Kari the Elephant (Version 2)-Dhan Gopal Mukerji

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1:01Meet the Red Bull Dragonberry Emergizer. It's one of the many new drinks out now. Who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire. Try them all only at McDonald's. Chapter one of curry, the elephant. This is a liberal box record. All liberal box recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit liberalbox.org. Read by Mahimaraj. Curry, the elephant. By Hangopal Mukherjee. Bringing up curry. Curry, the elephant was five months old when he was given to me to take care of. I was nine years old and I could reach his back if I stood on tip tip.

2:01He seemed to remain that high for nearly two years. Perhaps we grew together. That is probably why I never found out just how tall he was. He lived in a pavilion under attached roof which rested on thick tree stump so that it could not fall in when curry bumped against the poles as he moved about. One of the first things curry did was to save the life of a boy. Curry did not eat much but he nevertheless needed forty pounds of twigs a day to chew and play with. Every day I used to take him to the river in the morning for his bath. He would lie down on the sandbank while I rubbed him with a clean sand of the river for an hour.

3:03After that he would lie in the water for a long time. On coming out his skin would be shining like ebony and he would squeal with pleasure as I rubbed water down his back. Then I would take him by the ear because that is the easiest way to lead an elephant and leave him on the edge of the jungle while I went into the forest to get some blushes twigs for his dinner. One has to have a very sharp hatchet to cut down these twigs. It takes half an hour to sharpen the hatchet because if a twig is mutilated an elephant will not touch it. When one goes into the jungle one must remember that there are laws one cannot break. Do you know that anyone who is afraid

4:05or who hates one of the animals of the jungle gives out an order which attracts tigers and morts. Every day that I was afraid to go into the jungle I did not dare to stay on the ground for fear unless the tigers would smell my presence and attack me. I climbed a tree instead because when one is in a tree the order of one's body does not go into the forest and the animals cannot tell whether one is afraid or not. It was not an easy job as you see to get twigs and saplings for curry I had to climb all kinds of trees to get the most delicate and tender twigs. As he was very fond of the young branches of the Banyan tree

5:05which grows like a cathedral of leaves and branches I was gathering some one spring day in March when I suddenly heard curry calling to me in the distance. As he was still very young the call was more led that of a baby, ban and elephant. I thought somebody was hurting him so I came down from my tree and ran very fast to the edge of the forest where I had left him but he was not there. I looked all over but I could not find him. I went near the edge of the water and I saw a black something struggling about its surface. Then it rose higher and it was the chunk of my elephant. I thought he was drowning

6:05I was helpless because I could not jump into the water and save this 400 pounds since he was much higher than I. But I saw his back rise about the water and the moment he caught my eye he began to trump it and struggle up to the shore. Then still trumpeting he pushed me into the water and as I fell into the stream I saw a boy lying flat on the bottom of the river. He had not altogether touched the bottom but was somewhat afloat. I came to the surface of the water to take my breath and there curry was standing. His feet planted into the sand bank and his trunk stretched out like a hand waiting for mine. I took down again

7:05and pulled the body of the drowning boy to the surface but not being a good swimmer I could not swim a shore and the slow current was already dragging me down. I clustered at reeds on the shore but they broke and the weight of the boy was tiring out one hand while the other was already weak from extensive swimming and clutching at the reeds. Seeing us drift by in the current curry who was usually so slow and ponderous suddenly darted down like a hawk and came halfway into the water where I saw him stretch out his trunk again. I raised up my hand to catch it and it slipped. I found myself going on under the water again but this time I found that the water was not very deep

8:07so I sank to the bottom of the river and doubled my feet under me and then suddenly kicked the river bed and so shot upwards like an arrow in spite of the fact that I was holding the drowning boy with my hand. As my body rose about the water I felt a lasso around my neck. This frightened me I thought some water animal was going to swallow me. I heard the squealing of curry and I knew it was his trunk about my neck. He pulled his boat ashore. As the boy lays stretched on the ground I recognized the cowherd. He had gone to bed in the river had slipped too far out and not knowing how to swim had almost been drowned. I put him flat on his face on the sand

9:08and the elephant put his trunk about his waist and lifted it gently up and down and then up again. After doing this three or four times the water began to come out of the boy's mouth and not knowing what else to do because his body was cold I slapped him very hard all over. After that I propped him up against the elephant's leg then the boy slowly came to. In the meantime all his cows had wandered away in different directions. As I thought some were had gone into the jungle where I was afraid they might be eaten up by tigers I sent curry to bring them back to the river bank. But curry got lost himself so when the cowherd had recovered entirely

10:10I went to look for his cows and my lost elephant. Where do you think I found him? He had gone right into the forest where I had left the saplings and the tricks and had buried his trunk into the heap and was eating the best of them without any concern for the cows the cowherd or myself. But I could not punish him that day because he had done his duty by saving the life of the boy. Curry was like a baby. He had to be trained to be good and if you did not tell him when he was naughty he was up to more mischief than ever. For instance, one day somebody gave him some banana straight very soon he developed a great love for ripe bananas. We used to keep large plates of fruit on a table

11:11near a window in the dining room. One day all the bananas on the table disappeared. Toyota's easy choice sales event is on whether you're looking for the performance of a camera the versatility of her at four the efficiency of a Corolla or all electric driving in the BZ there's a Toyota that's just right for you and with great deals across the lineup now's the time to find yours but hurry these deals won't last long Toyota's easy choice sales event and soon we make it easy Toyota let's go places. Meet the Red Bull Dragonberry Emergizer it's one of the many new drinks out now who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire. Try them all only at McDonald's. Toyota's easy choice sales event is on whether you're looking for the performance of a camera the versatility of her at four

12:12the efficiency of a Corolla or all electric driving in the BZ there's a Toyota that's just right for you and with great deals across the lineup now's the time to find yours but hurry these deals won't last long Toyota's easy choice sales event and soon we make it easy Toyota let's go places and my family blame the servants for eating all the fruit in the house a few days later the fruit disappeared again this time the blame was put on me and I knew I had not done it it made me very angry with my parents and the servants for I was sure they had taken all the fruit the next time the fruit disappeared I found a banana all smashed up in car is peveleon the surprised me very much for I had never seen fruit there and as you know

13:13he had always lived on twigs next day while I was sitting in the dining room wondering whether I should take some fruit from the table without my parents permission a long black thing very much like a snake suddenly came through the window and disappeared with all the bananas I was very much frightened because I had never seen snakes eat bananas and I thought it must be a terrible snake that would sneak in and take fruit I crept out of the room and with great fear in my heart ran out of the house feeling sure that the snake would come back into the house eat all the fruit and kill all of us as I went out I saw caries back disappearing in the direction of the peveleon and I was so frightened that I wanted his company to cheer me up

14:15I ran after him into the peveleon and I found him there eating bananas I stood still in astonishment the bananas were lying through and all around him he stretched out his trunk and reached for one far away from where he was standing that instant the trunk looked like a black snake and I realized that carie was the thee I went to him pulled him out by the ear and jealous showed my parents that it was carie and not I that had eaten all the fruit these many weeks then I scolded him for elephants understand words as well as children and I said to him next time I see you stealing fruit you will be whipped he knew that we were all angry with him even the servants his pride was so injured

15:17that he never stood another thing from the dining room and from then on if anybody gave him any fruit he always squealed as if to thank them an elephant is willing to be punished for having done wrong but if you punish him without any reason he will remember it and pay you back in your own coin once I had taken him to bed in the river this was some evocation and several boys came with me to help carie lay on the bank and we rubbed him all over with sand then he went into the water and most of us began to play as carie came up from the water one of the boys named Soudu was standing on the bank for no reason at all he hit the elephant three or four times with his whip

16:19carie squealed and ran away I brought him home the next summer carie had grown so big in fact that I could not reach his back even when I stood on tiptoe we used to take him out wherever we went sometimes one riding on his back sometimes all walking along with him we gave him luscious tricks if he behaved well and sometimes delicious fruit once in a great while as a special treat we would massage his chest with straw and he would squeal with joy and lie on his back as best he could with his fat legs staring at the sun one day Soudu was standing on the river bank where I had just taken the elephant to give him his bath that day carie had been very good

17:20so we prepared a straw massage for him as it was very hot however we plunged into the river ourselves before giving him his bath leaving Soudu and the elephant on the bank without warning carie rushed at him like a mad bull threw his trunk about Soudu's neck clung him into the water and held him there for a long long time when Soudu was finally pulled out of the water and stretched on the ground he was nearly senseless when Soudu asked me whether I would punish carie for having disgraced him in public like that I answered that the elephant was not rude when Soudu asked me why I said don't you remember about a year ago you whipped him for no reason at all almost on the exact spot where he has just punished you

18:23Soudu felt so ashamed of himself that he got angry with all of us and went home alone but by the next day we had made it all up and the elephant had forgiven him as a proof of friendship when we went to the jungle on a picnic carie's carried Soudu on his back since that day Soudu has never hurt a living creature an elephant must be taught when to sit down when to walk when to go fast and when to go slow you teach him these things as you teach a child if you say it huh and pull him by the ear he will gradually learn to sit down similarly if you say Mali and pull his drum forward he will gradually learn that that is the signal to walk

19:28carie learned Mali after three lessons but it took him three weeks to learn the heart he was no good at sitting down and you know why an elephant should be taught to sit down because he grew taller and taller than you who take care of him so that when he is two or three years old you can only reach his back with a ladder it is therefore better to teach him to sit down by saying Thad so that you can climb upon his back for who would want to carry a ladder around all the time the most difficult thing to teach an elephant is the Master Call he generally takes five years to learn it properly the Master Call is a strange hissing howling sound as if a snake and a tiger were fighting each other and you have to make that kind of noise in his ear

