Produced by Juliet Sutherland Charles Franksand the Online Distributed Proofreading TeamCircus Animal StoriesUMBOO THE ELEPHANTByHOWARD R GARISAuthor ofThe Bedtime StoriesThe Uncle Wiggily SeriesThe Daddy SeriesEtcCONTENTSChapterI     Baby UmbooII    On The MarchIII   Sliding Down HillIV    Umboo Learns SomethingV     Picking NutsVI    Umboo Is LostVII   Umboo And The SnakeVIII  Umboo Finds His MotherIX    To The Salt SpringX     In A TrapXI    Umboo Goes To SchoolXII   Umboo Is SoldXIII  Umboo On The ShipXIV   Umboo In The CircusXV    Umboo RemembersCHAPTER IBABY UMBOOOh my But its hot It is just too hot for anything cried Chakoone of the monkeys in the circus cage It is hotter under this tentthan ever it was in the jungle Whew and he hung by his tail andswung to and fro from a wooden barIn the jungle we could find a pool of water where we could keepcool said another monkey who was poking around the floor of thecage hoping he could find a peanut But there were only shells Iwish I could go back to the jungle he chatteredWhat did you come away from the jungle for if you dont like it inthis circus asked WooUff the big yellow lion who lay on his backin his cage his legs stuck up in the air for he was cooler that wayWhy did you come from the jungle ChakoI didnt want to come answered the swinging monkey But some whiteand black hunters caught me and a lot more of us chattering chapsand took us away from the jungleThats right my boy exclaimed the deep rumbly voice of Umboo thebiggest elephant in the circus None of us animals would have comeaway from the jungle if we could have had our way But now that weare here we must make the best of itHow can one make the best of it when it is so hot asked Chako Thesun shines down on this circus tent hotter than ever it did in thejungle And there is no pool of water where we can splash and becoolOh if water is all you want I can give you some of that spokeUmboo Wait a minuteNear the elephants of whom Umboo was one on a long line chained tostakes driven in the ground was a big tub of water put there forthem to drink when they wanted to Umboo put his long rubbery hose ofa trunk down into this tub of water and sucked up a lot just as youfill your rubber ball at the bathroom basinLook out now monkeys cried the elephant Its going to rain andhe sort of laughed away down in his throat He couldnt laugh throughhis nose as his nose was his trunk and that was full of water Lookout for a shower he criedWith that the elephant wentWoofumphOut from his trunk as if from a hose sprinkled a shower of waterOver the cage of monkeys it sprayed wetting them as might a fall ofrainHere comes some more cried Umboo and again he dipped his trunk inthe tub of water sucked up some in the two hollow places and againsquirted it over the monkeys cageOh thats good Thats fine cried Chako That was like being in ajungle rain Im cooler now Squirt some more UmbooNo hold on if you please rumbled another elephant It is allright for Umboo to splatter some water on you poor monkeys but if hequirts away all in the tub we will have none to drinkThats so said Umboo I cant squirt away all the water Chako Webig elephants have to drink a lot more than you little monkeys Butwhen the circus men fill our tub again Ill squirt some more on youThank you chattered Chako I feel cooler anyhow And we monkeyscant stand too much water This felt fineThe monkeys in the cage were quite damp and some began combing outtheir long hair with their queer little fingers that look almost likeyours except that their thumb isnt quite the sameIf Umboo cant squirt any more water on us maybe he can do somethingelse to help us forget that it is so hot said Gink a funny littlemonkey who had a very long tailWhat can he do except squirt water on us asked Chako And I wishhed do that again Its the only thing to make us coolerNo I wasnt thinking of that though I do like a little waterspoke Gink But dont you remember Umboo you promised to tell us astory of how you lived in a jungle when you were a baby elephantOh yes so he did exclaimed Chako I had forgotten about that Itwill make us cooler I think to hear you tell a story Umboo PleasedoWell all right I will said the big elephant as he swung to andfro because elephants are very seldom still but always moving asthey stand And they sleep standing updid you know thatIll tell you a story about my jungle went on Umboo But perhapsyou will not like it as well as you did the story Snarlie the tigertold youOh yes we will said Snarlie himself a big handsome striped tigerin a cage not far from where the monkeys lived You can tell us agood story UmbooAnd make it as long as the story WooUff the lion told us beggedHumpo the camel I liked his storyThank you spoke WooUff as he rolled over near the edge of hiscage where he could hear better Im glad you liked my story Humpobut Im sure Umboos will be better than mine And dont forget thefunny part my big elephant friendWhat funny part is that asked Horni the rhinocerosOh I guess he means where I once filled my trunk with water andsquirted some on a man as I did on the monkeys just now said theswaying elephantWhy did you do that Chako wanted to knowWell Ill tell