| By Author | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Title | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Language |
|
Download this book: [ ASCII | HTML | PDF ] Look for this book on Amazon Tweet |
Title: The Wonders of the Jungle, Book Two
Author: Ghosh, Sarath Kumar, 1883-
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.
*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Wonders of the Jungle, Book Two" ***
Transcriber's note
On page 156 are macrons for the letters "o" and "e"; these are
represented by [=o] and [=e] respectively. Printer errors have been
changed and are listed at the end. The author's spelling has been
maintained.
[Illustration: Elephants at Work
From a photograph copyrighted by the Keystone View Co.]
_HEATH SUPPLEMENTARY READERS_
THE WONDERS OF
THE JUNGLE
PRINCE SARATH GHOSH
Book Two
[Illustration]
D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO ATLANTA
DALLAS SAN FRANCISCO LONDON
COPYRIGHT, 1918,
BY D. C. HEATH & CO.
3 B 1
PRINTED IN U.S.A.
TO THE CHILDREN
My dear, I am now going to tell you many more Wonders of the Jungle, as
I promised to do in Book I.
In that Book, as you will remember, I promised to tell you more about
the elephants and about the laws of their herd. So I shall do so now.
Then I shall tell you about some animals which I did not describe in
Book I. Among these you may like to know especially about the tiger, the
lion, the leopard, and the wolf.
You may like to know how really _clever_ some of these animals are, and
how some of them have _affections_, just as we have.
But while you are reading about them, you must try to _think_. Then you
will understand _why_ these animals do certain things. And that will
show how clever _you_ are!
I have used a few new words in this Book. But I am sure you know them
already.
Now I shall begin with the laws of the elephants.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE ELEPHANT HERD A REPUBLIC 1
The Duties of the President 2
He Must Provide Daily Food 3
He Must Provide Daily Drink 9
He Must Keep Order in the Herd 12
He Must Avoid Danger from Outside 18
II. WAR AND NEUTRALITY IN THE JUNGLE 26
Wise Elephant Leader Avoids War 27
Wise Elephant Leader Keeps Neutral 29
When it is Impossible to Remain Neutral 29
III. THE POLICEMEN OF THE ELEPHANT HERD 31
IV. THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED ELEPHANT 39
The Princes and the Bad Elephant 40
The Trial of the Criminal Elephant--as in a Court of Law 55
The Infliction of the Punishment 57
The Rogue Elephant 61
The Brand of the Rogue 63
The Reward of Repentance 64
V. FLESH-EATING ANIMALS: THE FELINES, OR THE CAT TRIBE 66
The Feline has Strong Fangs 67
The Feline's Tongue is Rough 68
The Feline's Claws are Retractile 68
The Feline has Padded Paws 71
VI. THE TIGER 73
The Life History of the Tiger Family 78
The Tiger's Family Dinner 83
VII. THE TIGER CUBS' LESSONS 87
Tiger Cubs Learn to Kill Prey, After their
Parents have Caught It 88
Tiger Cubs Take Part in Hunt to Catch Prey 90
Tiger Cubs Learn to Catch Prey by Themselves 91
VIII. THE TIGRESS MOTHER'S SPECIAL DUTIES 97
The Truce of the Water Hole 100
IX. THE SPECIAL QUALITIES OF TIGER AND TIGRESS 102
Both Tiger and Tigress Defend Their Cubs 104
The Tiger Family's Lost Dinner 110
The Tiger as a Heroic Husband 116
X. THE LION 128
The Lion Has the Fangs, the Tongue, the Claws,
and the Paws of a Cat 132
How the Lion is Different from Other Cats 138
XI. THE LION'S DAILY LIFE 142
XII. THE LION A NOBLE ANIMAL 156
Androcles and the Lion 156
The Lady and the Lioness 163
XIII. THE LEOPARD 168
The Leopard's Ground Color and Spots 169
Why the Leopard has Spots 170
XIV. THE LEOPARD'S HABITS 176
The Panther: Popular Name For Large Leopard 180
How the Leopard Seizes his Prey 181
The Leopard's One Amiable Quality--He Loves Perfumes 182
The Leopard and the Lavender 183
XV. AMERICAN LEOPARD: THE JAGUAR 188
XVI. THE DOG TRIBE 194
The American Gray Wolf 196
The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Gun 200
The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Trap 202
The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Poison 205
ILLUSTRATIONS
ELEPHANTS AT WORK _Frontispiece_
PAGE
ELEPHANT LEADING HERD THROUGH THE JUNGLE 5
TRAINED ELEPHANTS AT THE COURT OF A KING 23
ELEPHANTS GUARDING A BAD ELEPHANT 33
POLICEMEN ELEPHANTS ARRESTING A CRIMINAL ELEPHANT 45
GOOD ELEPHANT HEADING OFF A CRIMINAL ELEPHANT 51
TIGER 75
TIGER PROTECTING HIS CUB 107
TIGER CHARGING HUNTING PARTY 121
GROUP OF LIONS 129
PUMA 129
AFRICAN LION 133
GIRAFFES 147
KANGAROO 147
ANDROCLES AND THE LION 161
LEOPARD 171
JAGUAR 171
THE CHAIN OF CONFLICT IN THE JUNGLE 191
GRAY WOLF 197
THE WONDERS OF THE JUNGLE
CHAPTER I
The Elephant Herd a Republic
An elephant herd is a kind of republic, something like the United States
of America, only much smaller and much simpler. So its leader is a sort
of president. He is usually the wisest elephant in the herd.
You may like to know how the elephants choose their president. I shall
tell you how they do that.
But you must first consider how the people of the United States choose
_their_ President. They find out who among their important men is best
able to lead them in all the great duties of the nation. Then they
choose _him_.
But if afterward they find that he is _not_ leading the nation in the
wisest manner, then the people of the United States choose another man
to be their President the next time.
The elephants in a herd do something like that. They first follow the
elephant who, they think, is best able to lead them. But if afterward
they find that he is not leading them through the jungle in the right
way, and that another elephant could lead them in a better manner, then
they follow him instead. He then becomes the president of the herd.
"But what is the best way of leading the herd through the jungle?" you
may ask.
I shall now tell you about that. The best way to lead the herd is _to
satisfy all their needs_. So the president of the herd has four great
duties.
_The Duties of the President_
First Duty: He must lead the herd in such a manner that all the
elephants will get enough _food to eat_ every day.
Second Duty: He must lead the herd in such a manner that all the
elephants will get enough _water to drink_ every day.
Third Duty: He must _keep order_ in the herd, and not allow any naughty
elephant to fight or quarrel.
Fourth Duty: He must guide the elephants in such a manner as to _avoid
all danger from outside_; and if such danger does happen to come, he
must guard the herd from that danger.
I shall now tell you about these four duties more fully.
_He Must Provide Daily Food_
Elephants are such large animals that they need a great amount of food.
So they have to walk a long way every day, munching the leaves of the
trees as they go.
They walk in line, one behind another, as that is the easiest method of
walking through the thick jungle; for then one gap through the jungle is
enough for all the elephants to go through, one at a time, and they need
not make a different gap for each elephant.
Now you will understand that if that one gap is big enough for the
_largest_ elephant to go through, it is of course big enough for _all_
the elephants to go through. So, if the largest elephant walks first, in
front of the line of elephants, he can force a way through the thick
jungle that will be big enough for all the other elephants who come
behind him.
So usually the largest and strongest bull elephant is the leader of the
herd--if he also has the other qualities of a president, which I shall
presently describe more fully. To have all the qualities of a president,
he must not only be strong, but also wise and clever. Why? Because even
in merely going through the jungle a wise leader avoids many
difficulties. It might be that the jungle straight ahead was very thick,
and it would be hard to force a way through it; but by turning a little
to the right or to the left, an easier passage could be made. This a
wise leader would find out, and then turn in that direction.
Again, in the jungle, the ground is sometimes too soft; it might be made
of clay which had become soft owing to rain a few days before. But
elephants are such heavy animals that they cannot go far over soft
ground, as their feet would sink in too deep. And the ground might be
covered with bushes or tall grass, so that the elephants could not _see_
to what distance the ground was soft. They might not mind going over
soft ground for a few yards, but they would not like to go over such
ground for a whole mile.
So a wise leader would know by glancing around how far the ground was
likely to be soft; and if he learned that it was likely to be soft
for a large area, he would turn at once and go around it. But a foolish
leader might take the herd right into the soft ground, and they would
all be stuck in the mud, and have a lot of trouble getting out of it
again.
[Illustration: Elephant Leading Herd through the Jungle]
So if the herd has chosen merely the biggest and strongest elephant to
be their president and he makes such mistakes as that, they soon depose
him; that is, they no longer follow him. They look around for some other
leader who can discover a better way, and they follow him instead. And
if afterward they find that he is wise and clever, and does not make
mistakes, they follow him as their leader every day after that, even if
he is not quite so big and strong as the other elephant was.
He then becomes the new president, if he is at least strong enough to
make a good gap through the jungle. Most of the elephants could pass
through that; only the biggest bull, the deposed president, would have
the trouble of enlarging the gap with his body in going through it. And
this would serve him right!
In the same manner the leader of the herd must not go over ground that
is _too hard_, for elephants are such heavy animals that it jars the
bones of their feet to go over hard ground for a great distance. If
there has been no rain for several weeks, then in a hot country the
ground gets very hard in some places. So if there has been no rain near
a herd for some time, a wise leader avoids these hard places.
So, as you see, an elephant leader has to be quite clever in merely
avoiding difficulties, in the daily search for food. And that is not
all! The food itself may be plentiful in one part of the jungle, and
rather scarce in another; for in one direction there may have been just
enough showers recently to bring out the fresh leaves on the trees; but
in another direction there may have been no rain at all for some time,
and so there would be no fresh leaves there.
Why, even in your own town there may be a good shower of rain in one
part of the town, and no rain at all in another part. So it might be in
the jungle; a wise leader would know this by instinct, and he would take
the herd along that part of the jungle where there had been recent
showers of rain, and where there would be enough fresh leaves.
_He Must Provide Daily Drink_
After the elephants have had enough to eat for the day, they must have
enough clear water to drink. And to get this is _the hardest daily duty
of the leader_.
In the jungle, even if the leader makes a little mistake and goes the
wrong way, there may still be enough to eat, because the elephants can
always find enough trees in the end by going a little farther: so they
would have only a little more trouble in getting their food, if the
leader made a mistake. But with _water_ it is quite different--the
leader may find no water at all, if he makes a mistake and leads the
herd the wrong way.
"Then how must he lead the herd so as to find water, as well as food?"
you may ask.
I shall tell you. In most jungles there is a river or even a small
stream from which the elephants can drink. But the river or stream may
go winding in and out of the jungle, so that it is in one part of the
jungle but not in another part. So a wise leader tries to keep his herd
near one of those parts of the jungle through which the river flows.
In fact, if the elephants and even the other wild animals are lucky
enough to find a fairly big river, and the jungle near that river has
plenty of food in it, then the animals stay near there almost all the
time. They eat from the jungle and drink from the river; and sometimes
they come to the very same place to drink--as at the Midnight Pool,
which I described to you in Book I.
So if the leader of the elephant herd is lucky enough to find such a
jungle, with plenty of food and a big river in it, he keeps the herd
there all the time; and then they have no more trouble about food or
drink.
But suppose the leader cannot find such a place? Suppose there is a
river, but not enough food near the river? Then what does a wise leader
do?
He leads the herd in such a way as to make _a kind of curve_. He goes
into the jungle by the easiest way in the beginning; then, after the
elephants have eaten a little, he starts turning slightly toward the
direction in which the river flows. When the elephants have eaten a
little more, he turns still more in that direction.
In this manner he leads the herd in a kind of curve toward the river,
browsing all the way from the trees near by. So, at the end of the day,
when the elephants have had enough to eat, they reach the river and have
also enough to drink. Is not that a very clever method of providing both
food and drink for the herd?
If the herd sleep near the bank that night, they start from there the
next morning in their search for food; and they usually go into the
jungle by the same path by which they came. But on _returning_ to the
river to drink that night, the leader need not bring them back by
exactly the same path.
The fact that they did not have enough to eat right near the river shows
that the jungle is not very thick there; so the elephants will have no
trouble in making a fresh path, a little higher up the river, or a
little lower down. A wise leader usually does that: he leads the herd to
the river slightly higher up or lower down, and so he makes a slightly
different curve through the jungle. Why? Because if he kept to exactly
the same curve from the jungle to the river every day, the herd would
eat up all the leaves along that path in a few days. So, by changing the
curve a little from time to time, he allows fresh leaves to grow there
meanwhile.
You now understand why the president of the elephant herd must be wise
and clever to do all that I have told you so far. Even among men the
President of a Republic has similar duties to attend to, though in a
different manner: he too has to govern his country in such a manner as
to provide the people with their daily wants, if they obey the laws and
do honest labor.
In the elephant herd everyone has to do honest work, as he has to gather
his own food; and he has also to obey the laws of the herd. I shall now
tell you about that.
_He Must Keep Order in the Herd_
The third duty of the elephant leader is to keep order in the herd. Most
elephants are by nature gentle, docile, and obedient. That is why men
can tame them and make them work; otherwise, if elephants were by nature
fierce and disobedient, men could not train them so perfectly as to
perform at a circus, or carry people in a procession. So even in the
jungle, where the elephants are wild, they usually obey the leader and
keep the laws of the herd.
These laws chiefly concern their daily food and drink. As I have told
you, in their daily search for food the elephants march in a line, one
behind another. A selfish elephant in the middle of the line might want
to stop and eat up _all_ the leaves on a tree near him; and if he did
so, he would block the way for those behind him, and besides, there
would be no leaves on that tree for them to eat when they came to it.
So there is a general rule in the herd that each elephant must take just
a few of the leaves from a tree, and then _move on_; and if instead he
does block the way, the elephants behind him may push him forward and
make him move on.
"But," you may ask, "why can't the other elephants behind him also stop
and eat up all the leaves on the trees near them?"
Because then all the trees on that line of march would be bare of
leaves, and it might take a whole month for fresh leaves to grow there
again. But if the herd took only a portion of the leaves from each tree,
there would be enough food for them along that path if they happened to
visit it again in a few days.
In fact, the elephants need make only a few such paths through the
jungle, if they eat only part of the leaves at a time along any of the
paths. Then they can visit these paths in turn on other days, and always
find enough food there--because the fresh leaves constantly growing on
the trees would make up for the small portion they had eaten.
So you understand how wise the elephants are in having that law in the
herd.
"But," you may say, "if they were to eat _all_ the leaves on a tree,
their path would be a short one; while if they eat only a portion of the
leaves, their path would be much longer, as they must nibble from many
more trees to satisfy their hunger."
That is quite true. But there is no advantage in having a short path,
because at the end of their march in search of food they must find water
to drink, as I have already told you--and they may have to go several
miles to reach the nearest stream. So they might as well nibble from the
trees all the way to the stream, especially as elephants can easily
march ten or twelve miles in that manner every day.
Besides, after taking a bunch of leaves from a tree, they must chew it
before taking the next bite; so, meanwhile, they might just as well walk
on to the next tree. In fact, if they have not quite finished chewing,
most elephants pass by one or two trees before taking the next bite.
That shows how really wise they are. For then they are _sure_ of finding
enough food along that path when they visit it again a few days later.
It is the president of the herd who sets a good example to the others in
doing all these wise things. As he walks at the head of the line, he
sees at a glance what is the best thing to do in that particular path,
whether to nibble a little from every tree, or to pass by a few trees
without nibbling from them at all. And whatever he does, all the other
elephants do after him.
My dear children, it is exactly the same among us. When food is scarce
in a country and people must be careful, then it is the President who
tells us how to portion out the food supply in the country. Otherwise,
some people would be wasteful and throw food away--and others would not
have enough to eat.
It is very important to learn from your childhood to be careful of food.
Do you know that in the United States every man, woman, and child on an
average throws away every year seven dollars' worth of food _on the
plate_? That would be enough to feed all the people in the poorhouses
and the hospitals.
Elephants are most careful of their food. Their president is all the
time thinking of the best method of making the food supply of the jungle
last them from season to season. But the other elephants must help him
to do that, by following his good example. If any particular elephant is
selfish and wants to eat up at once all the food near him, he is pushed
out of the line by the other elephants, as I have already told you. If
he is naughty again, he is more severely punished.
How he is punished, I shall tell you in another chapter. I shall then
tell you how all sorts of naughty elephants are punished; for, just like
people in a country, I am sorry to say that there are in the jungle a
few elephants that do not obey the law.
An elephant can be selfish not only in eating, but also in drinking. You
will remember what I told you in Book I--how all the elephants stand in
a line along the bank of a stream and drink; and after they have all
satisfied their thirst, they may jump into the water to bathe and swim.
It would be very selfish for an elephant to jump into the water before
the others had finished drinking; for then he would muddy the water
which some of the others were still drinking. And for such conduct an
elephant is very severely punished.
But the very worst offense in an elephant herd is quarrelling and
fighting; for, sometimes, two elephants do quarrel and fight, just like
a couple of naughty boys in school. But there is never any real need to
quarrel in an elephant herd; for if one of the elephants has done wrong
or broken the rules of the herd, he will be punished by the president of
the herd--just as in school a naughty boy would be punished by the
teacher or by the head of the school.