20:29and do you know what you expect an elephant to do and you give him the Master Call if you are lost in the jungle and there is no way out and everything is black except the stars about you dare not stay very long anywhere the only thing to do then is to give the Master Call and at once the elephant pulls down the trees in front of him with his trunk this frightens all the animals away as the tree comes crashing down monkeys wake from their sleep and run from branch to branch you can see them in the moonlight and you can almost see the stags running in all directions below you can hear the growl of the tiger in the distance even he is frightened then the elephant pulls down the next tree and the next and the next soon you will find that he has made a road right through the jungle

21:30straight to your house End of chapter 1 chapter 2 of Kari the elephant by Dhangopal Mukherjee this LibraVox recording is in the public domain read by Mahimharaj how Kari saved our lives in the jungle when Kari grew to be 5 years old he was almost as high as the ceiling he was never trained for hunting we never thought of killing anything except snakes and tigers and these we killed when they came toward the village and injured men so Kari never had the training of a hunting elephant just the same

22:32he was very alert and steady in the face of danger Toyota's easy choice sales event is on whether you're looking for the performance of the camera the versatility of Rav4 the efficiency of a Corolla or all electric driving in the BZ there's a Toyota that's just right for you and with great deals across the lineup now's the time to find yours but hurry these deals won't last long Toyota's easy choice sales event and soon we make it easy Toyota let's go places McDonald's is putting value back on the menu whether you're craving a Big Mac McNuggets or sausage egg and cheese McGrittle's make it a meal and save your favorite is now your wallet's favorite too extra value meals are back get a big something extra with a Big Mac or 10 piece McNuggets fries and a medium Coke all for just $9 limited time only promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing

23:34and then we have a big Mac McDonald's is putting value back on the menu whether you're craving a Big Mac McNuggets or sausage egg and cheese McGrittle's make it a meal and save your favorite is now your wallet's favorite too extra value meals are back Sun rises prices fall get a sausage McMuffin with egg or sausage egg and cheese McGrittle's small hot coffee and hash frowns for just $6 price and participation may vary promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing so when it was a question of going into the jungle on the back of an elephant we generally took curry with us during such trips we did not put a cloth of gold on his back or silver bells on his sights these bells are made in certain parts of India where silversmiths know how to melt and mix silver so that when the clapper strikes the sides of the belt

24:36there will be a sound like rushing water the two bells are tied by a silver chain and slung over the elephant's back one dangling on each side of him we never put a howda on the back of curry very few Hindus put howda on elephants do you know what a howda is? it is a box with high sides inside of which there are chairs for travelers the howda are generally for people who are not accustomed to elephants they need the high sides so that when the elephant walks they will not fall from his back they stay in their seats leaning on the edge of the box and see very little especially children who are not tall enough to see over the sides that is why Indian children prefer riding bareback on an elephant to taking a howda

25:44one evening when my brother and I went out we put a mattress on curry's back and tied it very tightly with cards so that it would not slip for it is not pleasant to slip and fall under an elephant's belly and be stepped on but curry was trained so that he would not have stepped on us even if we had slipped under him we tightened the cards to the mattress however and lay down for the night though we had bells we lifted them up and silenced the clappers so that in walking through the jungle road they would not ring and frighten the animals for the forest is the dwelling place of silence and silence being the voice of God no man dares to disturb it

26:44we lay on the back of curry and looked up at the stars in India the stars are so close that you can almost pluck them with your hands and the velvet blue of the sky is like a river of stillness running between banks of silver as we lay there unable to go to sleep right away we heard jungle sounds the heavy tread of the elephant was like clouds brushing the crest of the forest once in a while you could see a tiger come out of the jungle cross a road and disappear in the distance but curry was so brave he never condescended to notice the coming and goings of tigers once we heard the bark of a fox very near us and then he came out of the jungle

27:45curry stopped and the fox passed across the road then we moved on again in the moonlight which made the road before us look like a river of silver we saw squirrels sleeping from branch to branch you know perhaps that elephants can sleep as they walk presently curry's walks slackened into a slow pace and we felt quite sure that he was dosing then we remembered nothing for we too fell asleep I cannot tell how much time passed before we were startled out of our sleep by a terrible roar a ghastly trumpeting of the elephant and a terrible lunge of his body we had to hold on to his back very tightly to avoid being thrown off in a few seconds both of us had turned over

28:46I do not know how and we are lying on our faces holding on to the cords that held the mattress to curry's back while he broke into a run trees bent and broke branches fell and we could hear the monkeys stamp hitting from tree to tree and flocks of birds startled out of their sleep falling upon us their wings beating our faces we shouted to curry to be calm but he went on as if he were mad we heard boars nodding and running away and strange looking haunt creatures leaping and bounding off in all directions then a tree in front of us fell and the jungle thropped for a moment it seemed as though a shiver ran through curry's body and he stopped stock still

29:49it was very difficult to tell exactly what had happened until we got off curry's back I spoke to him and he shook his head then I spoke again and urged him to put up his head he obeyed and I climbed down by his trunk I felt it was very wet however and he shook me off with pain my brothers spoke to me from above and said when I told him how the trunk felt now I know you see this is autumn when bears eat mohola in the moonlight under the thick share of the trees as you know mohola intoxicates bears and makes them sleepy some bear had fallen asleep under the trees and curry who was also asleep and consequently did not even smell him with his trunk must have come upon him

30:53without suspecting his presence although all bears have brought up to respect elephants this one no doubt was so sleepy that he did not know who was upon him and so I am sure he must have sprung up in his surprise and scratched curry's trunk if curry had been wide awake he would have killed the bear but being sleepy the shock and the surprise of the attack and the pain in his trunk frightened him so that he ran out into the jungle mad with terror I put my hand on the trunk again yes it was bleeding I could see in the moonlight that it was not perspiration because my hand was dark red I spoke to curry again this time he did not shake his head so furiously

31:55he was rather willing to listen and I told him I was very sorry about his trunk but could do nothing here I also told him to go back to the road he shook his head that meant no do you know why he did not want to go back to that road? you shall learn at the end of this story I got upon his back again since he won't go back to the road said my brother we must give him the master call so that he can make a road through the jungle and we gave him the master call at this curry lifted his bleeding trunk and smoothed down the first tree and then he struck down the next tree he came upon a third which his trunk could not pull down so he turned around and walked away from it

32:55after taking a few steps he stopped and slowly walked backwards and with one push of his back knocked the tree down at this we could hear the flocks of birds flying in the air and feel the stamping feet below as heard of animals ran in every direction we heard the vibrant jabber of monkeys from tree tops and each time a new tree fell there was more jabbering and more leaping away from tree to tree we clung to the elephants back with our nails and teeth soon we found ourselves on the road three miles ahead of where curry had been frightened by the bear do you know why he did not go back to the same spot? because no animal ever likes to return to the place where he lost his pride

33:56for to be frightened is to lose one sprite end of chapter 2 the time only promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing meet the red bull dragonberry energizer it's one of the many new drinks out now who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire try them all only at McDonald's McDonald's is putting value back on the menu

34:57whether you're craving a big mac, McNuggets or sausage egg and cheese macrittles make it a meal and save your favorite is now your wallet's favorite too extra value meals are back sun rises prices fall get a sausage mac muffin with egg or sausage egg and cheese macrittles small hot coffee and hash frowns for just six dollars price and participation may vary promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing chapter 3 of curry the elephant by dhan go paal mukherjee this liberal works recording is in the public domain read by mahimaraj curry goes to town when curry was about five years old another adventure befell him we took him to see the town but before we had started we tried to train him to like dogs and monkeys

36:02elephants are proverbially irritated by dogs when an elephant goes through a village every dog barks at him while most elephants are too dignified to pay any attention there are some who get extremely annoyed and try to chase the dogs sometimes in fact an elephant will chase a dog so hard that he will lose his way in the village knowing that there were many unknown little hamlets between our village and the city we thought we would train curry to like dogs before we started for we did not want to be led as trained to all sorts of little alleys while he chased the dogs who had annoyed him but as all the dogs of our village had seen curry grow up they never paid any attention to him

37:05and that made it all the more difficult to train curry to like other dogs he always thought the dogs in our little village were the right kind since they did not bark at him whenever a strange dog barked at him he would chase the poor creature through the whole village and waste hours in finding his way back to the road we tried to train curry by taking him to villages that he had not yet seen there were no dogs in the first village we came to we went through it without any trouble in the second village we came across one or two dogs that barked a few times then disappeared in the distance then as we were leaving this village we heard terrible snorts and grounds all around us

38:05and were suddenly surrounded by a pack of angry mongrels, curbs and wild dogs it was terrible to see curry trying to chase them with his trunk sometimes he would try to step right on the back of a dog but the dog would slip away from under him little by little as the dogs began to bark all around him he started to go round and round in a circle faster and faster till he was spinning like a top we had a hard time sitting on his back because we felt terribly dizzy we were almost falling off when we heard a piercing yell and saw the whole pack of tormentors running away curry had stepped on one of the dogs and killed it and that frightened the others away

39:07we then brought curry home, gave him his bath in the river and offered him nice saplings and twigs but he would eat none of them from that day on curry was never upset by the barking of dogs but went through strange villages without paying any attention to them no matter how hard they barked at his heels now that he had become immune to dogs we tried to make him like monkeys monkeys as you know are very annoying little creatures I had a pet monkey of my own named Copi who was red faced and Tony coated he never came near the elephant and curry never thought of going near him whenever we went out this monkey used to sit on my shoulder

40:08and if we passed through bazaars where mangoes and other fruits were sold it was very difficult to keep Copi from getting into mischief in India everything is shown in the open and the mangoes lie in baskets piled up one about the other like little hills there were places where oranges were heaped up like big burning rocks here and there you could see brown men roped and white sitting near these mountains of fruit bargaining about the prices now it is very good to smell the fragrance of fruit and one day while going through the lane of a village as the fragrance of the fruit grew stronger I forgot all about Copi and did not realize that I was carrying him on my shoulder

