Chapter 6

Elephants: The Tricky Trap

Salar and his father were going through the jungle, feeding from tree to tree, and from bush to bush. One day they saw a little clear space and in the middle of it a banana tree--just one tree. But beautiful bunches of ripe bananas were growing on it from a large stalk.

Salar just loved bananas. In fact, all elephants do, as they cannot get them in the jungle more than once in many months; for bananas grow mostly in plantations kept by men. So Salar ran toward the tree joyously.

But the wise old elephant had seen at once that the space all around the tree was rather level and clear of bushes. That was strange in the jungle, he thought!

Now, why did it look strange? Can _you_ tell? Why was it strange that the space should be all flat and level, and clear of bushes? Just think!

Because in the jungle that was not natural! In the jungle the space should be all covered with grass and bushes, or at least with small shrubs of different sizes, just as you have seen in fields which are allowed to grow wild. So somebody must have _made_ the place level and flat, and cleared away the bushes! That is what the wise old elephant thought!

Then, also, he had seen that there was just _one_ banana tree, with no other anywhere near it. That also seemed strange! Why? Because banana trees always grow in groups of many dozens, whether they are in the jungle or in a plantation.

"Halt!" the old elephant cried, just in time. Salar was not more than five or six yards from the tree when he heard his father's voice. I have told you before that, when an elephant child is told to do anything by his Mamma or Papa, he obeys _at once_, or else he might fall into some awful danger--just as a child in a town might get run over by an auto or a street car.

So as soon as Salar heard his father's voice, he halted just where he was. And that saved him, as you will see.

_The Elephant Taps Suspicious Ground with his Trunk_

His father came up to him, and looked around carefully. Then he _tapped on the ground with the end of his trunk_.

"An elephant must always tap with his trunk when he is coming to suspicious ground, before he puts his foot on it," he said to Salar.

"What does suspicious ground mean?" Salar asked.

"Ground where there might be danger, though you do not _see_ the danger," his father answered.

He went on a couple of yards, tapping the ground before him all the time. Then he suddenly stopped.

"Gr-r-r-rump!" he cried, "it sounds strange and hollow!"

Most carefully he put his foot forward and _felt_ the ground with it, as an elephant always does when he thinks there is danger. Now the ground _bent down_ a little just where he pressed it with his foot!

"I thought so!" he muttered.

Then he felt most carefully all along the _front_ edge of the open space, first tapping it with his trunk, then pressing on it with his foot--of course with the toe end of the foot. And all along that front edge of the open space the ground bent down a little wherever he pressed it with his foot.

Then he came to the _right side_ of the open space where the banana tree grew, and tried the ground there also along the edge. And this ground too bent down a little wherever he pressed it with his foot.

He came to the _back_ of the open space, and tried it in the same way. And there also the ground bent down a little along the edge, wherever he pressed it with his foot.

He came around at last to the _left side_, and tried that also. And there again the ground bent down in the same way.

"All four sides are suspicious!" he cried. "My son, this is _a most tricky trap_!"

And though he did not see them, a dozen men were hiding in the tops of trees all around. They were the hunters kept by a great Prince, who had ordered them to catch the big elephant and also the young one.

The hunters had first dug a huge pit. It was ten feet deep and twenty-five feet wide on each side; so it was as big as a large room. Then they had covered the top of the pit by laying many long bamboos right across from side to side and very close to each other; so it was just like the roof of a large room. And on the top of the bamboos they had spread a layer of earth--just like what you have seen in flower beds in a garden; and on that they had planted grass, to make it look quite natural--only, they forgot that it might look natural for a garden, but not for a wild jungle. Or perhaps they thought that an elephant would not know any better!

And then they had gone to a plantation and fetched from there a banana tree, with a huge bunch of ripe bananas on it. They had set up the tree in the middle of that space; and as it would not keep straight, they had first driven a long bamboo rod right through into the ground, and then tied the banana tree to the top of the rod.

After doing all that, the hunters were hiding in the trees around. They were watching to see the big elephant and the little elephant come right up to the banana tree to eat the bananas, and get caught! For if any elephant stepped upon that place, the top would give way under his full weight, and he would fall right through into the pit.

But Salar's father grabbed him with his trunk, and pulled him away.

