The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-01-20
One Good Turn
Deserves Another.
~ MINERVA S. HANDY.


'oh Hundreds of years ago an elephan
- III into a pit which some traveller
- h,d prepared for him. The pit wa
=. !. dense forest and the elephan
n. s,aw that there was no hope for hi.
y ,sesse. He wept loudly and bemoanet
Ms fate. His captors rejoiced at nj:
z lamentations, for they knew that tn
~ .;onhant would bring good deal OF
y money to them and were counting thell
AZ ,sins while their unhappy captive was
n bexailing the fate which had over
~ taken him.
= After listening to the means Of the
!. eephant for an hour or so the hunt
i, orc retired to the shade of a tropical
IA ,-ee leaving one of their servants to
u ,,ard the pit and TO report to them
n when the elephant had ceased from his
" nfering.
The guard soon fell asleep and did
X not notice priest. who. ever on some
O. Grand Of mercy, had stopped to learn
" the cause of the elephants distress.
y He tried to console the beast, who.
3 however, was hopeless.
!. Alas" he SAIL there is no comfort
for me. must stay here until I'm
ubdued and become the slave OF man,
= or until | am dead of hunger and
y thirst"
rs there no friend who can save
your pleaded the good priest.
None" walled tie captive.
v Are you sure Of that" replied the
priest. Have You ieyer done good
n action to anyone? If SO call him to
b you"
All the services I have done are
too small to be Of any help to such
: great body as l." declared the elephant.
Maybe not advised his helper.
Tell me one"
Last year." said the elephant, "the
prince Of this province had captured
the King Of Rats aad many of his SUBJ
tects. He imprisoned them in earth
en- jars and was about to drown them
when came along broke all those
|, Jars SO the rats ran away from their
murderer
! Anotner time a man caught the
4 queen OF the parrots in a gilded cage
saa hung 1t on tree SO high that none
could reach 1t. pulled the tree down
ana then broke the cage, with the re-
sui mat the queen flew away to safety.
Que was grateful indeed, for my rescue,
ana declared If she ever could serve
me ! should call upon her. 1t is worse
taau useless, for SO small bird as a
parrot-even though she is uueen-can
Oe OF no use in releasing SO enormous
creature as | from this deep and |
dreadful pit"
Just tnen scream OF parrot sound
= from neighboring tree. The ele-
vnant lifted his ears, but the sound
.esestea nothing to him beyond the
'.u't mat 1t was strange that a parrot
.uOuid scream SO shrilly at the time
z was talking about one. The priest
Ial learned many things Of which the
spuant knew nothing at all and the
..l'n Tone OF the parrot at that special
him. 'Ains more 10
u. Vall that parrot" said he. Tell
49,. =. " no1i1y his queen that her bene-
..s'0r is in trouble-dire trouble"
re elephant protested that It was o,
use, but the priest insisted.
M, .1e parrot was summoned, the story
~ ana in a little while the nueer
s,. .ne talking birds herself appeared ra to
- with the imprisoned elephan.
sue could help to his release
% doubtful if the release would
=. !" ever been accomplished had not
priest himself planned the wav '
suggested that the parrot take hey
ase to the king of the rats who .
senbering how the elephant ' I ha1
- his life, would do evervthing in
power to save his in return. The :
q = was right, as soon proved. The !
y sent the message all over his
seon. By the next morning rats
u'ce to tbs humber Of several !