41:08somehow the little monkey always knew when I was not thinking of him at such moments he would invariably jump off my shoulder and run straight for the oranges or mangoes take one or two of them and then make a die for a sheltered spot this upset the whole bazaar hundreds of men would pursue him from tree to tree yelling and throwing stones till he vanished out of sight of course I used to get terribly frightened fearing that the men would attack me for carrying such a mischievous monkey I would hurry out of the bazaar and make for home as fast as I could go then in an R or two I would find Copi on the house top

42:08looking perfectly innocent and scratching himself no one could ever tell by his face that he had stolen fruit a short while before when the time came for me to go to town I was anxious to take Copi and carry with me and I wanted the elephant to like the monkey and the monkey to behave like a gentleman toward the elephant one day I brought the monkey on my shoulder and held him tight with both hands in front of the pevulean where the elephant was busy eating all kinds of saplings sometimes he would take a strong twig and unravel the top into a soft fluffy tough then he would seize the other end of it with his trunk and brush himself the moment he saw the monkey he snorted and raised his trunk to grab him

43:12with one wild scream the monkey jumped off my shoulder climbed up the pevulean post and disappeared on the roof I went to carry and spoke to him I said, Curry, in order to like dogs you killed one now don't kill my monkey in order to like monkeys he was very displeased that I should ever want him to like monkeys because elephants are very much like some people who don't like to associate with others who have come from nowhere and whom they consider their infirures elephants don't like to associate with monkeys for they came from nowhere you must remember too that elephants rarely see monkeys because monkeys are about the elephants most of the time jumping and squealing among the trees in a manner

44:13most annoying to acquire it and sedate creature like an elephant it did not take more than a week however to bring curry and copi together one day there was a pile of fruit lying in the open and the elephants stood at one end eating and the monkey at the other both enjoying the feast of course the elephant ate faster than the monkey and realizing this copi began to eat more quickly and soon had enormous pouches on each side of his face before long all the fruit was gone and the two animals were left facing each other the monkey trembled with fear he was almost on the point of running away to a tree top but no one knows why the elephant turned away from him and went into his pavilion

45:19this gave the monkey great courage so he went straight up to the roof of the pavilion looking for the best of verbo discover vacation rentals of the year top quality homes guests love from across the country our curated list takes the guesswork out of planning so you can spend less time searching and more time packing book your next day now with verbo kitchen and bathroom professionals know what goes behind the tile matters that's why trade pros trust fiber cement party backer board to keep tile firmly in place resist cracking and help block moisture chosen over 40 million kitchens and bathrooms party backer board what the best build on shop now at participating home depot lows and floor into core stores for more information visit jameshardy.com slash hardy backer shop the sirwin Williams Labor Day sale and get 35% off paints and stains August 28th through September 9th whether you're refreshing your interior or exterior

46:21we've got the colors to bring your vision to life and with delivery getting everything to your door is easier than ever shop online to have it delivered or visit your neighborhood sirwin Williams store click the banner to learn more retail sales only some exclusions apply see store for details delivery available on qualifying orders appearing down through the eaves found out that the elephant lived on twigs and fruits and saplings just like himself having watched all this I then got up on caries back and whistle to the monkey he leaped down from the tree onto my shoulder the elephant shivered for a moment and then was absolutely still when I ordered him Molly he worked on one day I took them to the bazaar I on the elephant and the monkey on my shoulder when we had reached a mountain of mangoes

47:25round the corner of a lane the monkey jumped off and climbed up to the top of the pile at this the owner of the fruit chased him away yelling and shouting the monkey climbed up the roof of a house followed by a crowd carry however put out his trunk and helped himself to whatever fruits he liked eating them with great relish the moment he heard the people coming back from the monkey chase he ran away and you may be surprised to know that when an elephant runs he can go more than 10 miles an hour by the time we reached home copie had buried his face in an enormous mango and was covered with the juice and you know that mango tastes very much like strawberries and cream which sugar on them

48:28at last we set off for the city carry and copie now the best of friends it was very interesting at night going through the jungle country the moonlight was intense falling like white waters on the land you could see the tree tops and at midnight almost clear down to the very floor of the jungle where the shadows were ticked like packs of wolves crouching in sleep the elephant went through these regions perfectly carry he did not care who came or went or what happened but not so the monkey monkeys you know are always afraid of snakes and you know why snakes go up trees and eat birds and their younglings monkeys also live by stealing eggs from different birds nest

49:32now it sometimes happens that the snake eats all the birds eggs in the nest and is resting there when the monkey puts his hands into grab the eggs so the monkey instead of getting the eggs is tongue to death as this sort of thing has been happening for thousands of years it is natural that the fear snakes monkeys also get punished for using their hands too much now if you come across a snake the best thing to do is not to touch it monkeys however accustomed to using their hands continually grab a snake whenever they see one with the result that the snake usually stinks them to death I have never seen a snake do this but I have seen dead snakes with marks on their bodies

50:34showing that monkeys had twisted them like ropes broken their bags and thrown them down before the snakes could use their fangs this however is very rare as we were going through the jungle that night Kopee would shiver with terror whenever there was a swish of a snake's body in the grass below or in the leaves above and I had to put my hand on his back and whisper don't be afraid you are on the elephants back and nothing can touch you another thing that used to frighten him was the hooting of the night owl any monkey that lives in the jungle is used to it but as Kopee was born among human beings and had always lived with them he had never heard jungle noises

51:34when the owls beat their wings and gave the mating call and hoot it was like a form of noise rising over a river of silence I too was alarmed when I would suddenly hear the hooting in my sleep but both Kopee and I soon got used to it about 4 o'clock in the morning Kari stopped and refused to go a step further though I was asleep Kopee began to pull me by the hand and instantly after being aroused I heard or rather felt as if clouds were passing by the monkeys eyes were all eagerness and burning with excitement and I looked down where he was looking the honey-colored moon was casting slanting rays into the jungle

52:35through dark moving clouds we did not know what we saw it seemed as though two or three hundred wild elephants in a herd were going through the jungle or perhaps the clouds were feeding on the leaves that night no one knows what it was but we did no silence walked by telling us of the mysteries of the jungle and we could not understand then out of the stillness a bird's note fell through the jungle and there was a gleam of whiteness that instant silence was lifted dawn began to sing through the jungle and you could hear its flute like call fading away in the distance followed by a momentary hush then the birds began to sing and soon the sun came leaping over the forest

53:37like a horse of flame this must have taken at least an hour and a half but we did not even know when the elephant resumed his walk we soon came to a river where we stopped I gave the elephant his bath the monkey went off and search of food from tree to tree then I based myself and stood facing the east saying these words of prayer O blossom of east in silence reveal to us the face of God the shadow is this day and whose light is always within us leaders from the unreal to the real from sound into silence, from darkness unto light and from death into immortality in India every hour has its prayer and every prayer can be said unconsciously anywhere

54:41nobody notices you if you kneel down on the road to say your prayer in spite of the fact that you are blocking the traffic religion runs like singing waters by the shores of every human life in India I went to the forest nearby and got the elephant his food and as he started to eat I began to cook my own meal when traveling it is better to cook one's own meal so that it will be clean and uncontaminated very soon I saw a caravan coming apparently Kopee had seen it from the tree top as he was chattering with great excitement to tell me it was coming I told him to hold his tongue because the elephant was getting restless

55:41I decided to go with the caravan into the town because the caravan people knew the shortest way I also prefer to travel in human company rather than alone no sooner had the caravan reached us than our attention was drawn to the faces of the camels probing the distance you know how a camel examines the air as he goes along he is continually stretching forth his head and smelling the air and he can do this easily with his long neck as camels live in the desert they must keep smelling the air to find out its humidity every time the air is very humid they know that water is nearby that is why we call camels the examiners of space in your country you would call them animal barometers

56:43the moment Cari saw the camels he's knotted in anger kitchen and bathroom professionals know what goes behind the tile matters that's why trade pros trust Fiber cement party backer board to keep tile firmly in place, resist cracking and help block moisture chosen over 40 million kitchens and bathrooms party backer board what the best build on shop now at participating home depot, lows and floor into core stores for more information visit jameshardy.com slashhardybacker when you're in charge of your company's corporate card program you probably want support from someone who gets it that's where the American Express corporate program is different you get support from real people experts who understand your setup and can help you when you need it so you're not managing your corporate card program alone connect with the member of our team live at 1-855-5313491

57:46though the monkey was excited and thrilled you see elephants are the aristocrats of animals while camels are snops you can easily tell a snob he holds his head in a very supercilious way always looking down on everyone and don't you think if you put a monocle on a camel's eye he would look like any snob that walks down the avenue nevertheless I made my elephant join the camels that is to say we kept about 100 yards behind them because I could not let the monkey bound from camel hump to camel hump and it would not do to let the elephant put his trunk about the camel's necks and twist them to admit that the whole caravan stopped and all the animals were tied under different trees

58:48for two or three hours to rest as we knew we could easily reach the city by sundown we all enjoyed our CS style about half past three the doors began to cool and that made the monkey sit up and listen being a dweller of the trees by birth Kopey was always sensitive to tree sounds Soon a kukuk called from the distance and in a few moments the caravan was ready to move on nothing exciting happened the rest of the journey end of chapter 3 chapter 4 of Karri the elephant by Dangupal Mukherjee this liberal walks recording is in the public domain

59:52read by Mahimaraj Karri's adventure in Banaras as the sun went down in the gathering silence of the evening we entered the city of Banaras the oldest city in India for three thousand years stone has been laid on stone to keep the city with its hot tea towers and somber dooms about the rushing and destroying currents of the sacred river the river like a liquid axe is continually cutting away the foundations of the city at night you can hear the whispering ganges knowing at the stone embankments and that is why all the tall towers of Banaras lean slightly over the water's edge their roots are being cut as beavers cut the roots of trees

