Our She-Elephant Answered To The Poetical Name
Of "Chanchuli Peri," The Active Fairy, And Really Was The Most
Obedient And The Merriest Of All The Representatives Of Her Tribe
That I Have Ever Seen.
Clinging to each other we at last gave
the signal for departure, and the mahout goaded the right ear of
the animal with an iron rod.
First the elephant raised herself
on her fore-legs, which movement tilted us all back, then she
heavily rose on her hind ones, too, and we rolled forwards,
threatening to upset the mahout. But this was not the end of our
misfortunes. At the very first steps of Peri we slipped about in
all directions, like quivering fragments of blancmange.
The journey came to a sudden pause. We were picked up in a hasty
way, replaced on our respective seats, during which proceeding
Peri's trunk proved very active, and the journey continued. The
very thought of the five miles before us filled us with horror,
but we would not give up the excursion, and indignantly refused
to be tied to our seats, as was suggested by our Hindu companions,
who could not suppress their merry laughter.... However, I bitterly
repented this display of vanity. This unusual mode of locomotion
was something incredibly fantastical, and, at the same time, ridiculous.
A horse carrying our luggage trotted by Peri's side, and looked, from
our vast elevation, no bigger than a donkey. At every mighty step
of Peri we had to be prepared for all sorts of unexpected acrobatic
feats, while jolted from one side to the other by her swinging gait.
This experience, under the scorching sun, unavoidably induced a
state of body and mind something between sea-sickness and a delirious
nightmare. As a crown to our pleasures, when we began to ascend a
tortuous little path over the stony slope of a deep ravine, our
Peri stumbled. This sudden shock caused me to lose my balance
altogether. I sat on the hinder part of the elephant's back, in
the place of honor, as it is esteemed, and, once thoroughly shaken,
rolled down like a log. No doubt, next moment I should have found
myself at the bottom of the ravine, with some more or less sad
loss to my bodily constitution, if it had not been for the wonderful
dexterity and instinct of the clever animal. Having felt that
something was wrong she twisted her tail round me, stopped
instantaneously and began to kneel down carefully. But my natural
weight was too much for the thin tail of this kind animal. Peri
did not lose hold of me, but, having at last knelt down, she moaned
plaintively, though discreetly, thinking probably that she had
nearly lost her tail through being so generous. The mahout hurried
to my rescue and then examined the damaged tail of his animal.
We now witnessed a scene that clearly showed us the coarse cunning,
greediness and cowardice of a low-class Hindu, of an outcast, as
they are denominated here.
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