St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1892-01-14
WEIGHING AN ELEPHANT

About two hundred years age
there lived Prince of Mahrattas If
! HIndostan, whose name was Shahiee
Princes are numerous in India, but
this particular prince was LONG
remembered on account of his benefi-
cence and great wisdom He seems
to have been the most learned prince
of the time. and his advice and helm
were always sought in critical mat
tiers. Many stories are told of his
ingenious settlement of difficulties.
and some OF them are certainly
curious.
Once a very high official in the
court of Prince Shahjee made VOW
that if he succeeded in certain enter
prise, he would distribute to the
poor of his district 1.-The weight OF
his own elephant in silver" Ele-
plants were highly priced by these
princes, and each kept the largest
and finest for his own use The Of
ficial's VOW, if hasty, was generous,
and perhaps the success of his under
taking was worth the price
The undertaking succeeded; but
the official, willing to keep his oath.
was met by an unexpected difficulty
There was no possible way of find
ing the elephants correct weight.
No scales in the country were con-
Structed oil sufficient power to weigh
such enormous beasts. Elephants
were not sold by the pound, and no
need had before arisen for scales to
weigh them. All the learned and
clever men of the court tried in vain
to construct a machine Of sufficient
power to weigh the enormous beast.
1t did seem probable that the poor
OF Hindostan would have to get
along without that silver. 1t is
possible that the official had thought
of this objection when he made the
VOW. Indians are crafty, and this
one might have been cunning enough
to leave himself loop-hole of escape
to prevent parting with his money.
But if any such notion had oc-
CURED to him, he was doomed to
disappointment in the matter. The
question was referred to Shahjee, as
all such vexatious questions were
And 1T did not take him long to find
a very simple solution. That is al
ways the way with true genius, you
know. The solution it finds is so
simple that every one cries out in
wonder:
"Why, of course! Why didn't
speak of that before ?"
Shahjee commanded the elephant
to be conducted along a platform in
to a fat-bottomed boat which lay
by the water-side. When the ami
NAL was safely aboard, he desired
the attendants to mark upon the
boats side the exact height to which
the water reached when the elephant
weighed it down. Then the elephant |
was taken out, and stones substitute
ed, until enough were loaded into the
boat to bring it to the same water !
line as when the elephant was the |
passenger.
Then the stones were weighed If |
the scales could not hold all at once,
part could be taken at time, you |.
see, and so the elephants weight
was correctly ascertained. 1t is safe
% conclude that the poor of Hin
1ostan finally got the silver. A
prince so wise must have also been
ust. Whether the official who paid
he money was quite sa tisfed, hist DRY
loes not tell us; but we will hope,
or his charity's sake, he was, and as
l full-grOwn elephant weighs several
ons, the amount distributed among
he poor of the district must have
'een very large. From Harper's
Young People.