1:00:55and any Hindu who comes into Banaras feels the age of India she has lived very long indeed too long and it seems time no more clings to her than the morning dew clings to the lion's mane we went through Banaras in a long narrow file the camels went first and the monkey who had jumped off my shoulder was leaping from roof to roof following the tide of the caravan sometimes he would run ahead and chatter and then suddenly disappear among roofs and walls then he would rush back to talk to me I fast into silver bells dangling from silver chains to the elephant's sides and the cool sound of the bells sank into the cooler serenity of the Indian evening

1:01:57people were walking about and purple and gold togas on the house tops were pigeons whose throats shone like iridescent beets through lattice balconies you could see the faces of women with eyes warm and tranquil as the midnight we had not gone very far when Kari put out his trunk and took a peacock fan out of a lady's hand as she lent against the railing of a balcony he then proceeded to give it to me I made him stop and give it back to its owner the lady however would not take it oh little dreamer of the evening she said coold I self with my peacock fan the elephant is very wise but I am afraid he is no worse a scamp than dawa

1:03:00I took the fan made my bow to the lady and went on hardly had we gone two more blocks when the screaming and jabbering monkey fell upon us behind him on the roof of one of the houses we saw a man with a long cudgel which he shook at the monkey I stopped the elephant again and said to the man why are dawa irate when the evening is so cool little man of the city that monkey ten thousand curses upon him he said he has been teasing my parrot in its cage and has plucked so many of its feathers that it now looks like a beaked rat I shall indeed punish this wayward monkey I answered but dawa knows that monkeys are no less wayward than dawa and i

1:04:02at this the man on the roof got very angry and began to hurl all kinds of abuses at me but I prodded the elephant with my foot and he walked on while the swearing and cursing of the little man of the city resounded in the stillness of the night nothing befell us that night as we took shelter in the open grounds outside of the city the following morning long before day break I heard nothing but the beat beat beat of unknown feet on the dusky pavement of bananas it seemed as though the stillness of the night were hurrying away I left my animals where they were and went in quest of these beating feet there is something sinister in this walk of the Hindu the Hindu walks with a great deal of voice

1:05:04in fact very much like an elephant but he also has the agility of the panzer I did not realize it until that early morning when I heard the moving feet as one hears dogs on the hurrying heels of a stack so I reached the riverbank where I saw thousands and thousands of pilgrims crowding the steps of the god the staircase leading to the river bathing and waiting to greet the dawn as I followed their example and took my bath their arouse over the swaying crowd and the beating feet a murmur like the spray of foam on the seashore after the breakers have dashed against the beach then the day broke like two horses of livid light rushing through the air

1:06:05in the tropics the daybreak is very sudden hardly had those streaks of light spent themselves through the sky and over the waters when a golden glow fell upon the faces of the people and they raised their hands in a gesture of benediction greeting the morning sun which rose like a mountain of crimson under a tide of gold all of us said our morning prayer thousands of voices in toning together I could not stay at the god very long however I knew my animals would be looking for me so I hastened back low and behold the sight greeted me the monkey was sitting on the neck of the elephant and Kari who had never been accustomed to that sort of thing was running all around

1:07:07raising his trunk and bending it backwards to reach the monkey in frantic efforts to shake him off the one spot that an elephant cannot shake however is his neck so the monkey stayed there perfectly calm looking into space secure in his seat I shouted to Kari to stop and seeing me he came rushing towards me trembling he made an effort to shake Kopey off but the monkey was glued to his neck I swore at Kopey and told him to get off he looked down at me as if nothing had happened I too was very irritated for even I had never seen a monkey on an elephant's neck that is considered very improper I threw a stone at the monkey and he jumped from the elephant's neck

1:08:13went straight up a tree and stayed there I patted Kari's back and tried to soothe him then I took him by the ear and we walked into town Kari loved human beings the more he saw them the happier he felt he glided by them like a human child I was very proud of him and his behavior as we went on our way a mouse ran out of a hole in the foundations of a house in front of us Kari turned around curled up his trunk put it in his mouth and ran you see elephants are not afraid of anything except mice for a mouse can crawl into an elephant's trunk and disappear in his head I was humiliated beyond measure at Kari's behavior he did not stop till he reached the open ground which he had left half an hour before

1:09:20the monkey was still sitting in the tree seeing us he shook a purse at me he had stolen somebody's purse and was holding it in his hands waiting for it to be ransomed monkeys are very much like bandits once I remember my little sister who was two months old was lying in a basket on the veranda suddenly we heard her crying and going out on the veranda found that she was not there basket and all had disappeared then we looked up at a tree and there was an enormous baboon looking down at us while with one hand he held the basket which was resting on a branch my father however knew what to do he sent a servant at once to the bazaar

1:10:21and in the meantime brought all of the fruit in the house and spread it on the floor of the veranda the monkey shook his head meaning that was not ransom enough for him very soon the servant returned with an enormous quantity of bananas the baboon immediately came down and it was remarkable how he brought down the basket without upsetting it my mother all this while was weeping silently leaning against the door but now her grief was turned to gladness for low and behold there was the baby asleep in the basket on the veranda while the baboon sat on a pile of bananas giving a strange monkey called to other monkeys scarcely had we taken the baby into the house and shut the glass doors of the veranda

1:11:22when we heard monkeys hooting and calling from all directions leaping from tree to tree and falling with a great third on our roof in 10 minutes the veranda became a regular parliament of monkeys chattering over their dinners after this we were very careful about the baby every time she was put out a man or woman with a stick always watched over her remembering now what had happened to my sister years ago I called to the men of the caravan who had not yet started and told them the monkey had the purse true enough one of them was accusing his servant of having stolen his purse I told them to buy some bananas and leave them under the tree and in the course of the day the monkey would come down

1:12:23leave the purse and take the bananas I had been humiliated by my elephant and now being disgusted with my monkey I took curry into town again this time I had my uncle's with me so that in case he should run away again I could prick his neck and make him behave we went by jivola shop where they were cutting diamonds and stopped in front of the gold smith door seeing us wait there the smith came out what do you want? do you want gold rings for your elephant's tusk? you know they put rings on elephant's tusk as human beings put golds in their teeth? his tusk have just begun to sprout they are too beautiful to spoil with rings yet I answered but my rings always make tusk more beautiful

1:13:29was his retort I answered all the city folk thing that what they do makes everything beautiful why don't they make their dirty city beautiful? the smith was angry if thou be not a buyer of gold nor a vendor of silver tarry not at my door I have no time for beggars as we trotted off I called back I do not sell silver nor do I buy gold but when my elephant grows up he will have such tusk that you will cast eyes of envy on them but this elephant will live more than 125 years and thou shall be dead by then and so there will be no chance of soiling his ivory by buying thy gold we walked on very silently through the city and then of a sudden a pack of dogs were upon us

1:14:31we knew not when they had come kari was as dignified as a mountain he never noticed them but the less attention he paid to them the more audacious the dogs grew they came after us and I did not know what to do as I did not even have a stone to throw at them in a few moments we were hemmed in my packs of dogs quickly now kari turned around and in an instant lifted dog into the air with his trunk as the dog would have been dashed into bits I yelled into his ear brother brother do not kill him but let him down gently he will not bite you at this moment the dog gave such a terrible cry of pain as the trunk was coming down that kari stopped and slowly brought him to the ground

1:15:34the dog however was already dead the pressure of the trunk had killed him and the other dogs seeing his fate had already run away kari walked rapidly out of the city and I was heart sick he went straight to the riverbank and with great difficulty walked down the steps of the guard and buried all except his trunk in the water he stood there knowing that I knew that he had done something wrong and he was trying to cleanse himself of it I too took my bath late in the afternoon we went back and found copie still sitting on the same tree and looking for us as the caravan had left long ago judging by the banana peels under the trees we realized he had had his dinner

1:16:35kari and I however were very hungry and we were both sick of the city we did not want to see it again so I called to the monkey to follow and urged the elephant to go on to the nearest forest copie with one leap jumped on my neck as I sat on the elephants back this ended kari's expedition to the city it is better for animals to be where the jungle is for the jungle is sweeter and kinder than that wilderness of stones the city end of chapter 4 chapter 5 of kari the elephant by dhangopal Mukherjee this liberal walks recording is in the public domain read by my ma raj

1:17:38the jungle spirit it took us much longer to return home we lost nearly 24 hours in a jungle where we had the strangest experiences of our lives we had already covered half the distance when one day at noon we reached the river across which lay the jungle it was so hot that kari would not go any further the moment he smelled the moist earth of the river bank he literally ran into the water and lay there copie and I had to sit on his back while the waves of the river played around us as the waves of the sea play around an island kari kept his trunk about the water and when he moved we almost fell off his back the monkey clung to me for as you know monkeys do not know how to swim

1:18:45there are two reasons why monkeys are afraid of the water not only are they unable to swim because the fingers of their hands are not webbed together as are dark stoves but being accustomed to go through the air by leaping from branch to branch they think that they should leap from place to place in the water seeing that the elephant was wayward I told copie to hold on to my head then I swam a shore and waited for the elephant to come out now that we were off his back he raised himself a little about the water and began to draw vast quantities of water up his trunk and snorted it out at the monkey who was running up and down the shore chattering fiercely and keeping at a safe distance to avoid being drenched

1:19:45this shows that elephants have a sense of humour they always know where to keep a monkey and it is the monkey's business to know when the elephant is going to indulge in humour as elephants do not know that monkeys cannot swim I was afraid that if copie was not careful carry my throw him into the river for fun and that would have been the end of him I soon forgot the elephant and the monkey however and fell asleep on the river back I was awakened by a terrible cry from the monkey and a trumpeting from the elephant I sat up with a start and I saw copie sitting on the ground shivering with terror and curry standing in front of him waving his trunk in the air and trumpeting for all he was worth

1:20:50I lay on the ground and lifted myself on my elbows through the elephant's legs I saw a great snake right under him held almost between his four legs my blood congealed in terror of course curry was five years old his skin was so thick that the cobra could never bite deep enough to bury its poisonous fangs in his arteries the monkey was hypnotized with fear but he could neither run away nor go forward nor come to me he sat there shivering with terror I crept slightly around the elephant in an approached copie I knew that if I touched him he would turn around and bite me he was so frightened that anything that touched him would mean to his excited brain only the sting of the snake