It is not necessary for any other elephant in the herd to quarrel or
fight with the naughty elephant, even if he has been injured by him; the
president of the herd will punish the naughty elephant soon enough. So
if two elephants do fight, _both_ of them are punished; of course the
one who began the fight is punished more severely than the other.
_He Must Avoid Danger from Outside_
The president of the herd must lead the elephants in such a manner as to
avoid any danger that may come to the herd from outside. In the jungle
there are other wild animals; most of them are, of course, too small to
be able to hurt so large an animal as an elephant; but a tiger is so
strong and so fierce that he could kill a small, half-grown elephant.
The tiger could hide in the jungle, and if the small elephant happened
to stray from the herd, the tiger could spring upon it and kill it. So
the president of the herd usually keeps the elephants away from any part
of the jungle which he knows to be infested by tigers.
How does he know that? By the paw marks made on the ground by the
tigers. For the tigers leave plenty of paw marks on the ground in coming
in and out of their dens to hunt their prey every day. So if the
president of the elephant herd comes across a line of such paw marks, he
turns aside and leads the herd in another direction.
Of course, if the herd happened to meet a tiger quite suddenly, they
would at once face the tiger. And the tiger would never dare to attack
even the smallest elephant if the big ones were near, for they could
drive him off with their tusks or trample upon him.
But the greatest danger that can come to an elephant herd from outside
is from men. Men sometimes go into the jungle to shoot wild elephants
with guns, or to catch them alive in huge traps. So the leader of the
herd must find out where the traps are, or where the hunters are hiding;
and then he must avoid such places.
You will remember what I told you about Salar and his father in Book I.
Salar was the boy elephant who nearly fell into a most tricky trap, but
his wise old father suspected the trap and called to Salar to halt; and
because Salar obeyed his father and halted at once, he just escaped
falling into that awful trap.
Well, in the jungle hunters lay all kinds of traps to catch wild
elephants alive; and sometimes for several years the hunters try over
and over again to catch the elephants, if they fail to catch them at
once. So the president of an elephant herd has to look out for traps all
the time; and the herd that has the wisest president escapes capture for
the longest time.
In fact, as Salar is an actual elephant, not an imaginary one, I may
tell you that his father was such a wily leader of his herd that he kept
them from capture for ten years longer than the leader of any other
elephant herd in that jungle.
As for hunters who seek to kill wild elephants with guns, the leader of
the herd has to be even more careful in avoiding them. These hunters
usually hide behind bushes, and try to creep up to the elephants; and
when they are within a hundred yards of the elephants, they begin
shooting them. Then the leader of the herd has to prove his wisdom.
A foolish leader would stand still, or even try to charge the hunters;
and then more of the elephants would get killed. But a wise leader gives
the signal to _run away_ as soon as he hears the sound of the first gun;
then at most only one or two of the elephants are killed--and sometimes
none at all.
Why? Because to kill an elephant with a gun a hunter must hit him
exactly in one particular place on the body--behind the elephant's ear,
where the skin is thin. At the first shot the hunter may not hit the
elephant just there, but inflict only a trifling wound elsewhere on his
thick skin. So by running away at once an elephant may save his life.
But as all leaders are not so wise, the hunters usually manage to kill
one or two of the elephants. I may tell you that these hunters kill the
elephants merely to get their tusks, which they sell as ivory.
It is a shame to kill such wonderful animals just for money; and you
ought to know that in some parts of Africa almost all the elephants have
now been killed. If the hunters continue to do that, there will be no
elephants left in Africa in a few years. Then the hunters will not be
able to get the very ivory for the sake of which they now kill the
elephants.
But you will be pleased to know that in India and other countries of
Asia nobody is allowed to kill a wild elephant; for if anyone did so, he
would be put into jail. Special hunters are allowed to catch wild
elephants alive, as I have already told you; and then the elephants are
tamed and trained to do all kinds of useful work, such as to pile logs,
build bridges, make roads, and lay water-pipes (see Frontispiece). Some
of these elephants are also taught to do tricks in a circus, or to carry
grand people in a procession.
"Then how do people in India get their ivory, if they never kill an
elephant?" you may ask.
They get the ivory when the elephant dies naturally; and the ivory is
just as good then as before. Is not that very wise? The people of India
first get the help of the elephants in doing all their heavy work, and
at last they get the ivory also.
There are huge buildings in India, some of which are more than two
thousand years old, which are so wonderful that engineers in America and
Europe do not know exactly how those buildings were erected. There is a
particular temple on the top of a mountain; and that mountain is 6000
feet high. The ceiling over the center of the temple is a huge circular
piece of marble; and that marble ceiling is so large that for a long
time people in America and Europe did not know how it was dragged up to
the top of the mountain, and then placed over the temple. But now we
know that a team of trained elephants was used to do that.
You will be pleased to know, too, that the people who built that temple
are called Jains, whom I mentioned in Book I, page 163 (footnote), as
the people who are kind to all animals, and who never hurt even the
smallest insect. Instead, these mild and gentle people have taught dumb
animals to help them build one of the greatest wonders of the world.
[Illustration: Trained Elephants at the Court of a King]
How the elephants were taught to do that, I shall tell you in the next
Book.
CHAPTER II
War and Neutrality in the Jungle
Now I must tell you about another duty of the president of the elephant
herd: he must avoid another kind of danger that may come to the herd
from outside.
I am sorry to say that herds of elephants sometimes fight with one
another, just as nations of people do. Alas, although elephants are
usually such wise animals, they are sometimes as foolish as men! Two
herds of elephants may find the same feeding ground, which has plenty of
trees to eat from, and a convenient stream of water to drink from. Then
the two herds may start fighting for that new feeding ground--just as
two nations sometimes fight for a new land.
Among elephants the herd that first finds the feeding ground usually
keeps it; but another herd may come there at about the same time, and
claim to have found it first--and may fight the other herd for that new
feeding ground. Or it may happen that the second herd really came there
later, but is stronger than the first herd, as it has more bull
elephants in it. Then the second herd may try to drive away the other
herd, which really found that feeding ground first.
_Wise Elephant Leader Avoids War_
Then what does the president of the first herd do? Alas, he usually
stays there to fight it out. But he gains nothing by it; instead, some
of his bulls get killed or wounded--and in the end his herd has to flee
just the same. A very wise leader would have done that from the first;
for he might find another feeding ground just as good somewhere near.
And besides, the quarrelsome herd will be punished soon enough!
"How will it be punished?" you may ask.
I shall tell you. A quarrelsome herd gets into the _habit_ of
quarrelling with other herds, just as a quarrelsome boy gets into the
habit of quarrelling with everybody--or even as a quarrelsome military
nation gets into the habit of quarrelling with other nations. Then that
quarrelsome boy might meet a stronger boy some day--and get a good
thrashing! And the quarrelsome nation might attack a more powerful
nation some day--and get a good thrashing!
So also that quarrelsome herd of elephants might some day attack a herd
which proves to be stronger. Then that naughty herd would also get a
good thrashing. So it is foolish, indeed, for the president of a herd to
domineer over weaker herds in the jungle.
Indeed, there is a still greater punishment for a quarrelsome herd. I
have already told you that there are hunters who lay traps to catch wild
elephants alive. Well, these hunters try specially to catch a
quarrelsome herd first! Why? Because quarrelsome herds kill or injure
other wild elephants with whom they fight. But the hunters do not want
to have any of the elephants killed or injured, as they want to catch as
many of them as possible in order to teach them to do useful work. So
they catch the quarrelsome herd first, before it can kill or injure many
of the other elephants.
Of course, the hunters know which is a quarrelsome herd, because they
send men into the jungle from time to time to watch different herds and
keep track of them.
_The Wise Elephant Leader Keeps Neutral_
There is still another duty that the leader of the elephant herd must
do. Sometimes it happens that as he is taking his herd through the
jungle, he meets two other herds that are fighting. Then what must he
do?
He must lead his herd by another path. He must not take part in the
fighting between the two other herds. He must keep _neutral_.
What does that mean? It means that he must not meddle with other
peoples' fights and quarrels. He must not take sides; that is, he must
not help either of the herds to beat the other. That is the usual rule
in the jungle which a wise elephant leader tries to keep.
But there is an exception to that rule. It sometimes happens that it is
impossible for the president of an elephant herd _not_ to take sides.
When does that happen? I shall tell you.
_When it is Impossible to Remain Neutral_
When two herds are fighting, they may get very reckless. When men make
war, they knock down houses with their guns, and trample on growing
corn. In the same manner, when two herds of elephants fight they knock
down trees, and trample on shrubs and bushes--sometimes the very trees
and shrubs and bushes for which they are fighting! _There never is a
fight of any kind without a lot of damage being done._
So it may happen that one of the fighting herds gets so reckless that it
comes into the ground of the herd that has kept neutral, and does a lot
of damage there. Then what must the president of the neutral herd do? He
must defend his own ground from damage.
So long as the fighting herds kept to their grounds, he must not
interfere. But when one of the fighting herds comes into _his_ ground
and does damage, he must defend his rights. A wise elephant leader
always does that; for he has bull elephants of his own who can drive out
the intruders.
CHAPTER III
The Policemen of the Elephant Herd
I have already told you that the president of an elephant herd must keep
order within his own herd; that is, he must not allow a naughty elephant
to commit a crime, such as to attack any other member of the herd. And
if a naughty elephant does commit a crime, it is the duty of the
president to punish him.
I shall now tell you how he does these things. _There is a wonderful
police system in an elephant herd._
You will understand that better if I tell you first about an old police
system among men. You will read in history books about the Anglo-Saxons,
who were the forefathers of most of the people of England and of the
United States of to-day. These Anglo-Saxons had a police system like
this:--
In a village or in a town all the grown-up men were divided into groups
of ten men; and if any man tried to commit a crime, all the other nine
men of his group tried to prevent him. If he committed the crime
_before_ the other nine men could prevent him, they at least arrested
him. Then they took him before the judge for punishment.
It is something like that in an elephant herd in the jungle; only, as
there are not so many bull elephants in a herd as there are men in a
village, it is not necessary to divide the bulls into different groups.
As there are only twenty or thirty grown-up bulls in an average elephant
herd, it is the duty of _all_ the grown-up bulls to prevent a bad
elephant among them from committing a crime; and usually it is the bulls
nearest to him who actually stop him from committing the crime. If he
manages to commit the crime _before_ they can prevent him, they surround
him immediately and keep him there like a prisoner, till the president
of the herd comes to punish him.
My dear children, that is a great lesson for us. A good citizen always
helps to keep the law; if he sees anyone breaking the law, he tries to
prevent him from doing so. Some men do nothing, if they see a person
breaking the law; they say, "It is no business of ours." Elephants are
much better citizens of the jungle in that respect; they always try to
prevent a bad elephant from breaking the law.
[Illustration: Elephants Guarding a Bad Elephant]
Now I am going to tell you something that will astonish you--as it has
astonished a good many clever scientific men. Do you know why people are
at all able to use elephants in a circus, and give you pleasure by
making them do tricks? Suppose one of the elephants suddenly went mad?
Then he could kill a dozen people in a minute by just rushing at them
and trampling on them. No _men_ could stop him, even if they had guns
ready all the time; for it might take several minutes to kill an
elephant even with a special kind of gun. And meanwhile the mad elephant
could trample upon scores of people in a crowded circus.
And it is just the same in a procession, when elephants are used to
carry grand people--kings and queens, princes and princesses, lords and
ladies. An elephant in a sudden fit of rage could kill many of them.
Then why do people use elephants in a circus or in a procession? Why do
they trust themselves with such large and strong animals? Just think!
"Because an elephant is naturally docile and gentle," you may say.
That is quite true. But still a bull elephant might get into a _sudden_
fit of rage about something, just like a naughty boy; and as a naughty
boy in a sudden fit of rage might break things, so also that bull
elephant might rush about and trample on people.
Then why do people trust themselves with elephants? Think again!
It is because of the _police system among the elephants themselves_.
Because if any elephant in a circus or a procession tried to do any
mischief, even in a sudden fit of temper, all the other elephants there
would prevent him! The _men_ there might not be able to prevent him; but
the other _elephants_ could, and they would.
Nobody need tell the other elephants to do that. Without being told to
do so, they would rush to him, surround him, and prevent him from doing
any mischief. And if only one bull elephant happened to be near enough
to him at that time, he would at least head him off--that is, throw
himself in the way of the angry elephant. I shall tell you a wonderful
story about that presently.
I have said that nobody need tell the other elephants to prevent a bad
elephant from committing a crime. The other elephants would do that
themselves, because _they have got into the habit of doing so in the
jungle_.
I must tell you that almost all the elephants you see in a zoo or a
circus were once wild in the jungle; they have been caught, then tamed,
then trained. But they still remember the laws of the jungle; and they
follow those laws whenever necessary--just as children who get into the
habit of keeping the rules of their school also form the habit of
keeping the law when they grow up. So the men who use elephants allow
them to practice this particular law; that is, they allow and encourage
the elephants to continue this police system among themselves.
From this you will understand that people do not usually use a bull
elephant singly; that is, they usually use a number of bull elephants
together, so that all the others would prevent a bad elephant from doing
any sudden mischief.
Wise people who know the habits of elephants usually use a number of
them at a time. But there have been many foolish people who have used a
bull elephant by himself; then somebody has ill-treated that elephant,
and in his rage he has done a lot of harm.
That actually happened in a big zoo recently. Then they had to shoot the
elephant. That shows that the people at that zoo knew very little about
the habits of elephants. They should have kept that elephant with a few
other elephants.
You may like to know how wise people in Europe and America have learned
the habits of elephants. They learned them from the people of India many
centuries ago. The people of India first observed wild elephants in the
jungle; and they discovered that the elephants had wonderful laws in
their herds--which I have described to you. Then the people of India
caught the wild elephants, and tamed them, then trained them to do
tricks and also useful work.
About 2250 years ago there was a famous king in Europe named Alexander,
who went to India. There he and his followers saw the wonderful things
that the people of India had taught the elephants to do. So they brought
some of these people to Europe, with their elephants. That is how the
people of Europe first learned about the wonderful habits of elephants.
In our own times, wise people who bring elephants to Europe and America
also bring a few men who know the habits of elephants.
That is why it is such fun to watch the elephants at a circus.
CHAPTER IV
The Punishment of the Wicked Elephant
Now I shall tell you how naughty elephants are punished. I have already
told you that if a naughty elephant attacks any other elephant in the
herd, all the other bulls surround him and keep him there, till the
president of the herd comes and punishes him. Now I shall tell you how
that is done.
The bull elephants stand in a ring a few yards away from the culprit;
but they all face him, so that they can watch him all the time. Then the
president of the herd steps into the ring, and walks toward the back of
the culprit.
"But if the culprit keeps turning round, so that the president cannot
get behind him?" you may ask.
Then two of the bulls forming the ring step in; and they come and dig
the culprit in the ribs with their tusks, one on the right side and the
other on the left side. Then the culprit cannot turn; he must stand
still and take his punishment.
And this is the way the punishment is given. The president gores him
with his tusks on the hind quarter, just as a father spanks his naughty
boy--only much harder! In fact, after two or three blows from the
president's tusks, the culprit's back is very sore.
How long does this punishment last? Well, just about as long as the
spanking of a naughty boy by his father. How long is that?
"Till he says he is sorry, and won't be naughty again," you may say.
That is exactly what happens to the bad elephant. The president goes on
goring him till he _says_ and _shows_ that he won't be wicked any more.
Yes, an elephant can _say_ that he won't be wicked again by whining; and
he can _show_ it by the way he holds his head and trunk. You will
understand that better from the story I shall now tell you. It is a true
story. It is about a bad elephant in the service of men after the
elephant had been tamed; but the punishment for being wicked would have
been just the same if he had been a wild elephant in the jungle.
_The Princes and the Bad Elephant_
It happened a few years ago, when King George and Queen Mary of England
went to India. At that time a young reigning prince in India had just
succeeded to his father's throne. So there were many ceremonies at the
palace, and festivities among the people. These functions lasted a whole
week, and several elephants were used in processions.
One day the elephants were taken to a place ten miles away to do useful
work, such as to pile timber for building a bridge. Among these
elephants was one called Mukna.
Mukna was a bad-tempered elephant. His tusks never grew more than
half-size. Bull elephants whose tusks do not grow to their full size are
sometimes bad-tempered; they seem to have a grudge against everybody.
Such elephants are always treated with special kindness, as if to make
up to them for their loss.
But in spite of all the kindness Mukna received, his temper grew worse
and worse. He was punished for that, though very lightly; he was merely
deprived of delicacies in his food. Elephants in the service of men
usually get hay, grass, and leaves to eat; but on special days they get
sugar cane, bananas, and a kind of pancake, all of which are great
delicacies to an elephant.
Mukna's keeper had deprived him of these delicacies for his bad temper,
just as a naughty boy's father may deprive the boy of ice-cream. That
should have been a lesson to Mukna to be good. But it was not. Instead,
he got worse.
One morning, when all the elephants were working, Mukna's keeper ordered
him to lift a log. Mukna did not obey. He merely stood still.
