The Rajah's Elephant.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVII, Issue IX, 31 August 1901, Page 430

The Rajah's Elephant.

Once upon a time there lived a great prince who was called the Rajah of Jaunporesingh. His kingdom was in the middle of India, and his subjects were very poor, and lived almost entirely on rice, a few handfuls each day being their whole bill of fare. The Rajah lived in great state, and his court was a beautiful place indeed. but it cost a great deal to keep up the splendid way of living to which he was used. The Rajah soon spent all the money in his treasury, and then he taxed the people terribly in order to get more. The people were very angry, and some of them refused to pay the taxes; but the Rajah had those who would not pay punished fearfully, and the rest were so frightened that they made haste to pay even their last pennies to the tax collector. The Rajah was not a cruel man. but he did not know how very poor his people were, and his courtiers all urged him to make the taxes heavier and to kill those that would not pay them. Things went from bad to worse, and. finally, the army began to mur-

mur because they were taxed, too. The Rajah had not paid them anything in a long while, and so they had nothing to pay taxes with. Thev were afraid that as soon as the Rajah found they were not paying the tax collector he would have them all killed. one by one; and so one night they all marched away at once and went to another country to find a prince who would pay them. As soon as the people heard that the army had gone away they all arose at once and armed themselves with brooms, dustpans, rakes, crowbats, and everything they could lay their hands on. and marched straight to the court. There were so many of them that nothing could stop them, and they very quickly overcame the few officers who had remained with the Rajah. The Rajah himself mounted on his favourite elephant and escaped, but the wicked courtiers were all killed, which was a very good thing.

The IKjah had loaded his elephant with font teen bags of gold, hidden under little bundles of cloth, and he him*elf was disguised as a merchant. Still, he was very sad. for he was all alone, all his courtiers were dead, he had n<> place to go to. and. although one single bag of gold would have seemed a tremendous fortune to a poor man. the Rajah had frequently spent fourteen bags in one day. "Ahl What is to become of me?” he cried.

as the elephant trotted along far away from the furious people, who were destroying the gorgeous palace. “Be of good cheer, master." replied the elephant. "Things may be better than you think."

“1 don’t see how they could be much worse,” said the Rajah, angrily.

"Here 1 am. driven away from my country, my palace burned, nowhere to lay my head, and very little money, and my enemies everywhere. \\ hen my money is gone I must sell you. Then I will have to walk, anl that would be a fearful disgrace for a Rajah.” • The elephant had lived among the people when he w as young and he knew how they lived. "Cheer up. master." he said. "One single gold coin is enough to keep us for a day, and that finely. These fourteen bags that I feel on my back will last for a great many years. You have no idea how cheap things are. Now, if you will do just as I tell you. and let no one know that you are the Rajah, we will get along finely and you may sit on the throne again after all. This made the Rajah feel better, and he promised to do just what the elephant said, and see how it worked.

Finally, they came to a little village and the elephant walked up to a hotel and told the Rajah to get down from his back and ask for a room for the night. The Rajah did so. and ordered that the elephant be taken to a stable and fed. He gave the hotelkeeper a piece of gold ami was astonished to receive a Handful of silver in change. He was so sut prised that the hotelkeeper thought he must be a stranger, ami began to tell him about the Rajah's being driven away and his courtiers killed. He told all about how the people had been taxed, their goods taken, and those who had no money to pay had been killed. The Rajah had not known of this before, and was very angry. "I don't wonder that the people arose.” he said. “I wonder that they stood it so long.” Then the hotelkeeper told him that there were seven poor families in the village who had mortgaged their houses to get the money to pay their

taxes. The mortgages were to be foreclosed the next day, and the poor people were to be turned out into the street. "How much do they owe?" asked the Rajab. "Three pieces of gold each,” was the answer. The Rajah went to b?d and lay thinking a great while before he felt asleep. In the morn.ng the Rajah went to the elephant and told him all he had learned from the hotelkeeper. “What shall I do?” he asked. "Pay the mortgages at once.” said the elephant, "for you have brought the people to poverty by your taxes.” ”1 think I had better give them each a bag of gold for it reallv came from them in the first place,” said the Rajah. "Not by any means.” said the elephant. "for they would be so rich that they would be unhappy. Besides they have only paid out a few pieces of gold for their taxes. Keep the rest for people who need it more than they.” So the Rajah went to pay off their mortgages, so that they would be free from debt and could keep their little houses. They called all kinds of blessings on his head, and mounting his elephant he rode away, feeling happier than h? had ever felt in his life, happier even than when he was in the midst of his court. The elephant amused him by telling him stories as they went atong. anil after a while they reached another village.

