The Osceola times., 1878-05-25
A G00D STORY ABOUT AN ELE
PHANT.


A coon STORY ABOUT AN ELE.
PHANT.
old Souprsm.ny's Mig fight-A0 Eic'
phant FisbinE wan Chiidrru.
In the autumn of 1876 was living in
the interior of Bengal, and | went to
spend Christmas with my friend, Maior
Daily. The majors bungalow was on the
banks of the GsDges, near Cawnpore. He
had lived there good many years, being
chief Of the quartermaster's department
at that station, and had a great many
elephants, bullock. carts and soldiers un-
der his command.
Ca the morning after my arrival, after
cup OF early tea -often taken before
daylight in India--I sat smoking with
my friend in the veranda of his bungalow
looking out upon the windings of the
sacred river. And, directly, | asked the
msio about his children, boy and girl,
whom ] had not yet seen, and begged TO
know when | should see them.
SouprsmaDy has taken them out
fishing" said their father.
"Why isn't S)upramany your great
war elephant z i crled.
Exactly so. You can not have for
gotten Soupramsny ~
"Of course not. ! was here, you
know, when he had that fight with the
| elephant who went mad while loading a
transport with bags of rice down yonder.
/ | saw the mad elephant when he sud-
| denly began to fling the rice into the
river. His 'mshoup tried to stop him
and he killed the mahout. The native
sailors ran away to hide themselves, and
the mad elephant, trumpeting, charged
into this inclosure. Old Soupramany
was here, and 50 were Jim and Bessy.
When he saw the mad animal he threw
! himself between him and the children
! The little ones aud their nurses had just
time to get into the house when the
| fight commenced"
\" Yes" said the major, Old soup wa:
/ a hundred years old. He had been
| trained to war, and to fight with the
rhinoceros, but he was too old to hunt
| them.
"And yet," said /, becoming animated
/ by the recollections of that day, what
a gallant fight it was. DO you remem'
Der how we all stood on this porch and
watched it, not daring 10 fire shot lest
/ we should it old Soupramsny DO you
remember, toe, his look when he drew
| OF, after fighting an hour and half
! leaving his adversary dying in the dust,
and walked straight to the corral,
shaking his great ears, which had been
| badly torn, with his head bruised, and a
/ great piece broken from one of his tusks ~
A" Yes, indeed" said the major. Well,
since then he Is more devoted to my dear
| little ones than ever. He takes them
out whole days, and am perfectly con
tent to leave them under his charge.
/ don't like trusting Christian children Ia
/ the care OF natives, but with Old Soup
/ know they can come to no harm"
What you trust children under ten
years of age to Soup, without amy othes
protection"
- do" replied the major. Come
along with me, if you doubt, and we will
/ surprise them at their fishing
followed Maj. Daily, aud after walk
| ing half mile along the wooded banks'oi
the river, we came upon the little group
[ The two children--Jim, the elder, being
/ about ten-both sat still and silent, for q
wonder each he'd rod, with line, cork,
/ hook and bait, snxiously watching the
gay cork bobbing in the water. Beside
/ them stood Old soup, with an extremely
/ large bamboo rod in his trunk, with line,
/ hook, bait snd cork, like the chidrens.
[ need not say ! took small notice of the
children, but turned all my attention to
/ their big companion. | had not watched
| him long before he had bite, for as the
/ religion OF the Hindoos iorbds them TO
/ take life, the river swarms with fishes
The old fellow did not stir his little
eyes watched his line eargerly; he was
no povice in the gentle craft. He was
waiting till it was time TO draw in his
/ prize.
At the end of his line, as he drew il
up, was dangling one of those COLDER
| tensh so abundant in the Gapges.
/ When Soupramany perceived what a
! ne fish he had caught, he uttered one o
those long, low. gurgling notes OF salts
/ sction by whicn an elephat expresses
/ Joy, and he waited patiently, expecting
| lin to take his prize of the hook aud
nut on some more bait for him. Br!
| linn, the little rascal, sometimes liked tc
I plague Old Soup. He nodded at us, .:
much a. to say, Look out, and you'll
see some iun nowl J" Then he took of
the fish, which he threw into the water.
I jar placed there for that purpose, and
went back TO his place without putting
any bait ON Old Soups hook. The in.
telligent animal did not attempt to throw
! his line into the water. He tried tc
move. Jim by low, pleading cries. II
was curious 70 see what tender tones he
seemed to try to give his voice.
Seeing that Jim paid no attention to
his calls, but sat and laughed as h,
handled his own line, Old Soup went up
10 him, and with his trunk tried to turn
his head in the direction of the bait box
/ At last, when he found that all he could
do would not induce his wilful friend "a
help him, he turned around, rs If struct
! by a sudden thought and matching uI