Now, disobedience is a serious fault in an elephant--just as it is in a
child. In fact, it is the beginning of all faults on earth, as the Bible
says. If people once allowed even an elephant to be disobedient, they
could not control him any more--just as if a naughty boy were to be left
unpunished for disobeying his parents or teacher, he would get worse,
and disobey his superiors, and even the law, when he grew up.
So Mukna's keeper looked at him sternly and said, "I command you for the
second time to lift that log!"
But Mukna would not yet obey. He merely stood still.
Then all the other elephants looked up from their work, just as grown-up
men in a workshop look up if they hear the foreman scolding a bad
workman. Those other elephants knew what an awful crime disobedience
was.
Then in a deep and stern voice Mukna's keeper said to him, "I command
you for the third and last time to lift that log!"
But for the third time Mukna refused to obey.
"Then you shall hear about this!" the keeper said, just as if he were
talking to a disobedient workman.
The keeper did not say anything more. But two of the nearest bull
elephants stepped up to Mukna, one on each side of him--just like a
couple of policemen arresting a criminal. Then a third bull came up in
front of Mukna, and stood with his back to him, so that all three police
elephants faced the same way as Mukna--as you see in the picture on page
45.
Then at the same time the three police elephants stepped _backward_, so
that Mukna also was forced to step backward. Step by step the three
police elephants went backward till Mukna's hind legs came against the
trunk of a tree. There Mukna was held for a moment, so that he could not
wriggle away. For the elephant in front prevented him from moving
forward, and the tree prevented him from moving backward; and the two
elephants on the sides prevented him from moving sideways.
Then the keeper stepped to the tree and fastened one of Mukna's hind
legs to the tree with a chain--so that he could not run away. The three
police elephants then went back to their work.
Now I must tell you that in a herd in the jungle a bad elephant is
punished at once by the president. But it is slightly different among
elephants in the service of men, because there they have no elephant
president, but a man president, who might be away at that time. That man
is called the elephant master.
That is just what happened when Mukna was disobedient. The elephant
master happened to have gone to the palace on a visit. So Mukna's keeper
called a messenger and sent him to the palace to report Mukna's
disobedience. The messenger had to ride on another elephant to go that
distance.
Mukna saw that elephant going toward the palace with the messenger.
Mukna knew why! It was to fetch the elephant master, who would punish
him! Even a dog that has been naughty will cringe and whine at the sight
of a whip, because it knows that its punishment is coming.
[Illustration: Policemen Elephants Arresting a Criminal Elephant]
But Mukna did not cringe and whine. Instead he became defiant--just like
a very bad boy. He held up his head and curled his trunk tight in a
spiral in front of his chest. In an elephant that is a sign that he is
defiant or determined, just like a man who folds his arms tight across
his chest. Mukna was unrepentant.
The messenger reached the palace and reported Mukna's disobedience; and
the elephant master said that he would come that afternoon to punish
Mukna.
The reigning prince said that he also would come. As he had just
ascended his throne, he wanted to teach a lesson to all criminals in his
domain from the beginning of his reign, and Mukna was the first to
commit a crime in the prince's reign. For, I must tell you, all
elephants in service in India are treated just like men; they are
rewarded as good citizens or punished as criminals. So Mukna was
regarded as a criminal.
The prince asked three other young princes, his cousins, to come with
him. A young American was then staying in the palace as a guest, and he
also was invited to come.
That afternoon the royal party went with the elephant master to the
place where the elephants were; there were about thirty bulls, besides
Mukna. The place was a clear space, about a hundred yards across, with
a lot of trees along the sides. Mukna was tied by the hind leg to one of
those trees.
The royal party got out of their carriages and entered the open space on
foot, quite near the spot where Mukna was tied up. They were not
thinking of Mukna just at that moment, as they were talking of the grand
feasts at the palace. So they did not notice Mukna at once.
Meanwhile Mukna had been brooding all day. He knew that his punishment
would come very soon. "I will do it--I will do it!" he must have been
saying to himself all the time. In that way he had worked himself into a
fury.
When the royal party entered the open space, the young American happened
to be nearest to Mukna. As he had just arrived from America, he did not
know much about elephants; so the young American did not notice that
Mukna was chained up to the tree by the hind leg, and that _he_ was the
bad elephant they had come to punish. Instead, the young American
thought that Mukna was just one of the ordinary tame elephants working
there.
So as the royal party happened to pass about ten yards in front of
Mukna, the young American stepped aside and said, "Hello, I must pat
you!" Saying that, he raised his hand and stepped toward Mukna to pat
him.
But meanwhile, when Mukna had seen the elephant master arrive with the
royal party, he knew that the moment of his punishment had come! "I will
do it--I will do it!" he had kept saying before. So when the young
American raised his hand, Mukna suddenly made up his mind _to do it
now_!
Mukna gave just one short trumpet. The next instant he gave a vicious
tug with his hind leg--and snapped the chain! With a huge stride he came
toward the American and the royal party. He would "do it" now! _He would
kill them all!_
Nothing could stop him from doing it, it seemed. He would knock them
down and trample them to death.
But meanwhile the elephant master had heard the trumpet Mukna had given
a moment before he broke the chain. And in an instant the elephant
master realized what would happen.
"Run for your lives!" he shouted to the young American and the four
princes. And he ran himself.
But an elephant can run much faster than any man. It seemed that nothing
could save those six men; they would all be trampled to death. The only
direction in which they could run was toward the middle of the open
space--away from Mukna. Even if they reached it, they would still have
to run toward the trees on the far side. Could they reach the trees in
time? No! Mukna was gaining upon them. It seemed that in a few more
strides Mukna would hurl himself upon them, and there was nobody to stop
him.
But yes--there was!
For meanwhile, just as the elephant master had heard the trumpet Mukna
had given, all the thirty bull elephants had also heard it. Most of them
were too far off, near the line of trees; but there happened to be a
bull a little nearer the middle of the open space. He saw at once that
he could not overtake Mukna, if he merely chased him. So, how could he
stop Mukna from murdering the six men?
I shall tell you. This is what that bull elephant did. As soon as the
men had started running, he saw in what direction they were going. So he
turned slightly, and ran also _in that direction_. As Mukna gained
upon the men, he too came nearer and nearer to the men.
[Illustration: Good Elephant Heading off a Criminal Elephant]
Mukna had come within three yards of the young American and the reigning
prince, who were running together. "Now I have got them!" Mukna must
have thought. One more stride, and he would trample them to death!
But that instant the other bull elephant also ran close up to the two
men--and hurled himself _between_ Mukna and the two men.
Mukna's blow fell upon the bull elephant's side, and knocked him down.
But Mukna tripped over him, and also fell. The two elephants rolled over
and over upon the ground.
Meanwhile the young American and the reigning prince and all the other
men, ran on to safety behind the trees.
When Mukna regained his feet, he realized that the men he had attempted
to kill had escaped. And he also realized that now his punishment would
be most terrible--first for the disobedience, then for the attempted
murder. So in an instant he made up his mind to run away; he would
escape to the jungle and become a wild elephant once more--even if he
had to be a solitary wanderer in the jungle.
Sometimes in the wild West of America in the past, men who had
committed crimes would escape from the sheriff into the wilds and become
outlaws. Mukna wanted to do just that. So he turned toward the trees on
the side of the open space, to run away into the jungle.
But a most wonderful thing had happened. Without a word of command from
anyone, all the other bull elephants had stepped to the gaps between the
trees, each to the gap nearest him--as they would have done when they
were wild elephants in a herd, to stop a criminal among them. And all of
them were now facing Mukna.
Mukna turned to the right to find a way of escape to the jungle; but all
the gaps on the right were guarded by bull elephants. Mukna turned to
the left; but all the gaps on the left were guarded likewise. Mukna
turned in all directions; but in all directions the gaps were guarded.
He could not escape.
Then the elephant master recovered from his fright. He stepped out from
behind the tree where he had hidden. For the first time he gave a
command.
"March!" he cried to the elephants.
And the elephants marched toward Mukna. They came nearer and nearer,
till they formed a ring around Mukna near the middle of the open space.
Mukna looked frantically this way and that way; but he saw a ring of
elephants all round him, a dozen yards away; and the tusks of all were
pointed toward him like a row of bayonets.
Then the elephant master and the royal party came and stood just outside
the ring, at the back of the elephants.
_The Trial of the Criminal Elephant--as in a Court of Law_
There they held a trial, just as in a court of law. Mukna was accused of
two crimes: first, disobedience; second, attempted murder. A man was
appointed to defend him at the trial, just as in a court of law a
criminal may have a lawyer to defend him.
The elephant master presided at the trial of Mukna. He was the judge.
When the trial began, Mukna's keeper first gave evidence; that is, he
said that Mukna had disobeyed his order, not only once, but three times.
Then several other keepers came forward as witnesses, and gave evidence;
that is, they said that they _saw_ Mukna disobey the order.
Then the man who was appointed to defend Mukna spoke for him; he was
called the elephant counsel. The elephant counsel argued that Mukna must
have been ill-treated to make him disobedient. So he questioned all the
keepers. But all the keepers said that Mukna had not been ill-treated to
make him disobedient.
"He may not have been ill-treated just that minute," the elephant
counsel still argued. "But was he not ill-treated before? _An elephant
has a long memory; he never forgets an injury, or an act of kindness._
An elephant has been known to remember both injury and kindness for more
than twenty years. Then did not Mukna's keeper _ever_ ill-treat him?"
But all the other men who were in charge of all the elephants gave
evidence that Mukna's keeper had never ill-treated him; nor had anybody
else ill-treated him--except that Mukna had been punished before for bad
temper by being deprived of delicacies in his food. So Mukna had no true
cause for disobeying the order that day.
Thus the charge of disobedience was proved against Mukna.
Then came the second crime of which Mukna was accused, namely, attempted
murder. And that was very quickly proved, as everybody there had just
seen that crime.
So the elephant master, who was the judge, pronounced sentence of
punishment on Mukna. Mukna was ordered to receive ten blows for the
disobedience, and ten blows more for the attempted murder.
_The Infliction of the Punishment_
Now among the bull elephants forming the ring around Mukna was one who
had huge tusks. So the elephant master ordered him to give Mukna the
twenty blows. Of course the elephant could not _count_ the number of
blows he was to give. So the elephant master was to count for him, and
tell him when to stop.
The elephant who had the huge tusks stepped into the ring, and tried to
get behind Mukna, but Mukna turned around to prevent him from doing so.
Then the elephant master ordered two other elephants to step into the
ring. These two came and pointed their tusks at Mukna's ribs on each
side. So Mukna could not turn. In defiance he held up his head, and
curled his trunk tight before him.
"Hit me, if you like, but I won't give in!" he seemed to say.
Five blows he took from the other elephant's tusks without flinching.
But at the sixth blow he stumbled forward, and fell to the ground.
The elephant master stepped into the ring.
"Arise!" he commanded.
But Mukna would not rise.
Then the elephant master made a sign to the two bulls. They came to
Mukna from each side, and prodded him in the ribs with their tusks. So
Mukna was forced to stand up.
He steadied himself and received four more blows. Then at the next blow,
which was the eleventh, he fell again.
"Arise!" the elephant master commanded.
Mukna again refused to arise. So the two bulls on the sides prodded him
again, and forced him to arise.
This time Mukna stood only two more blows; then he fell again. The place
where he was receiving the blows was now raw and bleeding. So the
elephant master gave him a chance.
"Is it enough?" he asked.
But Mukna defiantly arose to his feet, without waiting to be prodded.
And he defiantly held up his head and curled up his trunk.
"You may hit me as much as you like, but I won't give in!" he seemed to
say.
At the next blow, which was the fourteenth, Mukna again fell. He was
getting weaker and weaker, and now he could not stand more than one blow
at a time.
Seeing his weakness, the elephant master allowed him to lie there for
five minutes.
Then he asked Mukna, "Is it _now_ enough?"
Slowly, painfully, Mukna got up. He looked around with bleary, bloodshot
eyes; he thought, "Can I not yet escape?"
But a row of tusks, like a row of bayonets, faced him on all sides.
Still he would not give in. With a fierce resolution he tried to curl up
his trunk in defiance. He could not do so at once, but after an effort
he succeeded.
"I won't give in, even if I die!" he seemed to say, though he was
rocking unsteadily in growing weakness.
"Then we shall break your obstinate spirit!" the elephant master cried.
So Mukna received the next blow, which was the fifteenth. He fell. But
after a while he rose again in defiance, and received the sixteenth
blow. Then he fell in a heap. The side of his head hit the ground, and
he rolled over.
"Is it enough at last?" the elephant master asked. He waited.
Three times Mukna tried to raise his head in defiance, even as he lay on
the ground; and three times he tried to curl up his trunk. His head went
half-way up, and his trunk curled half-way. He lay on the ground just
like that for a minute or two, his whole body quivering with pain and
weakness.
Then perhaps the memory of all the kindnesses he had formerly received
came back to his mind. Yes, an elephant never forgets an injury, but he
never forgets a kindness either. Perhaps Mukna remembered at that moment
all the petting he had received when he was a good elephant, all the
sugar-canes and bananas and pancakes--and all the rewards for being
gentle and docile and obedient. And now he realized that, instead of
receiving these good things, he was receiving a most terrible punishment
for being wicked, and for being _obstinate in wickedness_. How foolish
he was!
He saw it all clearly in that moment, as he lay in shame and disgrace
before all his comrades, all the other elephants. Then Mukna's head
began to droop and droop; and his trunk began to unwind. The trunk hung
loose and limp before him; and his head sank lower and lower, till it
lay humbly in the dust.
A low cry, almost like a moan, escaped his lips. It seemed to say, "I am
sorry for being wicked and obstinate! I repent! Forgive me!"
Immediately the elephant master gave a sign. All the other elephants
fell back. Their task was done. They returned to their usual work.
Then several of the keepers came with buckets of water, and bathed
Mukna's wounds. Afterward they put on the wounds a poultice of herbs, to
cure the wounds in due time.
So Mukna received only sixteen blows, instead of the twenty, because he
repented of his crime.
"But if he had not repented?" you may ask.
Then he would have received the four remaining blows later on, when he
was strong enough again to receive them. For the sentence of punishment
must be carried out fully, like the sentence of a court of law, unless
the criminal repents.
_The Rogue Elephant_
Among wild elephants in the jungle it sometimes happens that an elephant
becomes so wicked that he does not repent when he is being punished by
the president of the herd. Then the president gives him as many blows as
he can bear; that is, till he _cannot_ rise from the ground. Then he is
left there to recover by himself.
Sometimes such an elephant goes from bad to worse. For a few months his
wounds may hurt him; and so he may be on his good behavior. But
afterward, when the wounds have healed completely, he may commit a fresh
crime. Then, of course, he is punished again. And now the place gets so
sore and raw that it takes much longer to heal, and even then the place
is full of scars.
If he should get unruly and commit a crime once more, would he be
punished just the same? Yes, he would be. But I must tell you that a
herd of elephants does not want a criminal among them. So after the
third or fourth crime all the other elephants drive him out of the herd.
Then this very bad elephant meets a most awful fate. He becomes a
solitary wanderer in the jungle. No other elephant will have anything to
do with him. He is a _rogue elephant_.
"But could he not go to another part of the jungle and join some other
herd of elephants who don't _know_ that he is a rogue?" you may ask.
He could. But those elephants would find out _at once_ that he had been
driven out of his own herd for being a rogue.
_The Brand of the Rogue_
How would they find that out at once? By seeing the scars of the wounds
on the place where he had been repeatedly punished. Those scars are _the
brand of the rogue elephant_.
So the new herd also would drive him out, for neither do they want a
rogue among them.
Thus, no matter what herd the rogue elephant tried to join, he would be
driven out.
Then he would be fated to roam the jungle by himself all his life--which
is a most awful punishment. An outlaw among men has a similar fate, as
he is shunned by all honest people.
A rogue elephant, being the _outlaw of the jungle_, does not live long.
Just as an outlaw among men gets shot by the sheriff's men sooner or
later, so also a rogue elephant gets shot by hunters. For, although the
hunters must not shoot an ordinary wild elephant that is a member of a
herd, they may shoot at sight a rogue elephant that is roaming in
solitude.
So, my dear children, remember that such a terrible fate comes to a
rogue elephant who may have _begun_ his downward path by just one act of
disobedience or some other fault--and who obstinately persisted in his
wickedness, and _would not repent_.
_The Reward of Repentance_
On the other hand, how much wiser it is to repent, even if one has been
so foolish as to do wrong! Mukna committed the most terrible crime--he
actually tried to kill people; and then he tried to run away into the
jungle and perhaps become a rogue elephant. But afterward, when he was
being punished, he repented of his crimes. So, what happened?
I shall tell you. Mukna was put on probation for a year; that is, the
keepers watched him for a year to see if he would behave well. And for
the whole year Mukna was on his best behavior; he was gentle and docile
and obedient, and he did whatever he was ordered to do, even the hardest
work. And he did that willingly, as if to prove that he had truly
repented.
Then those very princes whom he had tried to kill felt sure that Mukna
had begun a new life, and would always be good in the future. So the
princes took him back into favor.