1:21:56the idea that he would be stung to death had taken possession of the whole animal I could now see what had happened the elephant had stepped on the middle of the snake its back was broken and it could not move but there was life in the rest of its body and it was standing erect like a sharp olem of Ebony its black hood with a white mark on its spread out as large as the palm of a man's hand of course it could not stay in that position long its weighed and almost fell to the ground the moment that happened curry raised his foot and put it down on the snake's neck but the snake lifted up its head in such a way that whenever there was a chance for the elephant to put his foot on its head it would immediately raise itself on its broken back

1:23:00its agony must have been great yet it would not given for a long time as the snake could not move with its back broken and the foot of the elephant still on it I knew I had better go and kill it with a stick as I approached it with my stick the monkeys eyes which had been fixed on the snake suddenly moved he looked at me and bounded off with the piercing, chattering yell towards the nearest tree the spirit of terror that had held him hypnotized so long was broken at last for he had seen someone who could kill the snake the moment the monkey bounded off the snake stung the elephant's toenails those horny plates around his feet this is a vital spot as the arteries come very near the surface

1:24:06knowing this curry raised his foot evidently he was not hurt but I was not sure how long he could stand on three legs I was also afraid that he would fall and bring his trunk near the snake and any snake can poison an elephant by stinging the end of his trunk I hit the snake on the head with my stick but instead of striking his head the stick slipped down that ebony column which was still standing erect fortunately in order to award the next blow the snake fell on his side that very instant the up raised foot of the elephant was on his head curry walked away and poured the sand with his feet to cleanse them I thought of calling tocopy who had taken refuge on a tree top

1:25:10but I was so anxious to know whether the elephant's foot was hurt or not that I followed him about until he let me look at it I was relieved to see that the skin of his foot had not been broken then I called to the monkey to come down from the tree he shook his head I knew he was so ashamed of being afraid that he preferred to be alone in the privacy of the tree in order to gather his forces together the sun was beginning to sink the jungle was not very far off and I was certain that the breeze blowing across the river had taken the scent of human beings into the depths of the forest the twilight came swiftly the bars of gold and light vibrated over the tawny waters and darkness fell like a black sword cutting the day from the night

1:26:13the voices of the birds from the tree tops here and there died down and asked to enhance the silence insect voices came from under the grass I got on my elephants back and sat there quietly for as the evening silence goes by each man must make his prayer as the silence walked on I see the grass waving in zigzag curves across the river it was always making half the figure eight in the undergrowth of the jungle gradually all grew still and then over the river came the terrible hunger veil of a tiger that instant its tawny face scarred with black emerged from behind green leaves he saw I was across the river the tiger's body is marked with the same stripes and curves

1:27:16as he makes in the grass when he walks and people in the jungle can always tell by the wave of the grass which animal has passed that way throughout the countryside wherever the echo of the veil was heard attention fell upon everything even the saplings were tense and you could almost hear the cracking of the muscles of the animals holding themselves together and watching which way the tiger would pass it was as if the horn of the chase had sounded and blown each one had to take to cover night came on a pace I wanted to tie curry to a big tree but he refused to be tied up that night he paced up and down the shore without making the slightest noise

1:28:21then he would suddenly stand still and stop the waving of his ears in order to listen very intently to shadows of songs that might be passing I stayed on his back intent on knowing what he was going to do soon very soon the river became silver yellow and over the jungle a quickening silence dropped from leaf to leaf then swiftly the terrible face of the moon was upon us curry snorted and stepped backwards I too was surprised because this was another moon very rarely seen by men it was the moon bringing the call of the summer to the jungle it was the call for hunt and challenge when elephants kill elephants to win their mates

1:29:24and under the moon lay a great sinister figure like the terrible face of a dragon the July cloud was hovering in the distance and between the cloud banks and the moon I saw strange things as if throngs of white animals were going from sky to sky I don't know why no one ever knows these are the spirits of the jungle the dead ancestors of the animals now living without warning curry now plunged into the river I spoke to him scratched his neck with the uncles but he would not stop he floated the river at times almost drowning and charged madly up the other shore where we were lost in the darkness of leaves and winds no moonlight fell on us

1:30:25not even the knowledge that the moon was up could be vouched for in this thick black place end of chapter 5 chapter 6 of curry the elephant by Dhan Gopal Mukherjee this liberal walks recording is in the public domain read by Mahima Raj curry story I cannot tell how many hours passed I think I fell asleep but perhaps I saw this waking I cannot tell suddenly curry's face changed he moved his eyes forward looked at me and said brother this is the night of the jungle and I want you to hear a tale that my mother told me

1:31:32when I was four months old and still roaming in the jungle that was a short time before she and I were captured by men I was born near the foothills of the Himalayas for the snow-covered mountains could be seen in the distance but we elephants were so proud of our own height that we never bothered about the hills I once asked my mother why do tigers smell like this? wherever a tiger goes he brings a terrible stench with him this is what she told me every animal that lives in the jungle is born to one kind of food or another he either eats meat or he lives on herbs and fruits those who eat herbs never hate a fear but those who eat other animals are tainted with both

1:32:34we elephants never fear anyone or hate anyone and that is why we exude no stench but a tiger has to live by killing in order to kill one must hate and in order to hate one must fear and those spirits that you see walking through the air have taught all animals the secret of the jungle now the secret of the jungle is this the animal that lives by killing is deceased he carries a strange festering sword within him and that poisons his whole blood wherever he goes the stench of that poison reaches other animals and this mother of us all who loves tigers as well as the antelopes they kill is so wise that animals that kill must be branded

1:33:39so that their victims will be able to take shelter for this reason wherever the tiger goes his stench recedes him and knowing this and knowing this the fox comes out of his little hole and calls through the jungle that the tiger is out hence here in the night when the moonlight falls on the thickest gloom following the plaintiff cry the cunning fox the servant of our mother threads its way through the jungle giving the warning to all animals very soon one sees the black form of a tiger moving in the moonlight without the slightest sound he never attacks elephants after he passes the horrible smell of carnage grows less and less and then another fox gives the calls throughout the jungle telling the animals that the tiger has passed

1:34:45if on the moral thou come us to the same spot where the tiger and fox have passed thou shall not find a trace of their coming and going for it is the law of the jungle that no animal leaves the mark of his foot or the stain of his presence on leaves or grass the victims of the tiger dare not leave footprints for it will give away their whereabouts the cheetah the tiger and even the wild cats who live by killing leave no trace behind and that is why the dwelling of men annoys me so they cannot even raise their heads without disturbing the air in my dream I asked him how did you live with your elephant mother in the jungle our life was a playing anatoid he answered

1:35:45but the toil was a playing and the playing was a toil when the leaves began to get crisp and coloured and the sun called us to the south we would leave the foothills of the Himalayas and follow the sacred riverbed through vast forest lanes going further and further south time and again we would come to dwellings of men how wretched a men wherever they go they murder trees and slaughter forests and in these coming and goings I saw strange things one winter when we came to jungles on the seashore where I saw crocodiles lying on the banks of the delta in the daytime with their mouths open and little birds going in and out of them cleaning their teeth and eating all the insects that poison their gums

1:36:49it is a pity we elephants have no birds to clean our teeth and there too even in the water you could smell animals that lived on other animals when we travelled the old male masters went first then the children then babies and the mothers and in the rear all the maidens and young fathers when we went to sleep at night the old ones made a ring of tusks within which the young maids and the maids each made rings and in that triple ring we children slept guarded by elephants and stars in my sleep in the jungle I have seen elephant ghosts in the sky shaking their tusses of lightning roaring in anger and battling with the moon these elephants of the sky are our dead and sisters watching over us

1:37:53you know in the beginning elephants ruled over all other animals and hence men and monkeys and snakes and tigers were created who made the rhinoceros I asked in my dream the rhinoceros curry answered is a wayward elephant once when our ancestors were making a very beautiful animal they fell asleep they had already completed the thick hide and the small legs when some malicious spirit completed the head and instead of putting a trunk put a horn on it and that is why the rhinoceros goes through the jungle like a spirit of evil do thou not hear him coming tonight the trees are falling and the saplings are cracking the rhinoceros is snotting

1:38:58that is the way of his coming wherever he goes he carries destruction before him and he is not afraid to leave a trail behind for no animal could kill him and tigers do not want to kill him because they cannot get beyond his high that minute a tall tree fell in front of us and the raging rhinoceros went by why does he walk straight I said to curry most animals do not only the well-born go round curry said the ill-bred find the shortest road to everything just then there was stillness in the jungle and from nowhere like marching clouds came herds of elephants silent and slow about there was no light a vast blackness had been spread over the stars and moon and throughout the gloom

1:40:02beyond there was a singing and an eagerness go up the tree curry said to me I want to be rid of you tonight sleeping or dreaming I do not know I did his bidding and then saw curry stand and give a call and the whole elephant heard stopped I could understand everything they said and when they look at him some of the young elephants laughed look he has the mark of a chain on his ankle he bears the slavery of man curry raised his trunk and silenced their silly chatter by trumpeting then he said I want to meet tonight how many of you freeborn want to test my strength one of the young elephant said how old are you there is no age to a hero

1:41:04and said curry one of the elephants the leader of the herd shook his head we have amongst us younglings who have taught tigers humility we have amongst us younglings who have broken hillocks with their fury and pull down the thickest trees of the jungle so thou man lover temporize speech to humility it is not need for thee to seek a bride amongst the freeborn curry snorted and said give for the challenge I accept and one of the elephants with two small tusks just coming out of his mouth stood out from the herd and trumpeted curry stood and a quiver ran through his muscles and I could see his body drop don't be afraid I whisper to him we have taught you the tale of man