"Come away!" he said. "This is a most hideous trap!"

But Salar, who loved bananas quite as much as you love ice cream, began to cry.

"I want the bananas; I want them; I do, I do!" he kept saying over and over again.

Now his Papa was very fond of Salar, but he did not know how to reach the bananas and not fall into the pit. He and Salar walked home slowly.

"I must think it over a bit," he said, scratching his head with a bough.

He came there the next day with Salar, and looked all around the place; but he could think of no safe way to get the bananas. The hunters also came there the next day, for by this time they were quite excited to see what the wily old elephant would do. In fact, it was from the chief hunter of that Prince that I heard afterwards what the elephant did do.

I must tell you here that these hunters had been watching the big elephant for many years, and trying to catch him by different kinds of traps; and that is how we know all about him and Salar. For when an elephant is very big and has fine tusks, people sometimes try for ten years to catch him, so that he may be used as the leading elephant of a grand palace.

_Almost all the elephants you see in the zoo or in a circus were once quite wild in the jungle_, and have been caught by some kind of trap. They are then tamed, and finally trained to do tricks that men want them to do. I shall tell you all about that in another book, when you are a little older.

But now about Salar and his father. On the third day the big elephant came there again, with Salar; and again the hunters came and hid in the trees around. This time the big elephant looked farther into the jungle. Then he saw the long bamboos growing in a clump--the very clump from which the hunters had got the bamboos to make the trap. As the elephant looked at the clump of bamboos, a thought came slowly into his head.

He pulled out a long bamboo, and returned to the place where the trap was. He stood just outside the trap, and thought again for some time. Then he held one end of the bamboo in his trunk, pointed the other end to the banana tree just where the stalk of the bunch began, and gave a jab.

But he did not aim right, and the bamboo slipped off from the stalk. So he tried again, and gave another jab at the stalk. In this way, after trying many times, he managed at last to hit the stalk and break it. Down fell the bunch of bananas to the ground.

Meanwhile Salar was jumping around his father for joy. But his father told him to keep still. He had not succeeded in getting those bananas yet! How could he get them out of the place of danger?

It puzzled him a long time. He poked at the bunch with the bamboo, but that only broke off one or two of the bananas. Then he poked at the stalk of the bunch, but the end of the bamboo slipped off it, as there was nothing on the bamboo to grip the stalk with.

So he drew back the bamboo and looked at that end of it, to see why it did not grip the stalk. Of course the end of the bamboo was all smooth, and could not grip anything at all.

_Elephant Tricks the Tricky Trappers_

Then at last another thought seemed to come into the wise old elephant's head. He put that end of the bamboo into his mouth and began to _chew_ it; for an elephant has very strong teeth at the back of his mouth. As his mouth was very big, that clever elephant chewed as much of the end of the bamboo as his mouth would hold--and that was as long as your arm. So the end of the bamboo became like fibers, that is, like a bunch of hair, only very thick and rough.

Then that cunning elephant sat down on the ground and pushed the bamboo along the ground straight before him toward the bananas. When the hairy end of the bamboo reached the stalk of the bananas, he began to _twist_ the other end of the bamboo with the tips of his trunk; for _an elephant can use the tips of his trunk in the same way that you use your fingers_.

He twisted and twisted many times, taking care to keep the hairy end of the bamboo pressed against the stalk of the bananas.

In this way the hairy end of the bamboo got knotted around the stalk. That was just what the wise old elephant wanted.

Then he pulled the bamboo slowly along the ground, as you see in the picture, taking care to give one or two more twists in case the knots came undone. He pulled the bamboo lap by lap; that is, he pulled the bamboo for about a yard, then he let go and took hold of the bamboo farther up; he pulled again for another yard, and so on. In this way he at last pulled the bunch of bananas quite out of the trap.

I need not tell you how he and Salar enjoyed that feast!

And the hunters, who were hiding in the trees around, laughed and laughed at the trick the wily old elephant had played on them! For, as you see, he got the bananas and yet escaped from that trap! He beat the men at their own game!

But now I must tell you about other animals,--first about buffaloes. They are the brave knights who helped that timid little lady, the blue deer. They are just as wonderful as the elephants, in their own way.