And today Mukna wears a cloth-of-gold, with gold rings on his tusks, and
he walks in a royal procession. Sometimes he carries grand people on his
back, and sometimes children. And no elephant is more gentle and
thoughtful with little children than he is. For he actually curls the
end of his trunk near the ground for them to sit upon--and then he lifts
them up to his back, three at a time!
CHAPTER V
Flesh-Eating Animals: the Felines, or the Cat Tribe
So far most of the animals I have described to you are vegetarians, that
is, they eat vegetables of all kinds, for even leaves, herbs, and grass
may be classed as vegetables. These animals are the elephant, the
buffalo, the deer, the antelope, and others. The bear is the only animal
I have so far described to you (in Book I) that eats both
vegetables--that is, the roots of trees--and the flesh of other animals
as well.
But now I shall describe to you quite a different class of animals,
namely, animals that eat only meat. Among these animals the most
important group is the Cat Tribe, or the _felines_, as they are
sometimes called. They possess many of the qualities of the ordinary
cat.
The principal felines are the tiger, the lion, the leopard, the puma,
and the jaguar. All felines have a special kind of fangs, tongue, claws,
and paws, which I shall now describe in detail.
_The Feline Has Strong Fangs_
Besides the ordinary teeth, every feline has two pairs of strong fangs
which look like big projecting teeth. One pair of fangs is placed on the
upper jaw, pointing downward; they are wide apart. The other pair of
fangs is placed in the lower jaw, pointing upward; they are not quite so
far apart as the fangs of the upper jaw. Why? So that the animal can
close its mouth comfortably without striking the lower fangs against the
upper fangs.
These fangs are three to four inches long in a tiger or a lion; they are
not quite so big in a leopard or other feline. The fangs of the tiger or
the lion are so strong that he can hold down a heavy bullock by gripping
it with his fangs. He can also drag the bullock along the ground by
gripping it in that way, and can use the fangs to tear out a large piece
of meat from the body of his prey.
When the tiger or the lion gets a piece of meat into his mouth, he uses
the upper fangs to pierce the meat: that is, the meat lies on the
ordinary teeth on the under jaw, and the two fangs of the upper jaw come
down on the meat and cut it into two or three pieces. The tiger or the
lion could chew the meat a little more, with the help of his ordinary
teeth, but he does not need to. Every animal of the Cat Tribe has a
strong digestion; so the tiger or the lion merely cuts up the meat a few
times with his fangs and then swallows it.
_The Feline's Tongue is Rough_
A feline's fangs, however, are too big to tear off _small_ pieces of
meat from a bone. So it uses its _tongue_ to scrape off the small pieces
of meat. That is the reason why a feline's tongue is very rough. So
again you see, as I told you in Book I, that every animal has the gift
it needs. If the feline did not have a rough tongue, it could not eat
the small pieces of meat on a bone; and so a portion of its food would
be wasted. No inhabitant of the jungle wastes food. It is only _we_ who
waste food.
_The Feline's Claws are Retractile_
The claws of every feline are _retractile_. That is, the claws can be
_drawn in_, or sheathed, whenever the animal desires; also, the claws
can be thrust out, whenever the animal desires to do that.
Why is it necessary for a feline to be able to do both--to draw in its
claws, and to thrust them out?
Because when the animal needs food, it must thrust out the claws to
seize it. But in just running about in the jungle, it does not need to
use its claws; so it draws them in. In fact, if it did not draw in its
claws then, the claws would soon be worn out by rubbing against the
ground. And even if the claws were growing all the time, they would be
also wearing off all the time. So to keep the claws sharp for use only
when the animal wants to seize something, it keeps the claws drawn in at
other times.
Here I ought to tell you that a dog's claws are quite different from the
claws of a feline, even from those of an ordinary cat. The cat's claws
are of course retractile, as I have just described to you. But a dog's
claws are _rigid_; that is, they are stiff and thrust out all the time.
Why? Because the dog does not use its claws. It seizes its food with its
mouth, not with its claws. It even defends itself with its mouth, that
is, with its teeth.
But a feline uses its claws to seize its food, and even to defend
itself. You may have noticed that even an ordinary cat defends itself
with its claws. When a dog chases a cat and corners it, the cat turns
and defends itself with its claws.
Once upon a time, many, many hundred years ago, the dog did use its
claws; they were then retractile. But the dog stopped using its claws;
then they became rigid. The dog lost the power of drawing in its claws.
In our own bodies, if we do not use a particular gift for a long time,
we lose the power of using that gift. When we are born, our left hand is
just as good as our right hand. But because we do not use the left hand
much in doing things, we lose the power of using it quite as well as we
use the right hand. Little boys and girls should practice using the left
hand. Then if by some accident the right hand is lost, they would not be
quite helpless.
As for the felines, they retain the full power of their claws by
constant use. So, because the claws are very useful, every feline takes
care of its claws,--especially the tiger. Why, _the tiger cleans his
claws every day_! In the jungle there are many trees that have a soft
bark. So the tiger goes to one of these trees every day, and digs his
claws into the bark. Then he draws his claws sideways along the bark,
and that cleans out the claws. The tigress also cleans her claws every
day in the same manner.
Some little boys and girls do not clean their nails every day. Then
sometimes a piece of dirt gets in under a nail and causes a sore. But
the tiger and tigress are wiser. If part of a piece of meat that they
have torn up were to remain under a claw, it would fester and cause a
sore. So the tiger and tigress clean their claws every day.
_The Feline Has Padded Paws_
The paws of every feline have also a special quality. The under part of
each paw is thickly padded with powerful muscles. That gives the feline
three advantages.
First advantage: it enables the feline to _stalk_ its prey. That is, the
feline can creep up to its prey quite silently. As its paws are padded,
they make no sound on the ground--just as your footfall makes no sound
when you wear rubbers over your shoes.
Second advantage: the padded paw enables the feline to strike down its
prey with a severe blow. When it wants to strike down its prey, the
feline hardens the muscles under its paw; the blow of its paw is then
something like that of a hammer. A tiger has often been known to smash
the skull of a buffalo with a single blow of its paw.
Third advantage: the padded paws enable a feline to leap farther. After
a feline has crept up as near to its prey as it can, it has still to
leap upon its prey to seize it. Then the muscles under the paws act like
springs, and enable the feline to give a big leap. Even in running, the
muscles act somewhat like springs. You must have noticed that, in
running, a dog _gallops_, but a cat _bounds_. That is, the dog moves its
legs very quickly, but each space of ground it covers is not very long.
A cat moves its legs not quite so quickly, but the space of ground it
covers at each bound is much longer. The cat and all felines can give a
bigger bound because of the muscles under their paws.
Having told you all the qualities common to animals of the Cat Tribe, I
shall now describe some of these animals in detail.
CHAPTER VI
The Tiger
The tiger lives in most of the countries along the south coast of Asia,
that is, all the way from Persia to China. Some tigers are also found in
the northern countries of Asia, such as Siberia; but there are very few
of them there. And, of course, these few tigers in the cold northern
countries of Asia are a little different from those in the hot southern
countries. For the tigers in the cold countries have thick fur on their
skin, and a layer of fat under their skin--just to keep them warm. So
they are too fat to be as muscular and active as the slim and lithe
tigers that live in the hot countries in the south of Asia.
Now please remember one thing more about the dwelling place of the
tiger: _there is no tiger in Africa_. Even clever people do not always
know that. When ex-President Roosevelt went on a hunting trip to Africa
a few years ago, he shot many wild and ferocious animals there, and some
newspapers said that he had shot several tigers.
That was a mistake. The animals that he shot were leopards, not tigers.
You can at once tell the difference between a leopard and a tiger: a
leopard is _spotted_, but a tiger is _striped_. I shall tell you all
about that presently.
Even as regards the habits and character of the tiger, people often make
mistakes. There is no animal that has been so much abused as the tiger.
Most people call the tiger a "cruel" and "bloodthirsty" animal.
But that is not true. By "bloodthirsty" people usually mean that the
tiger kills his prey for the mere sake of killing, and that he kills
more animals than he can eat, just for the mere fun of killing.
That is not true. A tiger is not really "bloodthirsty" in that way, as I
shall explain to you presently. A tiger never kills for the mere fun of
killing. Some men and some naughty boys do that! They think it great
sport to kill harmless wild animals, which they cannot possibly eat or
use in any way; and some naughty boys kill frogs and lizards and other
small animals, just for the mere "fun" of killing, as they call it.
[Illustration: Tiger]
A tiger never does that--and he is supposed to be the worst animal of
all! For one thing, a tiger is not such a fool as to kill his prey for
the mere sake of killing. Men formerly ate the flesh of the American
bison, or buffalo, as it was generally called. But then they killed off
whole herds of these buffaloes. So now there are no more buffaloes left
for food in those places. A tiger is wiser. He does not destroy his own
food supply needlessly.
People are also wrong when they say that a tiger is "cruel," and that he
tortures his prey before killing it outright. That is not true of the
tiger. In fact, hardly any animal is _needlessly_ cruel, as some men and
naughty boys are--for instance, naughty boys who torture frogs and
lizards and then kill them.
It is true that a _tigress_ does worry her prey before killing it. But
why does she do so? Simply to teach her cubs how to catch and kill the
prey, so as to provide food for themselves when they grow up. I shall
explain that fully presently. So please remember this once for all:
hardly any animal is _needlessly_ cruel or bloodthirsty.
"But a cat does worry a mouse, before killing it," you may object. "Is
not that needless cruelty?"
That seems quite true. But there is a reason for it: the cat first began
to do that to teach her kittens how to catch mice, when she was a wild
animal in the fields. Once upon a time the cat was a wild animal, but
now people have tamed it into a domestic animal. So the cat still
retains some of its wild habits.
But you will understand all that when I tell you more fully about the
tiger, which is the largest and strongest animal of the Cat Tribe.
_The Life History of the Tiger Family_
I shall describe to you the actual life of a tiger family in the jungle.
A tiger family consists of the father, the mother, and from two to four
cubs. Three is the usual number of children that a tiger and tigress
have.
When the cubs are only a few days old, they are quite helpless. So the
mother stays with them in the den, while the father goes in search of
food. The den is usually a hollow under a large tree.
If the father tiger catches a prey which he can carry, such as a deer,
he brings it home with him. Then he and the tigress eat it together.
But if the prey is too large to carry, such as a bullock or a buffalo?
Then the tiger first eats a good portion right after catching it. Then
he comes home to the den and sends out the tigress to eat her share,
while he stays home in the den and takes care of the cubs.
But here is something for you to think of. In sending the tigress out to
eat her share of the prey, the tiger must _tell_ her where the prey is
lying; otherwise she might go the wrong way. Why? Because the prey might
be lying a mile or more from the den, so that she could not possibly
trace it merely by its _scent_. And the prey might have been caught in
any direction, especially if the tiger had to chase it or stalk it for a
long distance. So nobody could tell beforehand in what direction a tiger
might catch its prey.
The tigress could not merely follow the tiger's _paw marks_ to get to
the prey, as the tiger may have gone out several times that day or the
day before; and so there would be several lines of paw marks, and she
would have to search very long by following all the paw marks in turn.
Yet she always takes the right direction, and gets to the prey quickly.
Hunters in the jungle have found that out. How does she do it?
The only way to explain it is this--the tiger _tells_ her where the
prey has been caught and is now lying. That is what hunters believe from
the actual facts they have observed. Then that shows that animals have a
method of communicating with one another. Of course they do not use
_our_ words. They must have words or sounds, or even signs, of their
own.
Now I shall go on with the tiger family. The cubs, of course, drink
their mother's milk. They do that till they are three months old.
But meanwhile, when they are six weeks old, they can walk and trot. They
are then very playful, and they leap and gambol and tumble over one
another.
They are then able to go about with their father and mother for a short
distance. So if food gets scarce for the tiger and tigress, they leave
their old den altogether, and go to live elsewhere in the jungle where
food may be more plentiful.
In this house-moving the cubs can trot behind their father and mother
for a mile or two. Then, for fear of tiring the cubs, the tiger and
tigress scoop a hollow under a tree, and place them there. The tiger and
tigress go on ahead till they find the new home. Then they come back to
fetch the cubs.
If the cubs are now two months old, the father and mother need have no
fear in leaving them for a few hours. So in their new home the tigress
may go hunting with the tiger every day.
If food gets very scarce, the tiger goes out alone for a long distance
for two or three days at a time. In his absence, the tigress makes a
short trip from time to time in another direction, in case any other
kind of food may by chance be found there.
Tigers prefer to eat deer or antelope, just as you may prefer to eat
roast turkey. But if tigers cannot get deer or antelope, they have to
catch a bullock or a buffalo--which is just plain beef! As even that may
be scarce, tigers have to be satisfied with the wild pigs, which are
plentiful in the jungle,--that is, just pork! As a change now and again,
they may have mutton, because there are also wild sheep and wild goats
in the jungle.
But when the tiger and tigress are both away from the den in search of
food, are the cubs quite safe in the den?
They usually are, after they are two months old, when they are as big as
house dogs; and, until then, either the tiger or the tigress stays with
them all the time. When the cubs are two months old, they may stay by
themselves in the den; then a wolf or a hyena may perhaps come to the
den, and try to kill one of the cubs; but all the cubs would stand
together, facing the enemy, and would defend themselves.
They would change at once from being playful like kittens; they would
become little tigers in their nature. And woe to the wolf or hyena when
the mother returns! She would know at once by the cubs' actions that
they had been annoyed. Then the tigress would track down the intruder
and kill it.
At the age of three months the cubs can eat meat, but they cannot chew
it as yet, as their teeth are only beginning to grow. So the mother
chews the meat for them. If she or the tiger has caught a deer, she
chooses the tenderest part of the meat, and chews it into mincemeat.
Then she puts a little of it into the mouth of each cub. She does that
several times, till the cubs have had enough to eat.
When the cubs are four months old, their teeth have grown enough to
enable them to feed entirely by themselves--but only on very tender
meat.
_The Tiger's Family Dinner_
It is very interesting to watch a tiger family having their dinner. I
may remind you again that some hunters who go into the jungle sometimes
hide in trees and watch the family life of different animals. So this is
what they have observed at the tiger's family dinner.
Suppose that the tiger has brought home a blue deer, which is a great
delicacy among tigers. He drops the blue deer in front of the den. He
and the tigress lie down and watch the cubs, who eat first. The tiger or
the tigress will not tell the cubs which portion of the deer is the
tenderest; they must find that out by themselves. That will be their
_first lesson_ in life.
So the tiger and tigress keep aside, and see what their children do. One
of the cubs makes a sudden grab at a leg of the deer, and tries to tear
out a mouthful; but to its disgust the cub finds that it cannot bite the
leg of the deer at all. I suppose then the father tiger gives a sort of
wink at the mother tigress; at any rate, the tiger and tigress just look
on, and say nothing.
Then another cub has a bite; perhaps it tries the back of the deer's
neck. But this cub also finds to its disgust that its teeth will not go
through the meat there.
In this way the cubs jump about the deer, and try to bite it in
different parts. They get more and more disgusted; but still the father
tiger and mother tigress say nothing.
Then at last one of the cubs dives in, and makes a grab at the _throat_
of the deer--and to its delight it finds that the meat there is quite
tender, and that it can tear out a piece very easily. Of course that cub
eats it quite greedily, and then has several more mouthfuls. But then--
"You have had enough!" says its father. "Give Brother and Sister a
chance!" Of course the father tiger does not say that in _our_ words;
and he need not say it in any kind of words. He just comes to that cub
and tumbles it over with a gentle pat.
Then the other cubs come to the throat of the deer, and have their
dinner also. As there is not sufficient meat there to satisfy all of
them, they soon find that the under part of the deer is also tender
enough for them to eat.
The father tiger and mother tigress eat last, when all the children are
satisfied. The tiger and tigress of course can eat any kind of meat, so
they eat the legs of the deer. And if it is a deer of ordinary size, the
tiger family finishes it altogether at one meal!
So you see how kind the tiger and tigress are to their children. Suppose
that among us there was a family of five people, father and mother, and
three children; and suppose they were having a turkey dinner. Then if
the father and mother were as kind to their children as the tiger and
tigress are, they would give to their children the breast and all the
nicest titbits of the turkey--and after that the father and mother would
eat what remained of the turkey.
That shows that a tiger is an affectionate father, whatever faults he
may have. Among animals, the mothers, of course, are nearly always
affectionate to their children; but very often the fathers are not. In
fact, among some kinds of animals in the jungle, the fathers do not care
much for their children; they desert them.
But the tiger is different; he is usually a good father. That is an
important thing to remember. It shows that even if an animal is
supposed to be very bad generally, it may yet have some special virtues
of its own. That is a lesson for us. We may know people who are supposed
to be bad; but even then we should try to find out if they have some
good quality.
CHAPTER VII
The Tiger Cubs' Lessons
Do tiger children have lessons? Of course they have! Almost all animal
children have. You will remember the lessons in Book I which the
elephant child had to learn. In the same manner other animal children
must learn how to make a living in the jungle, and also how to avoid
dangers.
Among tiger children, their lessons begin even when the father and
mother are providing them with the food; for, as I have just told you,
the children must learn at least which part of the meat to eat, and
which not to eat.