1:42:09he does not know it he waved his trunk at me and then plunged into the other elephant the whole herd stood around and watched the fight in a few moments a young girl elephants stood apart from the herd watching the fight and I knew she was the price of this matter first they put their trunks together and belowed then the two mountains of flesh bounded at each other as if hills were striking hills as I have said before curry's tusks were not long enough to be of any use so every time they crushed against each other curry had to be very careful to avoid the others tus at last their trunks came together and their bodies were tightly pinnied

1:43:11they looked like a great mountain spinning round and round there was a pause and curry rose on his hind legs and held his front legs up that instant the wild elephant let go of his trunk and left to cut curry's trunk with his tusks but before he could do that curry struck him on the head and he went reeling into the distance he would have fallen if he had not struck against a tree and if an elephant falls that is the end of the battle as curry thought he had struck his opponent down he stood there feeling victorious and I could see a shiver of relief going through his body the other elephant however gauged the distance and came upon him again with great momentum

1:44:17before curry realized what had happened the elephant gored him with his tusks curry gave a painful yell and walking backwards drew his neck from the tusks of his opponent I could feel a quake go through him as a tree which has just been cut drops before it falls the herd yelled and shook their heads with great glee whispering we have won then curry began to walk in the circle the other elephant did likewise and they faced each other now and then they would come close together their trunks would strike each other then they would separate and go around again by this time the sky was black and they lived tongue of the lightning flickered on the crest of the clouds

1:45:24but the rumble of the thunder could not be heard because the two elephants were trumpeting so loudly again they locked trunks and bodies and spun around quickly curry released his trunk and stood aside leaving the other elephant to go spinning against the herd that instant curry ran forward and struck the side of the other elephant giving him a broadside blue and throwing him on the ground the herd scattered and a clamor of wonders spread from elephant curry rose on his hind legs and fell upon his opponent with his forefeet as he started to rise the oldest elephant said it is done

1:46:24at this the herd's lunker was slowly and the beaten elephant was seen no more the female who was waiting for the end of this battle came up to curry and they put their trunks together a deafening crash of thunder fell upon the forest and the lightning was striking trees far and near a terrible deluge of rain came and lotted everything out of sight I clung to the branch of my tree for fear I might be washed down to the ground I do not know how long it rained when I looked up I could see that there was a white light about the rain was still falling on me then I realized that the foliage above my head was so thick that the rain drops were caught in it and we're still coming down

1:47:29I did not dare to go up further into the tree for the branches were very slippery so I stayed until every drop of water had fallen the moon set and I could hear all kinds of noises many animals were moving about from the tree top I heard the shaking of the coats of the monkey and below on the ground I felt the heaving of hoofs on the wet grass then all this stopped and on the wet undergrowth again there was a movement like the zig-zag stripe of the tiger skin suddenly there was a bark followed by a deafening roar and then the thud of a leaping body falling on the ground

1:48:29the tiger had found his scale you know the tiger has three different calls the hunger wheel which is like a terrible sound cutting the jungle with hate then the snorting bark of the tiger which means that he is nearing his prey and then through the stillness of the jungle one hears his third call the triumph and roar of the kill which means that he has found his prey this roar has a terrible effect on the victim it paralyzes him with terror and like a lightning flash along with the roar the tiger falls upon his prey this is just what was happening now a short while before sunrise the tiger growled now and then to announce that he had had his dinner and then other small animals came up

1:49:39and fell upon the prey after he had left it all the animals who had taken shelter in their layers and holds it during the rain were now beginning to come out this morning there was no silence in the jungle in the small hours all the animals were eager to get something to eat so that by daybreak they could go to sleep with something in their stomachs when the dawn came I saw curry standing under the tree in the thick twilight under the foliage I came down on the ground to find traces of the struggle of the night the rain had washed it all away but as I got up and touched curry's neck he winced and I knew that the marks he bore

1:50:40were the only testimony of the battle we went back across the river and found copied there wet and miserable he was glad to get down from the tree and get on the elephants back and feel the sunlight on his skin I urged curry to get him something to eat but he would not hear of it so we hastened back toward the village on our way home I verified the law of the jungle for curry had really developed a slight stretch you may say that it was the wound that gave the order but I do not think so when he went to war and battled with another elephant he must have hated as well as feared and the smell of fear and hate was upon him

1:51:44it took nearly a fortnight to wash the stench away from him and you must remember that it was not the bathing in the water that did it it was in the gentle care and friendship of the village that curry gradually forgot to hate his enemy end of chapter 6 chapter 7 of curry the elephant by Dhangopal Mukherjee this labour walks recording is in the public domain the tiger hunt I have told you that curry was not a hunting elephant after that experience in the jungle however he seemed to be about all fear and surprise on many occasions he showed such dignity and composure that one could not recognize in him the old nervous beast

1:52:54apparently that battle with the wild elephant gave him such confidence in his own strength that from that time on no incident could surprise him you do not know what music can do for animals if you took a flute and played certain tunes on it all of the snakes would come out of their holes and dance to the music there is supposed to be a kind of flower like a sensitive plant that can be put to sleep by the playing of a very delicate tune I have seen with my own eyes how fond the deer are of music sometimes in the middle of the afternoon if you stand on the edge of the forest and play your flute and slowly strike the notes

1:53:58which sound like the whistling call of the antelope you will see a strange phenomenon the deer generally bark but they also give a whistling call as I was playing my flute one afternoon I remember distinctly that nothing happened for a while I stopped and tried another tune I heard a strange rustle in the leaves of the small plants of the jungle but nothing came of it again I changed my tune and played on this time even the leaves did not move so I was sure my flute was not catching the ear of any animal

1:54:58I was heartbroken I had gone to test my knowledge of flute playing but I found out that I could not attract any animal it was getting late the darkness of the jungle became thicker and thicker though the April sun was still scorching the open meadow at last in desperation I tried my only remaining tune not being very proficient on the flute for a while nothing happened I played so intently that I paid attention to nothing else and was greatly startled to hear a noise as if somewhere we are pulling on a rope I looked up and there was a stag whose nostrils were quivering with excitement as if he sent it the music

1:56:04his beautiful folk thorns were caught up in a creeper hanging from a tree from which he was trying to free himself I kept on playing but did not take my eyes from him at last he freed himself from the wine but a tendril still clung to his haunts like a crown of green he came nearer and stood still I kept on playing and one by one more golden faces began to come out from behind the foliage of the jungle the spotted fawn, the musk deer, gazils and antelopes all seemed to answer the call of the music I stopped playing that instant a shewer went through the herd

1:57:07the stag stamped his foot on the ground and as swiftly as the waving of a blade of grass in the breeze they all disappeared in the forest I could feel in the distance the shewer of the undergrowth of grass and saplings indicating the way the animals had passed knowing this power of music over animals I wanted to train Kari and Kopey to follow the tunes of my flute Kopey was such a monkey that I could not make him listen whenever I began to play the flute he would go to sleep or run up a tree monkeys have no brains Kari on the contrary though much worse at first was more sensible

1:58:07he paid no attention to any tune that I played but once in a while I would strike a note that would make him stop still and listen and I could tell by his manner that this tune went home those long fanning years of his would stop waving and the restless trunk would be still for a moment unfortunately the notes that really reached his soul were very few I could hardly sustain them for more than a minute and a half weeks passed before I could get them back again one day after the battle with the wild elephant in the jungle I took up the flute again and began to play for him I tried many notes and chords

1:59:08at last I could sustain the tones he liked for more than three minutes by the end of August I could make Kari listen to my music for ten minutes at a time when another winter had passed and some of them again I could really command him with my music I could sit on his back almost on his neck and play the flute never saying a word and guide him for days and days this summer a very daring tiger visited our village his head looked like a tower and his body was as large as that of an ox at first he came in the night and killed oxen of bevelos but one night he killed a man and after that he never killed anything but men

2:00:13for the tiger is as fond of human meat as we are of chicken our house was very near the jungle all our windows were barred with iron nothing could go in or out through them except mosquitoes or flies one evening I was sitting at my window at about eight o'clock I heard the cry of a fire the fox which goes ahead of the tiger giving the warning call to all the other animals then as the darkness that night was not very intense I could see the fox go by soon I could actually inhale the odor of a tiger in a few moments an enormous black creature came and stood in front of the window

2:01:19as he sat down the call of the fox in the distance stopped after a while the tigers stood up and walked toward the window that instant the fox in the distance began to call I was very frightened but as I wanted to see the tiger clearly I lit a match he was so frightened by the sight of fire that with one growl he bounded off after that the tiger took to coming early in the afternoons one day about four o'clock we saw him standing on a rock across the river looking at the village the river was very shallow hardly five inches deep but it was very broad and full of sandbars

2:02:25he stood looking at the village and growling with great joy in India the government does not allow the people to carry rifles of any sort so whenever a tiger or a leopard makes a new sense of himself around the village you generally have to send for a British official to come and kill him the world was sent to the magistrate of our district in a few days a chubby faced Englishman appeared in the Indian sun the red face of the westerner looks even redder there are certain rules by which men hunt in India you never shoot an animal weaker than yourself and if you want to shoot a tiger or a leopard you give it a warning

2:03:25if you do not do so you generally pay for it after the British official appeared I was allowed to take him on my elephant and go out in the open to show him that curry was fit for hunting he fired a number of shots and killed several birds curry who had never heard a shot before and whom everyone expected to be frightened did not pay the slightest attention to all the clamor of flying bullets he knew at heart he was the master of the jungle and hence nothing could surprise him it is said in India that the mark of a gentleman is that he is never surprised that shows that curry's ancestors were undoubtedly very gentle elephants

2:04:28after killing some more birds the magistrate became quite convinced that curry would do for the hunt so one morning about four o'clock we started out I sat almost on the neck of my elephant playing my flute and the magistrate sat in the howda which had been especially prepared for him since he was not accustomed to riding elephants any other way we crossed the river and went far into the jungle beaters had gone ahead in large groups to stir up the jungle from all directions it was very difficult to go through the jungle with the howda on the elephants back and we had to edge our way along between branches and trees after riding for at least two hours we came to an open space

