Really, the elephants are so wise that they take no chances of that happening. The Papa elephant takes care of that. When he sees that the Mamma is teaching the little elephant how to swim, he always comes near them. He may be swimming about, as if he were enjoying himself; but he is really watching them all the time.
And if the little elephant forgets to hold up its trunk out of the water, the Papa comes quickly, and with one upward stroke of his own trunk he lifts up the little elephant"s trunk clear out of the water.
Is not that very wise and thoughtful of the Papa elephant?
In that way the little elephant soon learns to do _both_ things--that is, to kick out with its legs so as to move along, and also to hold up its trunk to breathe. And then, of course, it can swim properly.
And yet the elephants are so very wise that they never take the risk of tiring out a little elephant, if they have to swim a very long way.
Sometimes a whole herd of elephants has to swim across a very wide river. Then the Mamma elephant tells her child to swim in front of her, while she encourages the child from behind with many fond words.
But sometimes after swimming halfway across the river--
"Mamma, I am getting tired!" cries the little one.
"Then come on my back, darling!" says the Mamma.
She dives, and comes up right under the little elephant; so now her child sits on her back. In that way she swims along, and carries her child across the wide river, as you see in the picture.
[Ill.u.s.tration: An Elephant Mamma Carrying her Child across the River]
CHAPTER IV.
Elephants: The Tricks of the Jungle
Now I shall tell you how a little elephant learns all the tricks of the jungle from its Mamma and Papa. By the tricks of the jungle I mean all the things that an animal has to learn in order to get enough to eat every day, what to do when food is scarce, how to be comfortable and happy, and also how to escape from every danger; in fact, these things are very much like what men have to learn, only in a different way.
But the animal folks are better off in one way: what they have to learn is not like a lesson in school, but just play. In fact they learn everything by just playing it as a game! I shall tell you how.
When a baby elephant is quite small, its Mamma has to feed it with milk. Afterwards, when it has teeth, she teaches it to feed from the jungle. All elephants eat tender shoots, herbs, and fresh young leaves; they seize a bough with the trunk, and pull it down in such a way that the end of the bough reaches right into the mouth.
_Elephant Child Learns to Feed_
First, the Mamma elephant eats like that from several boughs, while the little elephant watches her do it. Then she looks at a low bough within easy reach, and says in the elephant language, "Eat that!"
The little one looks at the bough, grabs it anyhow with its trunk, and pulls it down. But it cannot get the end of the bough _into its mouth_! Instead, the bough pokes it on the forehead, or eyes, or cheeks.
"Hold it straight!" says Mamma, laughing.
The little one tries several times, but still it cannot get the bough to come right. Then its Mamma puts her own trunk over that of her child, and turns it to right or left, till the bough comes exactly into the little elephant"s mouth.
"You must learn to use your trunk just like a _hand_," she says. "So you must bend your trunk, or turn it, or twist it, to get the thing you are holding exactly where you want it."
And that is the first great thing the little elephant has to learn--_how to use its trunk as we use our hands_. After that everything else comes easy.
Now I am going to tell you about the childhood of the most wonderful elephant in the world, who actually lives to-day in the courtyard of a palace in India. He is the biggest elephant that ever was; that is why he lives in a grand palace, and does nothing except carry a King, or some other great man, on his back on days of festival.
In fact he was the leader among all the elephants in a long procession at a grand festival called the Durbar, held in honor of the King of England. On that day a lovely cloth of silk woven with gold was put on the elephant"s back, and around his tusks were placed rings of solid gold studded with real diamonds, rubies, and pearls.
At another time he carried on his back the Crown Prince of Germany, when he visited India a few years ago; and at other times he has carried Grand Dukes of Russia and Arch Dukes of Austria when _they_ visited India.
So you see, he is quite the grandest elephant in the world. He has a real name, just like a man, and it is written down in books with the names of all the grand officers of the palace. His name is Salar Jung; so we shall call him Salar for short.
He was born in the jungle, and his Papa and Mamma were quite wild then. It was only after he grew up that Salar came to live in a palace.