But the most important thing they have to learn is how to catch the
prey, and how to kill it for themselves--that is, how to provide their
own food. Their parents teach them to do that gradually from time to
time, in many lessons.
_Tiger Cubs Learn to Kill Prey, After their Parents have Caught It_
As they are not yet big enough to _catch_ the prey, they are first
taught how to _kill_ the prey, after their father or mother has caught
it alive for them. And that is another wonder of the jungle, and another
good quality of the tiger. If the tiger catches a deer, even the largest
kind of deer, he could kill it at one blow, so as to eat it at once. But
if the tiger is the father of a young family, he thinks of his family
all the time; he remembers that he must not only provide his young
children with food, but he must also _teach them their lessons_.
So when he finds a big red stag, he jumps upon it, but he does not kill
it outright. Instead, he merely breaks its hind legs, so that the stag
cannot run away. Then he calls the cubs and the mother tigress. The
tiger and tigress stand aside, and tell their children to kill the stag.
They will not at first show the children how to do it. The children must
try first to find that out for themselves.
So the cubs first prowl around the stag, and try to seize it anywhere.
But the cubs cannot get their teeth deep enough into the stag's body;
and as the stag is still alive, it shakes them off. The cubs try to
seize the stag at other parts of its body, but each time they fail to
hold on; instead, the stag shakes them off. And if the cubs dare to come
in front of the stag, the stag can still use its antlers to drive them
off.
Then how can the tiger cubs manage to seize the prey at all with their
teeth? Well, one of the cubs may remember the very first lesson it had
several weeks before: that was to eat the _throat_ of the prey, because
it was the softest part--as I have already described to you. So it
remembers that the throat is the softest part.
Then that cub comes to the side of the stag, makes a sudden plunge
downward, and seizes it by the throat. Even then the stag tries to shake
off the cub--but the other two cubs then come to their brother's help;
they also seize the stag by the throat, one from each side.
Thus the three cubs begin to _worry_ the prey, that is, they shake it,
and pull it, while their father and mother watch them. The prey holds up
its head and struggles, but gets more and more exhausted with the weight
of the three cubs. At last the prey is unable to hold up its head any
more. Its head sinks to the ground. Then the three cubs kill it easily.
_Tiger Cubs Take Part in Hunt to Catch Prey_
When the cubs are six months old, they can take part in the actual hunt
for the prey. So they go into the jungle with their father and mother.
When they sight the prey, the cubs stay a little behind, while the
father and mother stalk the prey.
Suppose the prey is an antelope. You will remember what I told you in
Book I, that an antelope looks like a deer; but it is a little different
from a deer, because an antelope has horns, and a deer has antlers.
Well, the tiger creeps around to the side, then more and more around,
till he gets behind the antelope.
Meanwhile the tigress creeps around the opposite way. So when the tiger
makes a sudden jump at the antelope, and the antelope tries to run away
in either direction, the tiger or the tigress is there to catch it. And
meanwhile the cubs also have crept nearer and nearer, hiding behind
shrubs and bushes. They can take part in catching the prey by preventing
it from escaping in their direction.
_Tiger Cubs Learn to Catch Prey by Themselves_
"But when do the tiger cubs actually learn to _catch_ the prey?" you may
ask.
Well, that takes a little longer to learn. For when the cubs have
learned to catch different kinds of prey--wild pigs, wild sheep, wild
goats, deer, antelope, cattle--their education is almost finished, just
as in the case of a boy who has learned to earn his living in several
different ways. So it takes the tiger cubs at least the next four
months, from the age of six months to ten months, to learn to catch
different kinds of prey, as I shall now describe to you.
In the beginning the cubs learn by example; that is, they watch and see
how their father or mother catches the prey. Some kinds of prey are very
easy to catch, such as wild pigs or wild sheep, as they cannot run fast,
and are also very stupid. A tiger can just rush at a wild pig or a wild
sheep, and catch it. So the cubs soon learn to do the same. And as I
have already told you that wild pigs and wild sheep are the usual food
of tigers, the cubs soon learn to earn their _ordinary_ living.
But then they have to learn a little more difficult lesson--to catch
animals which are not so easily caught; and these animals supply them
with a more tasty kind of food than just pork or mutton. These animals
may be divided into two classes.
First, the prey may be weak, but it can run fast--even faster than the
tiger. The deer and the antelope belong to this class.
The second class of prey is just the opposite; it is strong, but it
cannot run fast--at least, not as fast as the tiger. Buffaloes,
bullocks, and all kinds of cattle belong to this class.
In catching these two different kinds of prey, the tiger or the tigress
uses different methods. First I shall describe to you how a tiger
catches an animal of the first kind, that is, an animal that is weak,
but which can run faster than the tiger, such as a deer.
Can you think how the tiger does that? He cannot _chase_ the deer and
run it down in the open country, because the deer can run faster than
the tiger.
"The tiger can hide in the tall grass near a river, and wait for a deer
to come to drink," you may say. "Then the tiger can jump on it."
That is quite true. And the black stripes on the tiger's yellow body
make him appear very much like the tall grass where he is hiding. So the
deer does not notice the tiger, and it often comes quite close to the
tiger to drink--and then the tiger jumps on it and catches it.
But a tiger may also catch a deer by _stalking_ it. If he sees a deer
browsing at a distance, he tries to creep quietly toward the deer. He
hides behind bushes and thickets every few minutes, then he creeps on
again toward the deer. He does that very cleverly. If the deer is bent
on feeding, the tiger creeps on for a few yards. But if for a moment the
deer stops feeding, the tiger hides at once.
In this manner the tiger sometimes creeps to within a few yards of the
deer. Then he gives a sudden spring and falls on the deer. If he cannot
approach the deer near enough to fall on it with just a spring, he first
makes a swift rush and _then_ he gives the spring.
When a tiger or a tigress is teaching the cubs to stalk a prey in that
manner, the cubs of course stay in the rear and hide behind a bush, and
from there they watch. So they see how their father or mother stalks the
prey--as I have just described to you. Of course, they have to watch
their father or mother several times before they learn that lesson
fully.
Now I shall tell you how a tiger catches prey of the other kind--that
is, an animal that is strong, but which cannot run fast, such as a
bullock. The tiger comes toward the prey from the side or from the back,
but never from the front. Why? Because the prey has horns, and if the
tiger tried to attack it from the front, the prey would gore the tiger
with its horns and perhaps kill the tiger.
So the tiger creeps toward the prey from the side or the back. As the
prey cannot run very fast, the tiger does not trouble to stalk it all
the way. Instead, the tiger creeps up to within a hundred yards of the
prey; then he gives a number of quick rushes, till he reaches the prey.
And he is always careful to reach the prey from the side or the back.
"But if the prey turns in time and faces the tiger with its horns?" you
may ask.
Then the tiger turns also. He dodges from side to side. A tiger can
always turn faster than any horned cattle. A tiger may even come to
within a few yards of the prey, and jump clear over it! Then on landing
on the ground, the tiger can turn at once and reach the prey from the
side. Then he gives a quick blow with his paw on the neck of the prey.
One blow is usually enough to stun the prey and knock it down.
Sometimes the prey is so frightened when it first sees the tiger, that
it does not try to face the tiger with its horns at all. Instead, the
prey stands trembling with terror, and lets the tiger come right up to
it from the side. Then the tiger gets up on his hind legs, places one
paw on the prey's shoulder, and with the other paw he gives a terrific
blow on its neck.
But if the prey is not too frightened, and it struggles when the tiger
is trying to strike it, then the tiger uses a different method. He
plunges downward and seizes the prey from underneath by the _throat_. He
plants his hind legs firmly on the ground, a little bit away from the
side of the prey. In that way he gets a little more "leverage," as it is
called.
You have seen a man tilt a heavy box over on its side by placing a
crowbar under it, then lifting up the crowbar. Well, the tiger acts
somewhat like that. While still holding the prey by its throat in his
jaws, he gives a sudden jerk upward with his head. In that way the prey
loses its balance and topples over on its side, just like the box.
When the tiger or the tigress is teaching the cubs to catch horned
cattle in these different ways, the cubs of course stay a little behind
and watch how their father or mother does it.
So in every case, as you will understand, the tiger cubs have to learn
from their parents how to get their living in the jungle.
CHAPTER VIII
The Tigress Mother's Special Duties
So far I have described to you how the tiger cubs learn the lessons of
the jungle from their father and mother.
But sometimes they have to learn some of their lessons from their mother
alone. Food may be scarce in that part of the jungle. A tiger family
eats so much that even if they catch a large wild pig or a deer every
day, it will hardly provide more than a single meal for a tiger, a
tigress, and two or three growing cubs.
And as they do not usually catch prey every day, the family eats only
about two or three times a week. When the cubs are from six to ten
months old and need more and more food, one prey at a time is not enough
to provide for the whole family--if they all live together. So it is
better for the family that the father should go away and catch his own
food, while the mother catches food for herself and the cubs.
But before going to earn his living elsewhere, the tiger takes his
family to the _easiest_ hunting ground there is near their jungle,
where there is at least some kind of prey to catch. Then the tiger
himself goes to a more difficult hunting ground. So even in that a tiger
is kind to his family, and he does the best he can for them.
At first he returns to the family every few days; I suppose he does that
to see how they are getting along in his absence. By that time the cubs
have learned most of their lessons, and the mother tigress continues the
lessons during the tiger's absence.
But after the cubs are ten months old, they have learned all their
lessons; they only need to _practice_ what they have learned. As they
can do that with their mother, they do not need their father any more.
So the tiger then goes on his travels to distant parts.
As the cubs practice with their mother the different ways of catching
and killing the prey, she must provide them with many chances of doing
so. It is then that she helps the cubs to kill more animals than they
can eat. That is why people give the tiger a bad name and call him a
"bloodthirsty" animal. It is not he at all, but the tigress mother. And
she helps to kill a large number of animals only at this time--when she
must provide her cubs with the chance of practicing their lessons.
The tiger cubs do not need even their mother when they are two years
old. By that time they are quite able to get their own living by
catching every kind of prey. But still they usually stay on with their
mother for about six months more. Then they leave their mother, and roam
the jungle alone, each cub separately.
But each cub still continues to grow in _size_ till the age of four
years. A male tiger may even grow in _strength_ till he is six years
old.
But you may want to know if a tiger family ever meet again after they
have all separated. That may sometimes happen. It may be in the dry
season, when nearly all the water in the jungle is dried up. Then by
some wonderful instinct _all_ the animals in the different parts of that
dry region know that there may be one place where there is water. So a
general migration begins toward that place; that is, _all_ the animals
begin to travel to that place with their families.
These animals may start from different places a hundred miles apart, and
yet after a few days they will get to that same Water Hole. Of course
they do not all reach it on the same day; but many of the animals stay
near there for a few days, till the rain comes and there is water in
other places. So it does happen that a tiger family may meet again at
the Water Hole, and then there is a happy reunion among them.
_The Truce of the Water Hole_
But the tiger family must not kill a prey at the Water Hole. And all
other flesh-eating animals--lions and leopards, and wolves and
hyenas--must also abstain from killing prey there. Hundreds of pigs and
sheep and deer may have come to drink at the Water Hole--- and every
flesh-eating animal must abstain from killing any one of the pigs or
sheep or deer.
This "Truce of the Water Hole" is one of the greatest wonders of the
jungle. It means that in other parts of the jungle there may be a kind
of war, because flesh-eating animals may kill and eat their prey, but
when all the different animals meet to quench their thirst at the Water
Hole, there must be no war--no killing, no fighting. There must be peace
at that place while the different animals are there.
At the Water Hole the tiger and the lamb may drink together in peace;
and hungry as the tiger may be, he must not hurt the lamb. And the
wonder of it is that the tiger knows that law, and always keeps it.
Likewise all other flesh-eating animals always keep that law; they never
hurt even the weakest and most timid animal at the Water Hole.
They all feel that they have come there for a greater need than
_hunger_--they have come there to quench their _thirst_; and the pain of
thirst is greater than the pain of hunger.
They feel that the pain of thirst is common to them all; that is, they
all suffer from that pain. Different animals _eat_ different things; but
they must all _drink water_. And in that fellow feeling there is peace
among them all.
My dear children, let me impress this upon your minds, while you are
still young. When you grow up, you may sometimes be tempted to doubt
that an all-merciful Providence watches over us. Then remember these
wonders of the jungle that I have described to you. And remember
especially the Water Hole, where all animals are like brothers, where
even the tiger and the lamb drink and lie down together in peace.
CHAPTER IX
The Special Qualities of Tiger and Tigress
Now I am going to tell you a few more things about the tiger, from which
you will realize what a wonderful animal he is.
First, the tiger's _size_. The finest specimen of the tiger is the Royal
Bengal tiger. Such a tiger, when full grown, is sometimes seven feet
long, without including the tail; the tail is usually half as long as
the body. The tigress is slightly smaller.
In height a Bengal tiger often measures three and a half feet from the
shoulder to the ground; so his head would be more than four feet from
the ground. Hence, if you take his length into account, you will
understand that the tiger is really the largest feline or animal of the
Cat Tribe.
I do not think that you have often seen a really large tiger in the zoo.
Most of the tigers in a zoo were caught as cubs; that is, the mother or
the father was shot by hunters, and the cubs were captured alive.
Now, just think. If a human child were locked up in a room all his life,
without any exercise, then he would be very stunted and small, even
when he had reached the age of a man. So a tiger cub, brought up in a
cage all its life, never grows to its proper size. For this reason most
of the tigers in a zoo are much smaller than those tigers that grow up
in the jungle.
The most wonderful thing about the tiger is his strength; he is the
strongest animal of the Cat Tribe. That is proved by the way in which he
carries his prey. If the prey be a deer or a man, he seizes the prey in
his jaws by the middle of the body--just as a cat seizes a mouse! And
the tiger carries such a prey in that manner to his den, which may be
more than a mile away.
But a heavy animal, such as a cow, he carries in a different manner.
Yes, a tiger _carries_ away a cow; he does not merely _drag_ it along
the ground, as a lion does. This is the way the tiger carries a cow,
after killing it:
He first seizes the cow in his jaws by the back of its neck. Then he
rears up on his hind legs and swings the cow over his shoulder on to his
back--just as a man swings a loaded sack on to his back. Then the tiger
stands on all four legs again, and trots along with his burden. Of
course, he still holds the neck of the cow in his jaws, just as the man
carrying the sack holds the upper end of the sack in his hand.
I shall now finish with tigers by telling you three stories,--true
stories, of course. From these stories you will understand that tigers
and tigresses sometimes have the same kind of feelings that _we_ have.
_Both Tiger and Tigress Defend their Cubs_
I have told you that in a tiger family, when the cubs are very young,
they must be guarded all the time by either their father or their
mother. One day it happened that a tiger had killed a bullock. As he
could not carry it to his den, he first ate enough of the bullock to
satisfy his hunger. Then he came home to his den, and sent the tigress
out to eat her share, while he guarded their two cubs in the den.
But three English officers had gone hunting in the jungle, each of them
on an elephant; and it so happened that they came toward the tiger's
den.
The three hunters saw the tiger and the two cubs he was guarding. The
hunters knew that if they killed the tiger they could catch the two cubs
alive. So they fired their guns at once at the tiger; and as they were
then only about a hundred yards away, they all hit the tiger.
Now, if the tiger had not had the cubs to defend, there would not have
been much of a fight. Why? Because, as I shall tell you later, it
usually takes much more than three hunters on three elephants to hunt
one tiger. Each of the three wounds the tiger got might have killed or
disabled any other wild animal; but instead, the three wounds together
only made the tiger furious.
If he had been alone, he would have come like a flash of lightning at
the nearest elephant, leaped upon its back, and killed the hunter on
it--before the hunter could shoot again. Of course, the other two
hunters could then kill the tiger; but the tiger would at least have
killed _one_ of the hunters.
That is exactly what the tiger would have done, if he had been alone.
But the tiger had his children to defend. He must try to guard them as
well as he could. So he just took one of the cubs in his mouth--as you
have seen a cat take up her kitten--and leaped with the cub over a
thicket and hid the cub there.
Then he leaped back to the den to take away the second cub. That gave
the three hunters enough time to load and take aim again. So all three
of the hunters fired at the tiger again, just as he was lifting up the
second cub; and the bullets went through his heart. If he had been any
other animal, he would have dropped dead right there. But a tiger lives
about three seconds after he _ought_ to be dead; and in those three
seconds he can give just one leap and kill anything.
But the hunters were beyond his reach. So he gave that one leap toward
them, and tore up the ground instead, as he could not tear up the men;
then he agreed to lie down and be truly dead.
The three hunters got down from their elephants and came to the den.
They found that one of the last bullets had passed right through the
tiger's body, and had killed the cub he was trying to carry to safety.
The hunters were sorry that the cub had been killed. So they searched
for the first cub, which the tiger had hidden behind the thicket. They
found the cub and took it with them.
[Illustration: Tiger Protecting his Cub]
The hunters mounted their elephants and came back to their tent, where
they had been staying. They put a dog's steel collar around the neck
of the cub, and tied him up to the tent post by a chain. The cub was so
frightened and helpless that it lay down on the ground and was very
quiet. The three men sat down in the tent and chatted for a while.
