kind of sound, and the baby elephant has learned to know exactly what that means. And if the Mamma elephant wants to say "Keep still," she makes another kind of sound, and the baby knows also what that means.
[Ill.u.s.tration: An Elephant Giving himself a Shower Bath]
In this way all animals can talk among themselves. Of course they cannot say many things, as we do, but quite enough to tell what they want.
So each Mamma elephant calls to her child to come and stand on the bank. Now, many of our children often hate to be bathed; and the elephant children are just the same! In fact, the very small ones actually cry and shriek, just like our babies!
_Elephant Child Obeys Mamma--or Gets Spanked_
But when the Mamma elephant calls to the baby to stop playing and come and stand by the bank, the baby comes at once, even though it hates to be bathed. The baby elephant obeys its Mamma almost the first time, whatever she tells it to do.
But if the baby does not obey, does its Mamma spank it? Of course she does--like all Mammas! The elephant Mamma does the spanking with her trunk.
But I must tell you at once that an elephant child never gets spanked more than once in its life--and that is enough! And some are so good that they _never_ get spanked!
The elephant child learns very quickly to obey its Mamma and Papa, and afterwards its trainer or teacher. The elephant child even obeys the very minute it is told to do anything; in fact, sometimes in the jungle there is a sudden danger, even if the elephant child does not see the danger. But its Mamma or Papa sees it.
Then the Mamma or Papa calls out to the child to stop, or come away, or do something, _at once_; and if the child does not do it at once, it may get killed. Among men folks, if a child runs out into the street, and an auto or a street car comes suddenly, then if the child will not obey its Mamma at once and do exactly as she says, the child may be run over and killed. In the jungle the elephant child also has sudden dangers like that, though in a different way.
In the next chapter I shall tell you a wonderful story about a boy elephant who escaped a great danger because he obeyed his Papa at once.
But sometimes it happens that a boy elephant is really naughty--just like a bad boy among men. As you know, a bad boy among men usually grows up to be a bad man, and then he gets into a lot of trouble. In the elephant herd it is just the same; a bad little elephant grows up to be a bad big elephant; it is then called a _rogue_. In another book I shall tell you how the President of the herd orders all the police elephants to stand in a ring around the rogue and give him a most awful spanking. And they do that, not with their trunks this time, but with their _tusks_--which hurt most dreadfully.
_How the Elephant Child is Bathed_
But now I shall tell you about the baby elephant when its Mamma calls it to come and be bathed. It comes to the edge of the bank, and stands facing its Mamma. Then the Mamma fills her trunk with water, brings the trunk quite near the baby, and squirts the water all over it.
The baby may howl and jump about and make faces, but it _never runs away_! Again and again the Mamma squirts the water, till all the mud and dust of the jungle is washed away from the baby"s body. Then she tells the baby to play about on the bank again, while she attends to the bigger children.
What has she got to do to them? She must teach them to swim!
Of course _all animals with four legs know how to swim naturally_; their bodies float in the water quite easily, and they have only to work their legs to move along in the water. But with elephants it is a little different. Why? Just think!
I shall tell you. Although they can float quite naturally, their noses point downward right into the water. As I said before, the elephant"s trunk is its nose--that is, the elephant has to _breathe through the trunk_. So of course, if in trying to swim a little elephant kept its trunk down in the water, it would not be able to breathe at all, and would die.
That is why the Mamma elephant has to teach her child how to swim properly. And the way she does it is quite wonderful.
I must first tell you that the trunk is not only like a nose to the elephant, but also is useful as a _hand_; the elephant can hold a lot of things with it, and can even pick up with its tip a tiny thing as small as a pin.
_How the Elephant Child Learns to Swim_
So the Mamma elephant stretches out her trunk before her, just like an arm, and tells her child to lie across it. In that way she holds up the child in the water, so that the little elephant has only to think of curling up the tip of its own little trunk out of the water to breathe. Then she tells her child to kick out with its legs, so as to move forward through the water.
But sometimes, in kicking out, the little elephant forgets to hold up the tip of its trunk out of the water at the same time; then down goes its trunk into the water, and it cannot breathe!
Then what happens? The Mamma elephant can do nothing, as she is already using her own trunk to hold up her child. So, what is to be done?