2:05:32and it was agreed that the beaters should drive all the animals to this clearing this morning the sunrise was full of noise and without any of the soft and delicate silences which usually mark daybreak in the jungle I felt quite out of humour and apparently curry was born to death he kept on pulling at one tweak after another with his trunk nibbling and wasting everything our passenger did not know any language but English and as I knew nothing of English at that time we spoke very little and only by signs the first animals to come before us were a herd of antelopes which dashed towards us like burnt gold flashing through emerald water

2:06:34after they had passed lull fell on the scene which was soon broken by the grunt and snot of rhinoceros he rushed forward in a straight line as usual breaking and tearing everything curry averted his gaze because elephants are always irritated by the ostentatious puzzle of rhinoceros then soon after him we saw a horned moor rushing like a black javelin through the air followed by many animals, weasels and wild cats and once in a while a cheetah with its spotted skin they refused to come out in the open however but always went behind the screen of foliage and grass for they had smelled the danger signal, man and elephant

2:07:36every little while we heard a passionate and angry growl when the sound reached our ears the magistrate would sit up with his rifle to take aim then there would be a lull now we could hear the cry of the beaters in the distance coming nearer and nearer suddenly a herd of elephants passed they made no noise and left no trace but passed by like walking cathedrals again the angry growl fell on the jungle but this time it was ahead of us the beaters cried out again close by but always silenced by the roar of the approaching tiger with one bound he appeared in the clearing but immediately disappeared again

2:08:38we could see him passing from one bush to another and when he stopped we caught a glimpse of his hind legs without any warning the magistrate fired and like a thunderbolt the tiger leaped in front of the elephant with one roar car he reared he walked backwards and stood with his back against a tree the magistrate could not shoot at the tiger without sending a bullet through my head so he had to wait then with the leap the tiger was by the side of the elephant so close to the howda that there was not the distance of even a rifle between him and the magistrate I stopped my flute playing to swear at the magistrate I said you brother of a pig why did you not give him warnings before you shot

2:09:44who has ever heard of killing an animal without seeing him face to face can you kill a tiger by breaking his hind leg with a bullet the man was delivered with terror he had the rifle in his hand but the tiger was reaching over the howda and stretching out his part to get him he did not know what to do car he shook himself with all his strength but he could not shake the tiger off he trumpeted in great pain because the tigers' claws were cutting into his flesh he raised his trunks weighed his body and bounded against a tree behind him but still the tiger could not be shaken off the nearer the tigers pock he the more the magistrate tried to lean against the side of the howda

2:10:50pretty soon he moved towards the elephant's rear and thus reached the corner of the howda which gave him almost as much space as the length of a rifle I saw the eye of the tiger turned first red and then yellow and heard the terrible snarl which he gives only when he is sure of his prey the quality of the snarl is such that it paralyzes his victim seeing that the Englishman could do nothing and feeling sure that he would be killed I knew I had to do something I stopped swearing and with one terrible yellow gave the elephant the master call he went forward and put his trunk around a very thick branch of a tree and pulled it down with a great crash

2:11:52that instant the tiger looked at the direction from which the noise had come his head was near me now and he did not know whether to attack me or to go back to his former prey it seemed as if ours passed I was petrified with terror yet I knew that if I let my fright get possession of me I would be killed so I controlled myself Kari was now trying to strike the tiger with his trunk but he could not get at him suddenly I realized that the Englishman not only had the rifle's length between him and the tiger but was raising the rifle to take aim knowing this I took my flute and hit the tiger's knuckles with it

2:12:54he came toward me with his paw outstretched and caught the shawl which was loosely tied around my waist I was glad to hear it there because he had just missed my flesh that instant I saw the Englishman put the barrel of the rifle into the tiger's ear all I remember was hot blood spurting over my face Kari was running away with all his might and did not stop until he had crossed the clearing and disappeared beyond the trees he was not hurt except that his side was toned here and there with superficial wounds in the beta scheme I made the elephant kneel down we both got off the Englishman went to see how big the tiger was while I led Kari in quest of my broken flute

2:13:59towards and down when they had skinned the tiger they found its length to be 9 feet not counting the tail end of chapter 7 of Kari the elephant chapter 8 of Kari the elephant by Dhangopal Mukherjee this liberal arts recording is in the public domain read by Mahimaraj Kari and the quick scent though elephants are very unselfish animals they behave like human beings when brought to the last extremity the following adventure will show you what I mean

2:15:00one day Kari and Kopee and I went to the river bank to help pull a big barge up the river the tow men could not pull the ropes hard enough to make progress against the current all that they could do was to stand still without getting ahead at all so word was sent on to us and B3 went to help out I had missed Kari with the tow rope it was very amusing as he had never pulled a weight in his life at first he pulled very hard the rope almost broke and the barge swayed in the water almost toppled and then drifted to its previous position the swift current was going against it and the people in the barge were shaking their hands and swearing at us as they were adrift that the vessel would capsize

2:16:09Kari did not care after he had pulled the barge about 200 yards he stopped the ropes slackened and then the current pulled against us the rope became tought again and the men shrieked from the barge when you tug a boat you must not jerk at the rope but pull it gently so I urged Kari to pull it smoothly and the course of an hour he had actually drawn the boat in and at the end of her journey he had learnt to pull evenly after that we went on playing on the riverbank Kope jumped off the elephants back and ran along the shore I urged Kari to follow him and as we kept on going I lost all sense of direction and trusted to the intelligence of the enemies

2:17:15the monkey however had led us into a trap we had run into quicksand and Kari began to sink every time he tried to lift his feet he seemed to go deeper into the mud and he was so frightened that he tried to take hold of the monkey with his trunk and step on him as something solid but Kope chattered and rushed up a tree then Kari swung his trunk around, pulled down the mattress from his back and putting it on the ground tried to step on it that did not help so he curled up his trunk behind to try to get me to step on each time he made an effort like that however he sank deeper into the mud

2:18:15I saw the trunk curling back and creeping up to me like a python crawling up a hillside to coil around its prey there was no more trumpeting or calling from the elephant but a sinister silence through which he was trying to reach me he had come to the end of his unselfishness in order to save himself he was willing to step on me the monkey screamed from the tree top and I jumping off the elephant's back fell on the ground and ran Kari kept on trumpeting and calling for help and by this time he was just deep in the mud the rear of him had not sunk so far so he was on a slant which made it all the more difficult for him to lift himself

2:19:15I ran off to the village and called for help by the time we got back with ropes and planks he was holding his trunk up in order to breathe as the mud was up to his chin there was only one thing to do and that was to lift Kari by his own weight so we tied the rope to the tree and flung it to him he got it with his trunk and pulled the rope dropped and sank like an electric wire and the tree groaned with the tension but all that happened was that the elephant slipped forward a little and his hind legs fell deeper into the mud now he was perfectly flat in quicksand but something very interesting had taken place

2:20:15now that he was holding on to the rope with all his mortal strength we knew that he would not let go of it so it was easy to go near him and put planks under him as the hind part of his belly had not yet sunk to the level of the mud at last he stopped sinking but as we could not put the planks under his feet it only meant that he would not go further down and smother to death now that his head was lifted and there was an opening between him and the mud the question was how to lift the front part of his body so that he could drag the rest of it out another elephant had to be called in it turned out to be Kari's mother who had been given to the neighbouring king

2:21:20by the time she arrived however dust had fallen and nothing could be done we trusted to God and left him to his quicksand for the night the next morning we found Kari in the same position as the previous evening he had relaxed his hold on the rope but had not sunk deeper we had to put more planks all around him but he now knew that he should not attack anyone because we were trying to save him after the planks had been tested his mother went up to him she put her trunk around his neck and started to lift him but he groaned with pain for he was being smothered he began to sink again and we just had time to put some more planks between his chest and the mud

2:22:22we had also slipped the rope under him with some men in a boat near the riverbank came up and threw over his back the hawseer was made into a loop around his body and the other end was tied around the mother then she pulled with all her might and his strength was so great that his four quarters were lifted up and his small legs dangled in the air he was pulled forward quite a distance when the hawseer broke and his four legs fell on the plank his hind legs now were sinking and we were terribly frightened we felt as if we had lost him again the situation was not so bad as we thought however as it was very easy to slip another hawseer under him this time we made a double loop around him and also made him hold on to the rope around the tree with his trunk

2:23:31he was very tired but I urged him to obey me and now with the aid of his mother he managed to lift the rear half of his body and put first one leg and then the other on the plank a great shout of joy went through the crowd as Kari walked on to solid ground that instant the monkey jumped down from the tree and fell on Kari's neck he was very glad to see his friends safe again but Kari was no humor for anyone's caresses and he shook Kopey off the first thing I did was to pull some branches from a tree which Kari devoured hungry a hungry elephant is not to be bothered by anyone I had learnt my lesson I would no longer take my elephant anywhere and everywhere at the behest of the monkey

2:24:33so monkeys have no judgement end of chapter 8 of Kari the elephant chapter 9 of Kari the elephant by Dhangopal Mukherjee Lippurwaks recording is in the public domain read by Mahimaraj Kari's travels sometimes Kari was used for travel he and I went through many distant places in India with camel caravans carrying glutes of silver and gold spices and fruits they went from one end of India to the other passing through hot and deserted cities while a custom way when not in their company led through populous places and ticked jungle regions

2:25:35elephants have an advantage over camels in this aspect gangs of robbers may attack a camel and his driver and rob him but no one dares to attack an elephant as the animals of the jungle do not care to touch an elephant neither do wild men in desolate places for this reason they generally used Kari when they wanted to send pearls and other jewels from one place to another once we were given the king's emerald to carry it was as big as the morning star and burned when the glow of the noon day sun was upon it two epics were carved on it on one side was the story of the heroes and on the other the story of the gods