Suddenly they heard a terrible roar outside. They snatched up their
guns, but they could not tell from which side the roar came--just as
when you hear a terrible clap of thunder close by, you cannot tell from
which side the thunder comes. And hearing this roar, the cub jumped up
and yelped in answer; and he tugged at his chain furiously. He had
become a little tiger in his nature.
Suddenly a huge yellow form shot into the tent. It was a tigress. She
seized the cub's collar in her mouth, and snapped the chain with a tug,
like a piece of thread. The next second she leaped out of the tent with
the cub, and vanished. And the three men had not had time to aim a gun.
None of them really wished to.
Yes, she was the mother of the cub. When she had returned home from
dinner, she had found her home broken up--her husband killed, one of her
children killed, and the other child stolen. So, all that she could do
was to regain her lost child by tracing it by its scent.
This she did. She regained her cub even by facing the same guns that had
killed her husband. For a tigress mother, like any other mother in the
jungle, will face death to save her child.
_The Tiger Family's Lost Dinner_
Now I shall tell you another true story. It will show you what sort of a
husband and father in everyday life a tiger is.
Near a jungle there was a river. At a special place in the river there
was a bend. It was a good place for fishing, as the water there had
plenty of fish.
One afternoon two men went to fish there with fishing rods. As there was
a jungle about a mile from the place, the men took their guns with them,
in case any wild animals came from the jungle to attack them.
After a time one of the men hooked a fish. It must have been a big fish,
as it tugged at the line furiously. The man who had hooked the fish had
to run along the bank of the river to _play_ the fish, while his friend
kept shouting to him to advise him what to do. In this way both the men
were busy, and forgot to think of anything else.
Suddenly they saw a flash of yellow. It came straight from a bush toward
the man who had hooked the fish. It was a tiger!
The tiger must have stalked the two men silently from the jungle; and in
that way he must have crept up to the bush, while the two men were busy
trying to land the fish.
The tiger gave a rush and a leap, and fell upon the man who had hooked
the fish. He grabbed the man and leaped back with him into the bush,
before the other man could snatch up his gun and take aim to save his
friend.
Now you will remember what I told you: that a tiger carries a man in his
jaws just as a cat carries a mouse; that is, the tiger holds the man by
the middle of his body, about the waist.
Luckily the man was wearing a waistband of thick cloth; so the tiger's
fangs did not hurt the man very severely, as the fangs happened to bite
the thick waistband. But still the man had been stunned by the shock
when the tiger had leaped upon him. And the tiger thought that he had
killed the man outright. That was very lucky for the man--as you will
understand presently.
The man regained his senses while the tiger was still carrying him. He
knew at once that he was in the jaws of a tiger. That is perhaps the
most terrible danger for a man to be in. Few men have ever been in the
very jaws of a tiger in the heart of the jungle--and yet have escaped.
The man knew that, and so he was terribly frightened. But life is so
precious that one must never despair of saving his life. If you are in
the most terrible danger, _you must never give up hope_. You must try to
find some way of escape.
So the man began thinking, even while the tiger was carrying him. He
made up his mind at once. He must pretend to be dead. So he did not move
or make the least bit of sound. Even then he did not see how he could
escape, as the tiger would soon start _eating_ him! But still he would
not despair.
The tiger carried the man to his den in the jungle. The den was just a
hollow in the ground under a large tree. The tiger dumped the man into
the hollow. The man thought his end had now come. He could not escape
from right in front of the tiger's eyes. And he thought that the tiger
would start eating him at once. Even though he was really alive, the
tiger would eat him just the same.
But, to his surprise, the tiger did not start eating him at once.
Instead, the tiger looked around, and gave a purr, and then a growl.
What did that mean? The man could not tell.
Then the tiger just flung upon the man some of the sand from the side of
the hollow. The man understood _that_: the tiger was trying to hide or
_cache_ his food--as some wild animals do.
But luckily the tiger only flung the sand loosely over the man, just
enough to cover him; he did not quite bury the man; or else the man
might have been smothered. Then the tiger ran off into the jungle.
The man was puzzled to know what the tiger meant by that. But you may be
sure the man did not wait to work out the puzzle in his mind. Instead,
he jumped up from the hollow. Here was his chance to escape!
But he was afraid to run far; for the tiger might return at any moment
and catch him again. So the man just climbed up the tree under which
the den was. And he went up the tree as high as he could, and hid
himself among the leaves.
After a while he heard a sound below, at a little distance. He looked
down and saw the tiger returning. But now there was a tigress with him,
and two cubs.
Then the man understood the puzzle. When the tiger had brought home the
dinner, he had found that his wife and children were out. So he waited a
while; and as they still did not come home, he first looked around for
them, and then he gave a loud _call_ to his family to come to dinner.
That was the purr and growl he gave.
As they still did not come home, the tiger just hid the dinner to keep
it safe, and then he went out to _fetch_ his family home to dinner.
But when he did fetch them, the dinner had run away! Then the tiger
family set up such a wail and lament over the lost dinner!
"I felt quite sorry for them," said the man up in the tree, afterward.
"They kept up the wailing and growling and lamenting for a long time.
Only, as it was _I_ who was to have been the tigers' dinner, I wasn't so
very sorry that the dinner had escaped!"
Meanwhile, the other man who had been fishing with him had run to the
nearest village. The villagers got together a herd of bull buffaloes,
and started tracking the tiger by the paw marks he had made on the
ground. In this way the villagers brought the bull buffaloes to the
tiger's den.
The bull buffaloes soon drove away the tiger family. The villagers
expected to see only the man's bones or half-eaten body. But still they
had come to make quite sure of the man's fate.
What was their delight, then, to hear a shout, as soon as the tiger
family had been driven away! The shout came from the tree. It was from
the man who had been carried away by the tiger. You may be quite sure
that he was very glad to climb down and go home with the villagers.
Now, my dear children, I have told you this story--and it is a true
story--for two reasons. First, it shows you that you must never give up
hope, even in the worst danger. If a man can escape from the very jaws
of a tiger in the heart of the jungle, he may be able to escape from
other dangers.
The second thing I want you to learn is that, bad as he is supposed to
be, a tiger is really a good husband and a good father, even in ordinary
everyday life. When he had earned the dinner, and had brought it home,
he found that his family was out. He might have started eating the
dinner himself. Instead, he waited for his family to return, then he
called out to them, and then he went to fetch them--without eating a
bite himself. How many _men_ would do that?
_The Tiger as a Heroic Husband_
Now I shall tell you another true story, which will show you in a
different manner what a wonderful animal the tiger is. It is the story
of a great tiger hunt.
A few years ago Prince Henry of Orleans was one of the greatest hunters
in the world. He had hunted lions and wild elephants in Africa, and also
other big wild animals. Then he went to India, hoping to hunt tigers.
There he was the guest of a rajah, that is, a sort of king. So the rajah
arranged a tiger hunt for Prince Henry. In a jungle near by there were
many wild animals. On the north side of the jungle there was a shallow
ravine, only about ten feet deep, and as wide as a street. The ravine
started from the jungle and went northward. Beyond the jungle the ravine
ran for only about a hundred yards; beyond that the ground was level
again.
It was right there on the level ground, in front of the ravine, that the
rajah placed the hunters. The hunters were mounted on thirty elephants,
two hunters on each elephant; so there were sixty hunters altogether.
The two hunters on each elephant sat in a kind of big box, called a
_howdah_. The box was tied fast on the elephant's back with strong ropes
passed all round the elephant.
Meanwhile about a thousand men started toward the jungle from the fields
on the south side of the jungle. As they came near the jungle, the men
made a loud noise with drums. So all the timid animals in the jungle
took fright and began to run away. These timid animals were the deer,
the antelope, the wild pigs, the wild goats, and other small animals.
They ran away into the open country on the right side and left side,
that is, toward the east and the west.
Then as the thousand men came still nearer the jungle from the south
side, they began to stretch out in a long line to the right and to the
left. And then the men bent forward the two ends of the line in a curve
toward the jungle. In that way they began to enclose the jungle, as
fishermen enclose fish in a net. The men now made a still louder noise
by firing their guns. At this the bigger and more obstinate animals in
the jungle began to run away.
By this time the men had enclosed the jungle on three sides--the south,
the east, and the west--until only the north side of the jungle was
still open. And that was where the ravine started from the jungle
northward.
The big animals ran along the ravine to escape from the jungle. But they
did not know that the sixty hunters on the thirty elephants were waiting
for them at the end of the ravine.
So as each animal emerged at the far end of the ravine, it was shot by
the hunters. At first these animals were leopards, bears, wolves, and a
few small tigers.
Then something wonderful happened, as I shall now tell you. In that
jungle there was a big tiger and a tigress. They had recently been
married, that is, the tigress had chosen the tiger as her husband--for
in the jungle it is usually the wife who chooses the husband. So the
tiger was very attentive to the tigress. Wherever she went, he always
walked with her to protect her. He also caught the prey for her,
sometimes alone and sometimes with her help.
This big tiger and tigress were in the jungle, when they heard the noise
of drums and guns that the men were making. Being the most obstinate
animal in the jungle, the big tiger did not want to move at all. But
perhaps he thought that it would be best for his wife to go away from
that jungle. So she and he went into the ravine, hoping to escape.
But they too did not know that the sixty hunters were waiting at the end
of the ravine to shoot them as soon as they emerged.
So the tiger and tigress walked calmly through the ravine, and emerged
into the open country at the end of it.
Now I must tell you that in a tiger hunt of this kind the guest of honor
has the place of danger, which was in this case right in front of the
ravine. So Prince Henry waited right there on his elephant, and the
hunters on the other elephants were placed in a line on his right side
and left side.
This is what happened. When the tiger and tigress emerged from the
ravine, they suddenly saw the line of hunters blocking their path. At
the same time the hunters also saw the tiger and tigress. Now I must
tell you that it is a rule that only the front man on each elephant may
fire his gun at once, and the man with him must reserve his shot, in
case the front man misses and the tiger comes nearer. So, as soon as
they saw the tiger and tigress, the thirty front men on the thirty
elephants fired their guns.
But it takes at least a second for the quickest man to aim his gun and
fire; and a tiger can make up his mind to do something, and do it, in
less than a second. So in that time the tiger told his wife what to do.
I do not know what language tigers use among themselves, but she
understood what he meant. And she did it!
This is what she did. Like a flash of lightning she leaped toward the
side. So when the hail of thirty bullets came, she was not there where
the hunters had aimed. Not a single bullet hit her. And in the same
instant the tiger had also leaped--but onward. Some of the bullets
wounded him, but not very severely, as the hunters did not have time to
aim exactly.
[Illustration: Tiger Charging Hunting Party]
He knew that he must engage the attention of all the sixty men to give
his wife enough time to escape. So, wounded as he was, he leaped again,
straight onward.
Then the thirty men who had reserved their shot saw a terrible sight.
They saw the tiger coming straight toward the nearest elephant--Prince
Henry's elephant, right in front of the ravine. The thirty men pointed
their guns at the tiger. They may have vaguely seen that the tigress was
escaping; but their whole anxiety was about the terrible tiger leaping
straight toward them.
All the thirty men fired at him. But as the tiger was leaping onward all
the time, they could not take aim properly. So if any of the bullets
wounded the tiger again, the wounds were not severe.
The tiger came to the elephant on which Prince Henry was. With a huge
bound the tiger leaped upward toward the box on the elephant.
So far the elephant had stood still. Being well trained, he knew that he
must not move while the men on him were firing; _they_ must do the
fighting. But when the tiger had apparently beaten all the men and was
actually leaping on him, the elephant had a new duty to do: he must
swerve aside. So the elephant swerved aside just as the tiger was
alighting on the box on his back.
So the tiger missed his aim; instead of landing right upon the box and
killing the two men instantly, his paws only reached the elephant's
head. Into the elephant's head he dug his claws, and tried to scramble
up.
On the neck of the elephant the mahout had been seated. He was not a
hunter, but only the man who guides the elephant. So when he saw the
tiger leaping upon the elephant, the mahout just dropped off on the
other side, and escaped into the bushes. The tiger could have jumped
down on him and killed him; but the tiger scorned to touch so humble a
prey. He wanted instead to get at the hunters, who had tried to kill him
and his wife.
So the tiger dug his claws on the elephant's head, paw over paw, and
tried to climb up to the elephant's back. Maddened with the pain, the
elephant began to rock and sway. The two men on the box could not use
their guns again, as they had to clutch the box with both hands, or else
they would have been thrown to the ground--then the tiger would have
fallen on them and killed them in an instant. The two men could do
nothing to save themselves.
The fifty-eight other hunters had now reloaded their guns. Those who
were nearest pointed their guns at the tiger.
"Don't shoot!" the rajah cried out. "You might hit the two men!"
That was quite true. For now the elephant was so maddened with terror
and with the pain, that he was swaying, bucking, rearing. Nobody could
take correct aim at the tiger.
Span by span the tiger climbed up, nearer and nearer to the box. The two
helpless men in it saw the tiger's flaming eyes a yard in front of them,
and they saw the tiger's fangs crashing together as if to crunch their
bones.
A minute more, and these two men must die--in sight of the fifty-eight
other hunters.
Then again something wonderful happened. The men could do nothing. But
not so the elephant! He could do something!
The elephant recovered from his fright. He remembered all the clever
tricks he had learned in his youth in the jungle, like Salar, of whom I
have told you in Book I. This elephant remembered what he too could do
with his trunk.
So the elephant began to curl his trunk around the tiger's neck. The
tiger _felt_ the end of the trunk creeping around his neck.
Then the tiger knew that in the next minute the elephant's trunk would
grip him by the neck and tear him off from the elephant's head; and then
the elephant would bring him to the ground and trample him to death.
The tiger did not wait for that. He had scorned the sixty men--some of
whom were the best hunters of the world--but he was too wise to scorn
the elephant. And the tiger knew that by this time his wife must be
safe.
So the tiger dropped to the ground, ran past the rear of the elephant,
and vanished into the bushes. And while he did that, not one of the
hunters had time even to point a gun at him.
Once only did the hunters catch sight of the tiger again. After the
tigress had escaped, she must have worked her way around to the thick
bushes behind the hunters; and there she must have been waiting for her
husband. A few minutes later the men caught a glimpse of the tiger and
tigress, husband and wife, walking together leisurely beyond those
bushes, across a short open space, toward the next jungle. There they
would live in the future.
And as the hunters saw that sight of the tiger and tigress walking away
with stately steps beyond the reach of their guns, Prince Henry took off
his hat to the tiger!
"Gentlemen, I am glad that he got away!" he said to the other hunters.
"I do not think that any man in history has ever charged sixty enemies
single-handed, and has gained his purpose--to save the life of one dear
to him."
Then Prince Henry wiped his forehead, pretending that he had taken off
his hat to do that!
And so the famous tiger hunt was over. It often happens like that, in
spite of sixty hunters and a thousand other men: five minutes of
thrilling excitement--and then it is all over! I must tell you that if
you go to hunt a tiger, even with all that preparation, you never really
know whether you are going to hunt the tiger, or the tiger is going to
_hunt you_! And if you do not have elephants to help you, the chances
are that the tiger will hunt you.
Men, with all their guns and other inventions, can in some cases be
saved from some animals only by other animals--from tigers by elephants
and buffaloes, as I have described to you.
CHAPTER X
The Lion
I shall now tell you about other felines or animals of the Cat Tribe.
The _lion_ looks the grandest of all such animals--I suppose just
because he has a _mane_.
Most lions live in Africa. There are some lions in Arabia and Persia,
which are the two countries in Asia nearest to Africa. A few lions are
also found in a jungle on the west side of India. These lions in the
countries of Asia are not as big as the African lion.
Then there is also a species of lion in America, though he has no mane.
He is called the _puma_; but people in the Western states often call him
a _cougar_ or mountain lion.
The puma is found chiefly in North America; he is also found in Central
and South America, but not so often.
In the United States the puma lives mostly in the mountains of the Far
West. He is very fond of deer flesh; and as there are still plenty of
deer in the forest reserves in the Far West, the puma has managed to
survive there. But in the Middle West, where there are fewer deer, there
are hardly any pumas.
[Illustration: Group of Lions]
[Illustration: Puma]
The puma is seldom able to attack cattle. But when pressed by hunger in
the winter, he sometimes descends from the mountains to the plains
below, and tries at least to steal sheep from the farms.
The puma usually avoids men, especially as the men there often carry
guns. But still, when made desperate by hunger, the puma has even been
known to attack a man on a lonely farm.
In size this American lion, like the lions that live in Asia, is much
smaller than the African lion. The African lion is the finest specimen
of a lion. So I shall describe the African lion in particular.
The African lion grows to be about three feet six inches high at the
shoulders; but his big head stands up quite a foot higher, and makes him
look very imposing. His body, without the tail, is about five and a half
to six feet long. So the African lion is not quite so long as the Bengal
tiger. Still, the lion is a splendid specimen of the Cat Tribe.
"But why is the lion a member of the Cat Tribe at all?" you may ask.
"The lion does not _look_ like a cat. The tiger does look like a cat,
though much bigger than an ordinary cat."
That is quite true. But still the lion is a true cat. Why?
