FOR THE LITTLE ONES

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 153, 30 June 1934, Page 3 (Supplement)

FOR THE LITTLE ONES

1 SOME ELEPHANT TALES. THE CLEVERNESS OF JUMBO. My Dear Little Friends, — Many small folk, I«am afraid, are frightened by the huge size of the elephant, bui people who have had lots to do with Jumbo in his native country say that no animal is so clever, so kind and so thoroughly helpful lo man as io the elephant. Bir though he may appear to us, the elephant is quite a child at heart. He loves a frame, can ba obstinate without being dangerous, and loves or hates people according to whether or not they are kind or cruel to him. And an elephant can be jealous, too, as the following story shows: In India once there was a'small elephant which had learnt to draw water from a well with a bucket, and he was particularly proud of his ability to perform this task. All went well until another elephant, much bigger than he, stole the bucket. Rage and jealousy possessed the victim, but he did not lose his head. Stepping back a pace or two he waited until the thief was drawing water, then, wiih a sudden charge from the rear, toppled him head first into the well and served him right, you may say. , Elephants are \'ery wise and eften prove that they have powers of reasoning. For instance, there was once a baby elephant in India that received a nasty wound and could not bear to have it dressed. A boy or girl may kick and squeal, all to no avail, when the iodine bottle JS produced, but when a baby elephant does not want to have its wound cleaned a doctor is faced with a far more difficult problem. It seemed that nothing could be done with the little animal and the surgeon gave it up for lost until Mother Elephant decided it was time to take a hand. She seized the young one with her trunk, and, with the help of the body and front legs, forced it to the ground and held it there whilo its wound was opened and cleansed. She did the same thing the next day and the following days until the hurt was cured. There are endless elephant stories that could be told here if only the pages of the "Twinkles" were elastic and would stretch to hold them all. Of course they are not, and as Mr. Printer- f^\) J man says my letter is long enough for {.*X\ this week I'll have to save the rest until some other time. . - _-^^*