2:26:35we left the city and passed into the jungle night came on a pace and we stopped that night I watched the jungle as I had never watched it before it was about 9 o'clock everything was dark and the stars were right on the tips of the trees below us in the foliage the eyes of the jungle were looking upon us wherever I turned I thought I saw eyes Kari swayed slightly from side to side and fell into a do's the first thing that I noticed was the faint call of a night bird when that died down the hooting owl took it up then it passed into the soft wings of the bats and came into the leaves and you could feel that noise shimmering down the trees like water in a dream till with gentle undulations it disappeared into the ground

2:27:46the wild boar could be heard grazing then there was silence again out of the blackness then came the green eyes of the wild cat below me and as my eyes became more accustomed to the darkness I saw small beaver like animals burrowing their way through leaves and brushes I thought I saw weasels way below and in the distance I felt the stag disturbing the leaves of small plants then there was a snarl in the jungle and these gently moving sounds and quivers seized and aching silence came over everything broken only by strange insect voices like the spurting of water very soon the call of the fox was heard and then the groan of the tiger

2:28:50but that passed as I was about the ground the odor of my breath went up in the air in the animals never knew there was man about men always disturbed animals because they hate and fear more than the animals little by little the sounds died down and stillness took possession of the jungle I saw herds of elephants go into the water to bathe they did not make the slightest sound their bodies sank into the water as clouds dipped into the sunset I could see them curling their trunks around their mates and plucking lilies from the water to eat as the moon with its shadowy light had risen I seemed to be looking at them through a veil of water

2:29:51close to the shore where the little ones stepping into the water and learning how to breathe quantities of water into their trunks and then snotted out slowly without the slightest sound soon their mouth was over but the only way you could tell that they had bathed was by hearing drops of water like twinkling stars falling from their wet bodies and strike the leaves on the ground this proved too much for curry he wanted to follow them I had a hard time keeping him away from the herd and despite all my urging he ran right into the river his mattress and everything that was tied to his back was wet through and through and I had to swim ashore if the emerald had not been tied to my neck it would have been lost in the water

2:30:57I went up a tree and waited for curry to come out of the water after I had sat on a branch a little while I saw two stony eyes watching me I looked and looked and looked a cold shiver ran up and down my back but I was determined not to fear and hate I made myself feel very brave and I stared right back into the shining ice they closed in the moonlight I could distinctly see the head of a cobra lying on another branch very near mine I had disturbed him going up I knew if I moved a little he would get up and sting me to death so I sat very still so there was a terrible hooting and calling in the jungle

2:31:58I heard hoofs stampeding in the distance the noise grew louder and louder and I could feel a vast warm tongue looking the cool silence of the night then the cobra crawled along the branch to the trunk of the tree and then on down to the ground I who was holding to the trunk had to sit still while his cold body passed over my finger but I was determined not to fear and I could feel the silk in coolness passing over my hot hand in an instant he was gone now I caught sight of Cari's snorting before me as I knew something had taken possession of the jungle I jumped on his back while we hurried along we heard the whining snarl of a tiger not the call of hate or killing with the call for protection

2:33:04swiftly following our lead being civilized we instinctively knew the way out of the jungle to human habitation we approached the village which was still sleeping in the morning grainess and behind us saw horny deer leopards and wild cats rushing after us then the bores came after us dashing out of the jungle in terror vast clouds of blackness were rising from the horizon and when the morning light grew more intense I realized there were clouds of smoke the morning breeze was warm and in a short time the smell of burning leaves reached me the forest was on fire we arrived at the village in an hour and a half the sun was already up

2:34:08the leopards came and sat near the houses as guileless as children the bores snorted and ran into the rice fields to hide the tiger came and sat in the open and watched the forest the antelopes and the deer stood in the ponds and on the banks of the river by instinct they knew that the water was the only place where the fire could not reach them we saw flocks of birds flying to shelter soon we saw the red tongue of fire licking the grass and the trees a terrible heat settled upon the countryside I could now go near any animal and touch him the terrible danger which was common to all had made them forget their relations with each other

2:35:08that of hunter and prey tiger, elephant and man were standing near each other all had a sense of common friendship as if the tiger had thrown away his stripes man his fear and the deer his sense of danger we all looked at one another brothers in a common bond of soul relationship the sight made me realize why the Hindus believed that each plant and each animal man has a golden thread of spirituality in its soul in the darkness of the animals eyes and the eloquence of man's mind it was the same spirit the great active silence moving from life to life the jungle was burning to send us

2:36:08the tiger hid his face between his paws the wild cats curled up hiding their faces none wanted to see the passing of the terror later in the afternoon some of the birds that were flying aimlessly around were drawn by the hypnotism of the flames into the jungle where they perished if one is frightened beyond his control fear possesses him so that he loses all consciousness of self protection and he is drawn down into the vortex of the very destruction which rouses that fear the more I watched Kari and the other animals the more I came to understand why Kari and I loved each other we had a soul in common I played the flute for him and was deeply moved

2:37:10I felt that if I could be dumb like he I could understand him better this was the lesson the fire taught me do not hate and fear animals in them is the soul that is God as it is also in us behind each face human or animal is the face of the Christ those who have eyes to see can always find it end of chapter 9 of Kari the elephant chapter 10 of Kari the elephant by Dhangopal Mukherjee this Libra walks recording is in the public domain read by Mahimaraj

2:38:12Kari in the Lambayard not long after this Kari was sent to the Lambayards it was very interesting to see that he learned all the tricks of the Lamba trade in a few days he would pull heavy logs out of the forest into the open lift the lighter ones with his trunk and pile them up one on top of the other he had such a good sense of symmetry that his piles were always extremely neat soon an older elephant came to help him whenever there was a log which was too heavy for Kari to lift they would each take one end of it and lift it on the Lambar wagon an elephant as you see can do the work of a truck we had reached a stage in the history of the world

2:39:14when motor engines did a large part of the work of the jungle the elephants would bring the Lambar from the forest and deposit near these engines where it would be cut into proper lengths and then thrown out again to be piled up by the elephants the mechanics who ran these engines ate meat and drank liquor it is very strange that when best and people come to the east they do not give up their expensive ways of living drinking wine and eating meat is one thing in cold climates where one has to keep warm but in a hot climate a man is sure to go to pieces if he eats and drinks much Kari had no objection to wine drinking but he did not like meat eating men any more than he liked meat eating tigers

2:40:17he never hated them or feared them simply he somehow did not enjoy their company but these white engineers who came from afar did not know that an elephant had a soul Kari always woke up at half past five and then went to work toward noon I would bathe him and put him in his shed early in the afternoon he would begin to work again later on he ate lots of rice of which he was very fond in the evening I would tie him up in his shed while I went to sleep on a hammock outside one night I heard a terrible trumpeting I jumped down from my hammock and went into Kari's shed where I found two drunken engineers lighting matches and throwing them at him

2:41:21Kari who was afraid of fire as all animals are was trumpeting angrily I protested to the men but there was so drunk that they only swore at me and went on flinging matches seeing that there was nothing else to do I loose in all his chains except one and let him stay there tied to the ground by one foot only an elephant's chain is generally driven about five or six feet into the ground and is then covered with cement and earth an elephant can rarely break this kind of chain but I was afraid that the matches might set the shed on fire and I trusted Kari more than drunken men I knew that if the shed caught fire the elephant could break one chain

2:42:23if he tried hard to escape the night passed without any further incident however I must explain why animals are afraid of fire fire you see is the one thing that they can never fight they are not afraid of water as most of them can swim but if they are caught in fire they are generally burned to death for this reason they have built up a protective instinct against fire whenever there is fire of any sort they run as they have seen the jungle set on fire from time to time for generations the sight of fire frightens them more than anything else as long as they have inherited this fear from their ancestors

2:43:23it is very wise not to play with fire in the presence of animals if an animal as powerful as an elephant were frightened by fire he would run mad and do the greatest amount of mischief one knew when we had suspended work for the day I tied Kari in his shed and lay down in my hammock to rest to a late afternoon I heard the same terrible trumpeting that I had heard before the same thing had happened again the two engineers being idle had drunk liquor and were trying to tease the animals nearby the shed had a patched roof of straw the walls were of clay but there was a lot of bamboo lying on the floor Kari was eating twigs some of which happened to have dry leaves

2:44:29I came up to the elephant and seeing what was going on told the white men to stop teasing him they would not hear of it however just then I saw a flame rising from the leaves Kari raised his trunk and trumpeted fiercely as I was afraid that he would be burnt to death I hastened loose in his chain and with one terrible trumpet he rushed out of the shed trampling down one of the drunken men and killing him instantly Kari then trumpeted more and more loudly waving his trunk and rushing madly around realizing the danger we were in I went up a very heavy banyan tree out of Kari's reach and lay among the leaves the first thing he did was to go and put his foot on the automobile of the chief engineer

2:45:34which happened to be standing outside of the shed in a few minutes there was nothing but a mass of twisted steel on the ground over which the elephant danced in anger then he saw the chief engineer and two other men standing on the porch of a bungalow he rushed at them but they knew what it meant to have a mad elephant about and ran into the house Kari then pulled down part of the attached roof of the bungalow with his trunk and finding no one there made straight for two new trucks that had only been in use a fortnight and broke them to pieces then he rushed at a bull which was grazing in a field and wound his trunk around his neck the bull dropped dead in a few moments Kari was out of sight

2:46:35for a fortnight no one heard anything of him I expected him to return to me but he never came back even to this day no one knows what happened to him evidently those miserable engineers had driven him out of his mind in his madness he must have gone back to the jungle and by the time he recovered his senses was so lost in its depths that he could not come back when his mind returns to him an elephant can never remember the road that he took in his insanity and if he runs very far into the jungle he may never come back because the spirit of the jungle seizes him Kari's last impression of human beings must have been so terrible that when the spirit of the jungle asserted itself in him

2:47:37he allowed it to lure him away forever from the habitations of men that is how it came about that I lost my friend and brother the elephant though as an animal Kari is lost to me my soul belongs to his soul and we shall never forget each other end of Kari the elephant by Dhangupal Mukherjee