Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-08-02
When the
Animals Speak
Bv GARRETT P. SERVISS.

huge, numbering animals, weighing
tons, all having curling trunks, enor-
nous legs and feet, queer little eyes,
big flappy ears, while some were pro-
vided with wonderful pointed ive:c
tu5ks that could pin tiger to the
ground almost as easily as = cat
could hold a mouse.
Hardly anybody noticed any diff.
ference between the members OF
the herds, except that, of course,
they varied in size, according to
age, and the better informed OBJ
servers could tell at a glance the
males from the females.
But, upon the whole, as l have
said, they were all merely elephants
to the onlooker, just as if the case
were reversed and the animals had
the upper hand in intelligence, the
members of two herds of the Curl
Gus two-legged creatures called men,
kept in a geological park for the
amusement of elephants would
seem to their proboscidian visitors
to be all alike, simply men, al
though, in reality, they might be-
lOuS W ulllCl Git ldSCS WHlSA HolSN
and despised one another.
But one day a visitor to the park
containing the two herds of ele-
plants happened to be gifted with
that power possessed only by
such persons as the farmer men,
toned in the beginning of the sara
bian Nights" power of under
standing the speech of animals-and
he heard something which greatly
interested as we'll as surprised him.
The first thing that awakened his
curiosity was an elephantine laugh.
because you have never heard an
elephant laugh is no reason for as
Stunning that those big animals never
do, or can, laugh) This particular
laugh was also of the kind that we
call "contemptuous." 1t was some
thing like the litter that ill-bred
human creatures give utterance to
when they see other human crea-
lures whose manners and appear
ance are unlike their own.
Two Indian elephants, females.
were standing close together in a
shady spot looking at a group of
Africans on the other side of bar
rier, enjoying the hot sunshine, and
occasionally spreading out their
huge ears like sails on each side of
their heads.
Did you ever see anything 70
beat that% said the one that uttered
the laugh Taking a sun bath!
The idea! What can they be made
of, anyway? They must have hides
made of iron. like the mahout's prod.
| wouldn't stand out in the sun for
worlds! No respectable elephant
would do such thing in India. |
should think it would kill them"
"Oh don't you worry; it won't
kill them. They're too homely to
| be hurt, and they're used to it in
Africa. Besides, look at their COM
plexions, and their great vulgar
ears. They might use them for UNI
brellas, like the people whose bust
ness it is to bring US peanuts. Isn't
it amazing what absurd creatures
nature will sometimes make? l de-
clare, l could shelter my baby un-
der one Of those ears. One ought to
be enough for whole family"
And then their big, unmanageable
tusks," returned the first speaker,
how ridiculous they look. I'm sure
they're too long and crooked to fight
tigers with, They could only wave
them about in the air and a tiger
would jump between them and be on
their necks in minute.
Did you ever see one OF our braves
kill tiger? Well, l did, once, and it
makes me tremble yet! The striped
beast sprang for his head, while |
covered behind him in thicket and
the growl of the leaper froze my
blood. But those short, straight,
sharp tusks received him, and in an in
slant he was sprawling on the ground
with my defenders feet upon him, and
the tusks driven through his body"
But, don't you see," said the 9TH
er, that with those Africans both
sexes have tusks? How can there be
any gallantry among them1 All have
to fight alike-if they do any fighting
at all except among themselves"
"Iguess they do fight for their lives
sometimes" replied the first. II over
heard our keeper one day telling about
the way the rhinoceroses fight with
the horns on their noses, and he said
that, though they would run away if
they could, yet when they did fight,
these rhinoceroses were harder than
tigers for an elephant to kill. But
of course he was talking about those
ridiculous Africans"
There's another thing" said the
second speaker. do you notice that
the left tusk of all the older ones
among those creatures over there is
shorter than the right? That's an
other mark of ugliness."
Its more than that" responded the
first. 1T shows what low habits they
have. | found this out also from the
keeper. Would you believe it they're
root diggers2 Yes, their taste is as
low as that! They dig their food out
of the ground, and they have to work
so hard that they shorten one of their
tusks. No wonder both sexes are
armed with tusks. But tusksl No, it
is disgrace to the name to call them
that; they are only diggers. A real
tusks is tiger killer! Isn't it pity
that such beasts should look like US
in any way?"
But, unknown to these scornful
children of proud India, one of the
African elephants, on the other side
of the park, was at the same time say
ing to companion:
Those pigmy-eared Asiatics over
there are not only barbarians, but
contemplate slaves. They let one of
these little two-legged insects that
wait on US ride on their heads and
beat them about with a stick and car
nv children about in box on their
backsl Wouldn't l like to see them