Here was a great crowd of people all moving one way.

The elephant followed the crowd, and soon they came to a house that

was burning fiercely. The whole building was wrapped in flames, and the crowd of people were doing their best to put the fire out, but without success. They had no fire engines, and they had to carry buckets from a small river to throw on the flames. This was very slow work and did not do any good, for they had only a fewsmall buckets. The elephant ran to the river, and filling his great trunk with water, returned to the burning house and squirted a large stream of water on the fire. He soon had the fire out. but the house was burned so badly that it was ruined and not fit for anyone to live in. “You had better give five pieces of gold to the poor people who were burned out,” said the elephant. "I will give them ten,” said the Rajab. and he did. All the people in the village saw the act, and* they praised the Rajah greatlv. He felt That this praise was very different from that of his former courtiers, and t made him so bashful that he climbed on to the elephant's baek and thev went off at a great rate, leaving the people behind cheering them. The Rajah and his elephant were going along a wide, dusty road when aJot of people digging in the fields by the roadside. Some of them were so weak they could not stand, and all were so thin that it was pitiful to see them. “I wonder what is the matter with them all?" said the Rajah. "Stop and ask Them,” said the elephant. The people explained that they had been obliged to sell all their crops before they were grown to get money to pay the heavy taxes, and now they had nothing to eat. Thev were obliged to dig in the ground for roots which were very scarce and bad eating. Still, they had to do that or Starve, for the grain dealer who had bought their growing crops charged so much for ripe grain that thev could not buy it. They said that if they could get along until the next year they would be all right, for their crops would grow again, and they would not have to sell them again, for The Rajah had been driven awav and there were no taxes to pay. "What shall I do?” asked the Rajah of the elephant. Buy* back the grain from the dealer, and give it to the poor people,” said the elephant. They went on to the village, and the Rajah bought all the crops from the dealer for five hundred pieces of gold. Then he gave the grain to the people, who blessed him as their deliverer from starvation. The Rajah and the elephant travelled for many days among the poor people, doing good wherever they went. They went through every part of the Rajah’s- country, and all the people had heard of them and went to them with their troubles. The Rajah had never mingled with the poorer classes before, and he learned a great deal from them, although no one knew who he was. At last they found themselves near Jaunporesingh. where the Rajah's palace had been, the city that he had been driven from some time before. The Rajah was afraid to enter the city, but the elephant said that he must go. “You have never yet been sorry for having taken my advice," he said, and the Rajah was silent. When they entered tne city they found immense crowds of people waiting for them, for the news of their coming had gone before them. The people hailed them with wild shouts of joy. which frightened the Rajah almost to death. “Long live the new Rajah of Jaunporesingh!” cried the crowds. Then a spokesman came forward and told the Rajah that, although they did not know his name, they had heard of his good deeds all through the country, and had decided to make him Rajah, as he was the very best man they knew of. "Tell them who you are.” whispered the elephant. Then the Rajah arose and told the people who be was, and how sorry he was that his people suffered from his ignorance and greed. He said that he was perfectly happy as he was. without being Rajah. Lut If thev wanted him back he was will-

ing to oblige them and would do his best to govern them wisely and to make them happy. Then the people shouted: “Long live the Rajah of Jaunporesingh!” louder than ever, and led the elephant to the palace and seated the Rajah on his throne again.” From that time on the Rajah of Jaunporesingh was beloved by all his subjects; and the elephant was fed on delicacies as long as he lived.