_The Lion has the Fangs, the Tongue, the Claws, and the Paws of a Cat_
You will remember what I said on page 66: that all animals of the Cat
Tribe have a special kind of fangs, tongue, claws, and paws. The lion,
too, has that special kind of fangs, tongue, claws, and paws; so he is a
true cat. And of course the lioness has them also; so she too is a cat.
Now I shall describe these four things as possessed by the lion--or
lioness.
First, the fangs. The lion or lioness has two pairs of strong fangs--one
pair in the upper jaw, pointing downward, the other pair in the lower
jaw, pointing upward. The lion uses these fangs in the same way that the
tiger does, to hold down or to drag his prey.
[Illustration: African Lion
Photograph from the American Museum of Natural History, New York]
Also, in chewing his food, the lion uses his fangs in the same manner
that the tiger does. The lion, too, has ordinary teeth, besides the
fangs. So the meat lies on the lower teeth, and the upper fangs come
down on the meat and pierce it. And just like the tiger, the lion, too,
needs to chew his food only a few times, as the lion also has a strong
digestion.
But in one thing the lion uses his fangs in a different manner from the
tiger. In killing a weak prey, such as a deer or an antelope, _the lion
usually bites it with his fangs on the back of the neck_. The tiger
seldom kills his prey in that manner. As you will remember, the tiger
usually kills an animal by striking it with his paw; and if he uses his
fangs at all to kill the prey, he seizes it by the _throat_ and bites it
there, not at the back of the neck.
The second catlike quality that the lion has is that his tongue is
rough. He can use his tongue, as the tiger does, to scrape off small
pieces of meat from a bone.
The third quality of the lion like that of other cats is that the lion's
claws also are retractile: that is, the lion can draw in his claws, or
thrust them out, just as he pleases.
The fourth quality the lion has like all other felines is that his paws
also are padded with thick muscles underneath. So the lion, too, can
stalk his prey silently, or harden the muscles to strike down and stun
the prey with his paw, or use the muscles like springs in leaping--as I
have already described to you on pages 71-72. The lion can run with a
series of leaps or bounds, like any other feline.
But there is a fifth quality which all felines have, though I did not
mention it before, because a few other animals also have it. This
quality is that they have _sensitive whiskers_. You have noticed the
whiskers of an ordinary cat. If the cat were asleep, and you touched a
hair of the whiskers, the cat would wake up at once. Why? Because each
hair of the whiskers is very sensitive.
All felines have sensitive whiskers; that is, each hair can _feel_ any
object it touches. This is a very useful quality in a feline in going
about in the jungle, especially in darkness; for then the whiskers give
warning of any object close at hand, by just touching it.
But, as I said, a few other animals besides felines have sensitive
whiskers.
In the same manner there is another quality which all felines have, as
well as a few other animals. And that quality is to be able _to see in
the dark_.
But it must not be totally dark. It is a mistake to suppose that a cat
can see in absolute darkness. No animal can. For a cat or any other
feline to see, there must be at least a tiny bit of light--even if the
light is not sufficient for a human being. The eyes of the Cat Tribe are
formed in such a manner as to catch the tiniest bit of light.
That is why the lion, the tiger, and all other felines can see at night
in the jungle. For there are usually a few stars visible, even when
there are passing clouds. Or, if the whole sky is covered with one big
cloud, then the cloud itself may reflect a little light coming from
various parts of the land.
But, as I said, a few other animals besides felines are able to see in
partial darkness. These other animals are also night feeders or night
prowlers--such as the deer, the antelope, and the hyena.
Lastly, I ought to mention one special quality which all felines
have--at least they possess it more than other animals. And that is the
quality of _cleanliness_. You have noticed a cat licking itself to keep
clean. A lion and all other felines do that. A lion even keeps his face
clean. And as he cannot lick his own face, he uses his paws to clean
it--just like an ordinary cat.
_How the Lion is Different from Other Cats_
I have told you the many qualities which the lion has like all other
animals of the Cat Tribe. But can you see in what qualities the lion is
_different_ from all other felines?
I shall tell you. First, the lion has a mane; that is, the male animal
has; the lioness has no mane. _No other member of the Cat Tribe, male or
female, has a mane._
Also, the tail of the lion has a _tuft_ of hair at the end; _no other
animal of the Cat Tribe has the tuft_.
Moreover, the tail of the lion or lioness hangs straight out from the
body; it is not naturally _curled_, like the tail of the ordinary cat or
other feline. But of course the lion can curl his tail for a moment, if
he wants to,--for instance, in order to whisk off a fly.
I shall now describe to you more fully these special qualities of the
lion.
The lion's mane is composed of long, bushy hair. The hair grows all
around his neck, and upon his shoulders. It begins to grow when he is
three years old, and continues to grow till he is about five years old.
A shorter growth of hair extends to the under part of the body of those
lions that live in colder regions.
You may have read in your geography that in the interior of Africa there
is a table-land, a part of which is about 6,000 feet high. There it is
generally cold, and especially at night. So, to protect them from the
cold, the lions that live there have a much thicker mane and more hair
on the under part of their bodies than the lions that live in the hot
lowlands nearer the sea.
When the lion lives in forest regions where there is plenty of
vegetation, his mane is usually brown in color and much darker than his
tawny yellow body. Why is that? Because the vegetation has both dark and
yellow patches, and so the lion looks very much like his surroundings,
and finds it easier to stalk his prey without being detected.
But when the lion lives in sandy or stony regions, the color of his mane
is more like that of his body, that is, yellow; so he appears to be very
much like the color of the sand or stones around him.
Once a lion and a lioness were drinking the water from a little pool in
the stony region. Two hunters happened to approach the place from
behind a large boulder. They were standing about twenty yards from the
lion and lioness, and yet they could not distinguish the animals. They
_heard_ the lapping of the water, and that is how they knew that the
animals were somewhere close to them.
As for the tuft of hair at the end of a lion's tail, nobody seems to
know why the lion has that tuft. The end of the tail has a hard nail, or
claw, and the tuft of hair may be meant to enclose the nail, and to
prevent it from being worn out against the ground. But nobody seems to
know why the nail itself is there, as the lion never uses it now.
Perhaps the nail had a use many generations ago, and the lion has
forgotten that use now.
The tail itself, as I have already told you, hangs down straight, and
does not naturally curl. It may be so because the lion does not use his
tail constantly, as other animals of the Cat Tribe do, such as the tiger
and the leopard. Why? Because those other animals live in denser
jungles, and so they constantly use their tail as a feeler; that is, as
the animal walks through the jungle his tail _feels_ the objects which
it touches, just like a hand; and in that way the tail gives warning of
any danger coming from behind. So these felines that live in the dense
jungles have got used to keeping their tail stretched out like a hand;
and the tail is curled upward so as not to rub against the ground.
But as the lion usually lives amid scantier vegetation, he does not need
to feel his surroundings quite so constantly; and so his tail has lost
the power of curling itself upward.
Of course, the lion still uses his tail to express his love or hate, as
many animals do. He can express his affection by wagging his tail, just
like a dog, though he seldom has any reason to show his affection for
men; a tame lion, however, has actually been known to do that. But he
may very often have reason to express his anger, in fact, whenever a
hunter tries to kill him. Then the lion lashes his tail in anger from
side to side, before leaping at the hunter.
CHAPTER XI
The Lion's Daily Life
Now I shall tell you about the remaining habits of the lion, and how he
lives every day.
Lion cubs at birth are usually twins or triplets. Sometimes four or even
five cubs are born together; but then they are very difficult to rear,
and one or two of them usually die. So a lioness has generally a family
of two or three cubs to take care of. She brings them up in almost the
same way that a tigress rears her cubs, as I have already described. The
lioness feeds her cubs with her milk for about the first three months,
and after that she gives them a little tender meat.
When the lion cubs are six months old, they are able to eat all kinds of
meat and to follow their mother to hunt the prey. She teaches them the
tricks of the jungle, just as the tigress teaches _her_ cubs.
So, by the time the lion cubs are about a year old, they can kill the
prey by themselves. Their mother just looks on, and _criticizes_ their
work! That is, she tells them if they have done their work well, or if
they have done it badly! How does she tell them that? In this way:
If she is satisfied with their work, she does nothing in particular; she
just joins the cubs in eating the prey after they have killed it. But if
she is _not_ satisfied with the way in which they have caught or killed
the prey, she cuffs them with her paw!
Hunters have actually observed lionesses doing that! And of course the
lion cubs practice their lessons more thoroughly the next time. In the
jungle, the children of animals do not need to be punished more than
once or twice!
You will notice that I have said nothing about the cubs' _father_, the
lion. I am sorry to say that the lion is not usually so good a father as
the tiger is. You will remember that the tiger helps his wife to provide
food for the children, and also to teach them the tricks of the jungle.
A lion seldom does that; he usually deserts his family, and lets them
take care of themselves.
A lion that does stay with his family, after the cubs are born, has
usually more than one wife. In that respect also the tiger is far finer
than the lion. A tiger has only _one wife_; and he takes care of her and
the cubs. But when a lion does stay with his family, the family usually
consists of two or three lionesses, who are his wives, and their cubs.
In that case they hunt the prey in a pack; that is, the lion and the
lionesses all hunt the prey together; and they are even helped by the
older cubs. They need to hunt in a pack when the prey happens to be
large, such as a buffalo or a giraffe. A lion by himself could seldom
kill a buffalo or a giraffe.
Many a fight has been observed in the jungle between a lion and a
buffalo--and almost every time the buffalo has succeeded in driving off
the lion with its horns. Even if the lion managed to leap upon the
buffalo from the back, he could not kill the buffalo by _biting it on
the neck_ because of the thick hair there.
And if the lion tried to stun the buffalo with a blow of his paw on the
buffalo's head, the blow would not be enough, because of the thick hair
which grows on the African buffalo's head. And meanwhile the buffalo
would rear and buck, and throw off the lion. But if the lion has one or
two lionesses to help him, they can all attack the buffalo at the same
time, and pull it down and stun it with many blows.
On the other hand, as you will remember, in a fight between a single
tiger and a single buffalo, the tiger always wins; he dodges the
buffalo's horns, then seizes the buffalo by the _throat_ from
underneath. In that way he always kills the buffalo. It is only a herd
of buffaloes that can beat a tiger, not just one buffalo.
A lion by himself is also unable to kill a giraffe in most cases; for if
the giraffe sees the lion coming, it will kick out with its hind legs or
its fore legs; and a kick from a giraffe has been known to disable a
lion completely. So if a lion by himself wants to attack a giraffe, he
must first stalk the giraffe stealthily, and then jump on it suddenly.
But as the lion cannot usually come near enough to do that, he generally
attacks a giraffe with the help of one or two lionesses. For then they
can all attack the giraffe from different sides; and as the giraffe
cannot kick different ways at once, one of them is sure to jump upon the
giraffe's back and bite it on the neck.
As I have just said, a lion cannot often stalk his prey near enough to
leap upon it. There is a reason for that. Compared with his size, _the
lion's leap is the shortest of all members of the Cat Tribe_. The
farthest that a lion has been known to leap, even with a run, is about
thirty feet--whereas a tiger has been seen to leap a distance of
forty-eight feet!
The lion's body is not meant for leaping far. His chest and fore legs
are very strong, but his hind legs are not quite so strong--and in
leaping an animal uses its hind legs most. For instance, the kangaroo
has the biggest leap of all four-legged animals of its size; and it has
very large hind legs and very small fore legs.
"But if the lion cannot leap very far, how does he catch his prey at
all?" you may ask.
I shall tell you. Like all other felines, he usually hunts at night. He
hides near a pool or a stream, and waits for his prey to come to drink.
Then he tries to approach the prey noiselessly on his padded feet. If he
succeeds in creeping near enough to leap upon it, he certainly has his
meal that night. But if he does not succeed in doing that, he tries
another plan. He roars!
[Illustration: Giraffes]
[Illustration: Kangaroo]
And that is an advantage a lion has over all other animals. None of
them can roar like him. Even a tiger's roar is not so loud, and so he
seldom tries to roar. But very often a lion _must_ roar to catch his
prey, and so by constant practice he has made his roar very terrible
indeed.
Yes, the lion really catches his prey by roaring. When the animals are
drinking at the pool, the lion puts his mouth to the ground and roars.
It sounds just like thunder.
When you hear a roll of thunder, it sometimes happens that you cannot
tell from which direction the thunder is coming. In the same way, when
the animals hear the lion's roar, they cannot always tell from which
side the roar is coming, because by putting his mouth to the ground the
lion sends the roar in all directions. So in their terror some of the
animals run the wrong way, and actually run toward the lion. Then the
lion finds it easy to leap upon at least one of them.
The lion seldom hunts in the daytime. But when he does, he uses a
different method. He chooses a pool amid sandy or stony ground. Then he
half buries himself in the sand, or lies low among the stones and
boulders. So if any animal comes to drink from the pool, it does not
notice the lion because the lion's tawny color makes him look like the
sand or stones. Then the lion leaps upon the animal and catches it.
After having his meal, the lion drinks from the pool. If the prey is
rather large, so that he cannot finish it at one meal, he keeps it for
the next day's meal. He drags the animal's body to some hiding place and
covers it up with sand or leaves. Of course, he stays somewhere near
that place, as otherwise _the thieves of the jungle_ would eat up the
food. The thieves of the jungle are the jackal and the hyena.
But as the lion usually hunts his prey in the night, he generally sleeps
in the daytime. He is not really dangerous except at night. If a man
meets a lion suddenly in the daytime, the lion will not usually attack
him, unless very hungry. Many a man who has met a lion in the jungle by
day has escaped in safety by just standing still, making no sound and no
motion. After a glance at the man, the lion has walked off.
_Most wild animals are afraid of man._ Perhaps that is because they do
not quite understand him, or how he can hurt them from a distance--by
shooting them with a gun or even with an arrow. That is why most wild
animals try to avoid man, unless they are wounded or are very hungry.
But I must tell you here that a tiger attacks a man much more readily
than a lion does. Even in the daytime a tiger will usually attack any
man he meets--like the fisherman that the tiger carried off from the
river, as told on page 110.
At night, however, _all_ animals of the Cat Tribe are dangerous, and
many a night a lion has been known to creep into an encampment and carry
off a sleeping man. That is, the lion first killed the man, then
_dragged_ him away.
In that respect a lion is different from a tiger. A lion usually takes
away his prey by _dragging_ it; he grips his victim in his jaws by an
arm, or by the shoulder, or by the neck, so that the victim trails along
the ground.
A lion once seized a sleeping man by the wrist, and dragged him away.
The lion thought that he had killed the man. But the man was still
alive. He got up on his feet as he was being dragged away. He _walked_
by the side of the lion for a few yards; meanwhile he drew his revolver
from his pocket with the other hand, and then shot the lion through the
head, killing him instantly.
A lion seldom carries his prey _bodily_ as a cat carries a mouse. A
tiger always does that, if the prey is light, like a man; and a heavier
prey he actually carries over his shoulder--as I have said on page 103.
From all the facts I have told you so far, you will understand that a
tiger is stronger than a lion. It has been reckoned that the strength of
a lion is equal to that of five men, but a tiger's strength is equal to
that of eight men. How that was calculated I shall tell you in another
book.
A tiger is also much more ferocious and terrible an animal than a lion.
The lion can be hunted on horseback; the tiger must never be hunted in
this way. A hunter riding a horse has often come to within a hundred
yards of a lion, and has killed the lion with one or two shots from his
gun--and the horse has stood quite still while he took aim.
But a horse will never face a tiger or stand still before a tiger. The
horse will be in a panic at the very sight of a tiger--and will flee in
terror. Even if a band of horsemen meet a tiger, all the horses will
stampede in terror. It needs an elephant--a trained elephant--to face a
tiger, as I have already described to you. And usually it needs several
elephants to _hunt_ a tiger.
The tiger has also many more of the catlike qualities than the lion has.
The tiger is more active than the lion, can leap farther, and can make
up his mind more quickly. Above all, like a cat, the tiger has "nine
lives." Many a time a hunter has killed a lion with a single shot. But
usually it needs half a dozen shots even to disable a tiger.
If a lion is mortally wounded through the heart or through the head, he
usually drops to the ground at once. But if a tiger were mortally
wounded in the same manner, he would at least leap toward the hunter,
and try to kill his slayer, before he himself agreed to drop down and
die.
The lion has sometimes been called the King of the Jungle--I suppose
because in those countries where he lives there are no tigers. So the
lion is the "monarch of all he surveys" in his own jungle. Of course,
the lion looks grander and more imposing because he has a mane, and the
tiger has none. Perhaps that is the reason why some people have given
the lion that title.
The lion has also been called a noble animal, but accounts differ as to
his real character. Sometimes a lion has behaved very splendidly, as in
the two stories I shall tell you presently. But, on the other hand,
there have been occasions when a lion has behaved like a coward and a
sneak, as people have declared. So I suppose that lions are like other
creatures: there are good lions, and there are bad lions.
In one respect, however, the lion is much finer than the tiger: the lion
can be tamed, but the tiger cannot. At least, we can say for certain
that many a lion has been known to become quite tame, but never a tiger.