_Elephant Child "Swats" Tormenting Flies_
But now about Salar"s early boyhood. After his Mamma had taught him to swim, to eat from the boughs of trees, and to drink for himself by dipping his trunk into the water, she had another useful thing to teach him. In the jungle there are swarms of tormenting flies; they come buzzing around the elephants, and bother them, just as they bother us. Now, _we_ can whisk off the flies with our hands, but how about an elephant?
Of course, you will say, his trunk is his hand; and so he can use the trunk to slap the flies or whisk them off. True, but the trunk will not reach more than halfway down the side of the body; and the elephant is too stiff to bend his body as we do; and his tail is too short to reach even a yard each way. Then how can he get rid of the flies where he cannot reach them? Just think!
If he only could make his trunk _longer_! But how could he do that?
Very simply! Of course he cannot actually make the trunk longer, but he breaks off a small bough of a tree and holds it at the end of his trunk; then he uses the bough like a fan, and whisks off, or brushes off, the flies with it.
And that is what Salar"s Mamma taught him to do. After that he was very comfortable.
Not quite; he had just one more thing to learn from his Mamma, to make him quite comfortable. The sun gets very hot, and when the elephants are feeding from tree to tree, or marching through the jungle, they feel the hot sun on their backs dreadfully--although they have a thick skin.
Now, how could they guard themselves from the hot sun? Just think!
Why, just as _we_ do, you will say, by using a kind of umbrella! Of course you mean that an elephant could break off a large bough, and hold it over his head and over his back! But his trunk would soon get tired of holding anything as big as that! Besides, he has to use his trunk all the time to feed! If _you_ had only one hand, you could not eat with it and at the same time hold an umbrella over your head with it! Then how _does_ the elephant manage it?
_Elephant Covers his Back from Hot Sun_
I shall tell you. He breaks off many small boughs, one at a time, and lays them on his back with his trunk; he is careful to lay them in proper order, and to criss-cross them, so that the boughs will not fall off. In fact, he tries to arrange them very much like the thatched roof of a cottage. That is very clever of him, is it not?
But then he does something else, still more clever! When a cottager builds his thatched roof, he has to plaster the ceiling to prevent any rain or sunshine from creeping in through the little s.p.a.ces between the thatches. So also the thatch on the elephant"s back has many gaps, through which the hot sun can still beat down on his skin. So what does he do to fill up the gaps?
He cannot do anything to _plaster_ his back; but I shall tell you what he does do. He just draws into his trunk a lot of dust from the ground; then he curls up the trunk over his back, and blows the dust over the gaps in the thatch on his back. Of course he has to do that many times to fill up all the gaps; but at last, when he does not _feel_ the sun any more, he knows that his back is quite covered.
Is not that a very wonderful thing for the elephants to think out, all by themselves? And that is what Salar"s Mamma taught him to do.
But, a few years later, he came to the age when boys among men usually have to go to school. Then Salar pa.s.sed to the care of his Papa. In feeding through the jungle, when all the elephants march and eat from tree to tree, Salar walked with his Papa, and began to learn lessons from him. And his Papa"s way of teaching him was quite different from that of his Mamma, and often very funny!
_How Elephants Walk under Water_
The first thing he taught was at the stream at midnight. By this time Salar could swim quite well; so he was enjoying himself with the grown-ups. But his Papa kept watching him with the corner of his eye.
Little by little he drew nearer and nearer to Salar, and waited till the youngster came to a part where the water was not at all deep. Then suddenly his Papa gave Salar a b.u.t.t with his head. Down went Salar under the water, snorting and spluttering and hollering.
"Hold up your trunk, you simp!" cried his Papa.
But Salar was too frightened to remember to hold up his trunk; so his Papa caught Salar"s trunk in his own and hoisted it clear out of the water. Then what was Salar"s joy and surprise to find that he could breathe quite well, though his feet were actually touching the bottom of the stream. Of course he kicked out, and tried to get up to the top of the water again. But--