There was an actual case where a tiger was caught as a small cub and
brought up on milk, and then on clean meat without any blood on it. The
tiger grew up, and was thought to be quite tame. Then one day, as he was
licking his master's hand, his rough tongue drew blood from the
hand--and in a moment, at the sight of the blood, the tiger became a
ferocious wild animal.
Luckily, a faithful servant crept from behind with a gun, and suddenly
shot the tiger through the head. The master leaped out of the room at
once, before the tiger could reach him in his dying struggles.
But as for the lion, not only can he be tamed, but even a wild lion has
been known to behave as if quite tame, when moved by his love. I shall
now tell you two stories about that.
CHAPTER XII
The Lion a Noble Animal
_Androcles and the Lion_
Many, many years ago, the Romans ruled a large part of the world; for
they were a great nation. Their territories included the north of
Africa. A rich Roman, who lived there, had many slaves. One of his
slaves was called Androcles (An´ dr[=o] cl[=e]z). The Roman treated
Androcles very cruelly. So Androcles ran away from him.
But the Roman sent out many soldiers to capture Androcles. So after
hiding in many places, Androcles was at last compelled to flee into wild
regions, where there were few inhabitants. As the soldiers followed him
even there, he had to go still farther into the interior of the country,
till he came to the jungle. There he lived by eating fruits.
One day, toward evening, he was sitting on the ground, when suddenly he
saw a lion before him. Poor Androcles gave himself up for lost, as he
had no weapon with him with which even to try to fight the lion. He knew
it was useless to try to run away, as the lion could catch him with a
couple of bounds. So he thought that his only chance was to sit quite
still, for then the lion _might_ go away.
But the lion looked at him, and then came toward him. The animal did not
rush toward him or leap. Instead, the lion just walked toward Androcles.
That was strange, Androcles thought. The lion came nearer and
nearer--and then Androcles noticed that the lion walked in a peculiar
manner. That puzzled Androcles. But he sat quite still, hoping that the
lion would yet go away.
But instead the lion came right up to him. _Now_ he would be eaten up,
poor Androcles thought.
Then a wonderful thing happened. Instead of eating him, the lion held
out a paw toward him. Then Androcles understood.
He looked at the lion's paw closely. He saw that the paw was swollen.
Yes, that is why the lion had been _limping_.
Androcles took the paw in his hands and examined it. On the under side
he found a large thorn embedded deep in the flesh. It must have been
there for several days, and must have caused the lion intense pain.
Androcles pulled out the thorn carefully; then he squeezed down the
swelling. That relieved the lion's pain.
Immediately the lion showed his gratitude. He wagged his tail, fawned on
Androcles, and gambolled around him playfully like a dog. He could not
do more to show his feelings.
After a time the lion went away to the jungle.
A year passed. Androcles still lived in hiding. Then at last he was
captured by the soldiers, and brought before the judge.
It used to be the law in those days to condemn runaway slaves to death.
Also, it used to be the custom to put to death Christians and condemned
slaves by casting them to lions.
So one afternoon all the Romans in that place were gathered to make a
holiday. It was a kind of circus they had come to see, only, instead of
having the usual clever tricks which you now see in a circus, the Romans
had fights between men and men, between men and animals--and finally, as
a grand finish, the Christians and the condemned slaves were thrown to
wild lions. Many of the lions had recently been captured from the
jungle; so they were quite wild. And as they had been kept without food
for two or three days on purpose, they were very ferocious and quite
eager to eat the Christians and the condemned slaves.
When it came Androcles' turn to be eaten, he was thrown into the
enclosure, which was called an arena. Then a wild lion, which had been
recently caught from the jungle, was let loose into the arena from a
cage.
Ten thousand Romans looked on to see Androcles die. And Androcles looked
up to the Romans, and found no mercy in them. He looked at the famished
and furious lion--and knew that he must die.
For the lion crouched ten yards before him, lashing his tail in fury.
The lion gave a bound, and came within five yards of Androcles. There
the lion crouched again for a moment--then made a rush at Androcles.
Everyone thought that _now_ the lion would kill Androcles.
But a still more wonderful thing happened. Instead of killing Androcles,
the lion gambolled around him, and fawned on him--as if he were glad to
meet again an old friend.
Then Androcles understood. He had forgotten all about the lion he had
met in the jungle the year before, whose pain he had relieved. But the
lion had not forgotten _him_.
Who says that animals have no memory? This lion had a memory! He carried
in his memory the gratitude of his heart for the pain that Androcles had
relieved. Although Androcles was now dressed differently--in fact, most
of his clothes had been stripped from him--the moment the lion had drawn
near enough to him, he had recognized Androcles as his old friend and
benefactor of the jungle.
Famished as he was, and furious at being kept without food, the lion
would gladly suffer the pangs of hunger rather than injure a hair of his
friend's head. Instead, the lion fawned on him, then lay down before him
like a lamb.
Then something melted in the cruel Romans' hearts; perhaps they realized
that there was some Great Power beyond them, who had inspired a raging
beast of the jungle to be as gentle as a lamb.
The Romans asked Androcles to explain this marvel. He told the story of
his adventure with that lion in the jungle--just as I have told it to
you.
[Illustration: Androcles and the Lion]
Then Androcles was pardoned, and given his freedom, in memory of this
great wonder.
My dear children, this story has a special meaning for us. We are told
that if we cast our bread upon the waters, it shall be returned to us.
That means that if we do an act of kindness, we shall have our reward.
Androcles did an act of kindness to the lion in the jungle. In return
Androcles was given back his life in the arena.
_The Lady and the Lioness_
I shall close this chapter by telling you another true story. It
happened quite recently, in America. In a zoo there was a lioness. She
had two little cubs. She was very fond of them, and she used to lick
them with her tongue many times every day to keep them clean. They used
to trot around her and scramble over her, then lie down beside her, one
on each side, to have another cleaning with her tongue.
One day the lioness and her two cubs were lying like that quite close to
the bars of the cage. One of the visitors there happened to be a man who
had an umbrella. Very foolishly he poked one of the cubs with the
umbrella. He did not mean to hurt the cub; I suppose he only wanted to
_feel_ it. But still it was very foolish to poke the cub with the
umbrella.
In an instant the lioness jumped up with an angry roar, and thrust out
her paw between the bars. Luckily for the man, she could not quite reach
his arm; otherwise she would have dragged him to the bars of the cage
and killed him instantly. Instead, she could only reach the umbrella. So
she seized the umbrella, and wreaked her vengeance on it. She smashed it
to a thousand bits. The man, of course, ran away.
Then gradually the lioness quieted down. She lay down as before in front
of the bars, with the cubs beside her, one on each side. Now and again
she gave them an affectionate lick with her tongue, first one, then the
other. That helped to sooth her feelings somewhat. Still, as you may
well understand, she was bitter at heart at the foolishness of some
people.
Now it so happened that a lady had observed the whole incident. She had
been standing all the time in front of the cage, a few yards away. And
this lady had two little girls with her, one four years old, and the
other six years old.
You may be sure that the lioness saw the lady and the two little
children. After a time the lady came a little nearer to the cage, the
two little girls standing beside her, one on each side. The lady tried
to catch the lioness's eye. Presently their eyes met. While the lioness
was still looking at her, the lady patted her two little girls on the
cheek.
Then the lady came a step nearer the cage. As the lioness licked her
cubs, the lady patted her own little children; and she smoothed their
cheeks and hair.
_The lioness saw that._
The lady was just waiting for that. She came still nearer to the cage.
Each time the lioness licked her cubs, the lady stroked the cheeks of
her own children affectionately.
Then the lady began to speak. She spoke in a very soft voice, very
gently and very slowly. She spoke softly as if she meant only the
lioness to hear her. This is what she said:
"I at least understand you. I too am a mother, like you. See, these are
_my_ two children! I love them as you love yours."
Then the lady took up the children, one on each arm. She kissed the
children, first one, and then the other--and the kiss seemed almost
like the act of the lioness in licking the faces of her own cubs. By
that the lady meant the lioness to understand that the children were
just the same to her as the cubs were to the lioness.
Then the lady spoke again, as softly and tenderly as before:
"My children also love your children. Wouldn't it be nice if they could
play together!"
Then the lady held the smaller girl in front of her. Very timidly the
little girl held out her hand--while her mother looked into the
lioness's eyes.
Well, my dear children, I cannot tell how it happened. Perhaps some
message of love and sympathy and understanding passed between the two
mothers--the mother of the two little girls, and the mother of the two
little cubs. At any rate, this is what actually happened:
Very timidly and very slowly the lady stepped to the cage. The little
girl put her hand between the bars, and petted the cub nearest to her.
The lady moved a little, and the girl petted the other cub. The lioness
looked on all the time.
Then something still more wonderful happened. As the little girl was
petting the cub, the lioness also began to lick the cub; then the
lioness's tongue passed over the cub's body and came to the child's
hand--and _the lioness began to lick the child's hand as if the child
were her own_.
Remember that this was a wild lioness, and untamed. Nobody had ever
dared before even to come within her reach.
Then the lady turned a little, and brought the other girl to the bars of
the cage--and she too petted the cubs. Lastly, the lady put the girls
down, and passed her own hand through the bars. She too petted the cubs,
then finally she stroked the lioness herself.
And that was like a kind of handshake as a good-bye. They parted
friends--like two mothers who had met by chance on the roadside, and
each had admired the children of the other.
CHAPTER XIII
The Leopard
The _leopard_ is another animal of the Cat Tribe. You may know him at
once by the _spots_ on his body; and of course the female leopard also
has the spots. These spots are usually black in color, or sometimes very
dark brown. But the color of the body, or "ground color" as it is
called, is different among the several kinds of leopards.
For, I must tell you, the leopard lives in so many countries that he
varies in size and in ground color in different countries. He is found
in almost all parts of Africa. In Asia he lives mostly in the hot
countries in the south; but a special kind of leopard, called the snow
leopard, is found in the cold countries in the north of Asia. On the
American continent there is also a kind of leopard, called the jaguar.
Now I shall describe in detail all the qualities of these different
kinds of leopards.
First, as leopards are felines, they have the fangs, the tongue, the
claws, and the paws of the Cat Tribe, which I have already described to
you.
_The Leopard's Ground Color and Spots_
The ground color of the leopard's skin is usually yellow, but the shade
of yellow varies in different leopards; sometimes it is a bright yellow,
sometimes a brownish yellow. There are leopards whose skin is even
darker than that,--some actually black.
"But why do different kinds of leopards have different ground colors?"
you may ask.
Because they live on different kinds of soil and amidst different kinds
of vegetation. You will remember what I have already told you: that _the
color of an animal's body is very often the same as the color of the
place where he lives_. Then the animal's prey or enemy is not able to
distinguish him from his surroundings. So the animal finds it easier to
catch the prey, or to escape from the enemy. And, because the color of
the soil and vegetation in different countries varies from yellow to
brown, the color of the leopard's body also varies in that manner, at
least as a rule.
Now I shall tell you about his spots, which are always of a dark color.
But they vary in shape in different kinds of leopards. In some leopards
the spot is a solid round disc, like the shape of a coin.
In other leopards the spot is like a thick ring; that is, there is a gap
at the center. In some leopards the ring is broken up in parts; that is,
the ring is not a complete line, but is made up of a number of short
lines. The spot then looks like a rosette, because these lines spread
outward like rose petals.
All these that I have just mentioned are regular shapes. But in many
leopards the spots are quite irregular.
The spots also vary in _size_. In some leopards the spots are larger
than a silver dollar, and in some they are as small as a quarter-dollar.
_Why the Leopard has Spots_
Now you may wonder why different kinds of leopards have different kinds
of spots, both in shape and in size. I shall tell you. Each has the kind
of spot that is most useful to him. How is that? How can the spots on
the leopard's skin be _useful_ to him? Why does the leopard have spots
at all?
[Illustration: Leopard]
[Illustration: Jaguar
Photographs from the American Museum of Natural History, N. Y.]
First, I must mention that all leopards can climb trees, just like cats.
People believe that once upon a time lions and tigers could also climb
trees. Of course, they climbed only big trees, which have a very thick
bark into which they could dig their claws deep enough to bear their
weight. But now the lion and the tiger have forgotten how to climb
trees. Perhaps they did not keep up the use of their power to climb
trees.
But the leopard has kept up his habit of climbing trees. In fact that is
the way _he usually catches his prey_. Does not that seem wonderful? I
shall explain how he catches his prey in that way.
He chooses a tree near a stream, or near a pool of water, where
different animals come to drink. The leopard climbs up to a bough of the
tree, about ten or twelve feet from the ground. He lies flat on the
bough and waits.
Presently a deer comes to the water to drink. The leopard waits till the
deer is quite near, perhaps actually passing under the bough. Then
suddenly the leopard jumps down on the deer and catches it.
The leopard often does that in the daytime, as well as at night. And in
the daytime the sun may be shining, and on some nights the moon may be
shining. It is _then_ that the spots are useful to the leopard. Can you
tell why?
Because when the sun or the moon is shining, a little of the light peeps
down between the leaves of the tree and reaches the ground. Have you
ever noticed that? If so, you have seen that the light reaches the
ground like little _bright_ spots, but that there are little _dark_
spots also--the bright spots being the little patches of light peeping
down, and the dark spots being the shadows where the light is shut off
by the leaves.
In the same way there are bright patches and dark patches on the bough
of the tree, where the light also falls in that manner.
And that is what a leopard's body looks like--bright patches and dark
patches. The dark patches are his spots, and the bright patches are the
ground color of his skin.
So if the deer did happen to look up to the bough when approaching the
tree, it would not be able to distinguish the leopard from the natural
patches of light and shadow near by. So the deer would not notice the
leopard, and would be caught.
And that is why the leopard finds his spots so useful to him in catching
his prey.
But why do different kinds of leopards have different kinds of spots?
Because they live in different countries, which have different kinds of
trees; and so the patches of brightness and darkness made by the
sunlight or moonlight are also different.
CHAPTER XIV
The Leopard's Habits
Now I shall tell you the other qualities and habits of the leopard.
First, his _size_. The leopard is smaller than the tiger; he is not
quite three feet high at the shoulders. The length of the leopard's
body, without the tail, is about five feet.
That is the average size of the _male_ leopard. In describing each kind
of animal I am usually telling you about the male, because he is
generally larger and stronger than the female. Why? Because the male has
to do the fighting to protect the family, especially when the children
are very young.
The leopard's _strength_ is so great that he can break a steer's neck
with a blow of his paw. He cannot carry a steer on his back, which a
tiger can do, but still the leopard can drag the steer for some
distance. As for a deer, the leopard can easily carry it. That has been
discovered in a strange manner. As I have told you, a leopard lies on
the bough of a tree and waits for a deer to pass under the tree. One
time a leopard happened to kill a deer in that way. As he was not very
hungry, he ate only a few mouthfuls from the throat and from the under
part of the deer.
He wanted to keep the deer for his next big meal. But if he kept it on
the ground, the jackals and hyenas would find it in his absence and eat
it up. So what did the leopard do? Can you guess?
Well, the leopard carried the deer up that tree, and placed it crosswise
on the fork of the bough. Then he climbed down and went for a prowl. He
knew that the thieves of the jungle--the jackals and the hyenas--could
not climb the tree and steal his dinner.
But a party of hunters passed that way and saw the deer's body on the
fork of the tree; and they knew that a leopard had carried it up there.
How could they know that? Very easily. The hunters brought down the
deer's body and examined it. They found that the deer's throat and under
part had been eaten.
Now I must tell you that hunters know from the study of the jungle that
each wild animal has a different way of eating its prey. A leopard
always eats first the throat and the under part; but a tiger always eats
a hind leg first. So these hunters knew that it must be a leopard that
had eaten the deer's throat and under part.
And the hunters also knew before, from their study of the jungle, that a
leopard can climb trees; but they knew that more certainly after this
incident. How? Because they knew from the deer's throat that a leopard
had killed it and partly eaten it; and they _found the deer in the
tree_. So they concluded that the leopard must have climbed the tree and
hidden the deer there.
This also proves the fact that the leopard is really an intelligent
animal. The lion and the tiger hide their prey by merely placing it in a
hollow in the ground, and covering it loosely with sand or leaves. But
unless the lion and the tiger are very watchful, the thieves of the
jungle often steal their dinner; that is, the jackals and the hyenas
smell the flesh, and uncover it and eat it up.
But the leopard hides his prey more securely. As he has the power of
climbing trees, he uses that power to carry his prey to the fork of a
tree, where the thieves of the jungle cannot reach it.
My dear children, there are many people who do not use the natural gifts
they have. The leopard does better than that. He uses his gift of
climbing trees in two ways: first to _catch_ an animal passing beneath,
and then to _hide_ the prey in the tree. Had the lion and the tiger
continued to use their former gift of climbing trees, they too would
have been able to hide their dinner safe from the thieves. Instead, they
now find it stolen many a time, and have to go hungry.
The leopard, of course, uses his other gifts in catching his prey in
various ways. Being a feline, he too can give a big bound like a cat,
and as he also has padded feet, he can catch his prey by stalking it. He
creeps silently through the jungle, till he comes near his prey; then he
gives a sudden bound and falls upon it.
The leopard has splendid muscles; the muscles are not big, but they are
hard. The leopard leads such an active life that he is generally slim,
without any flabbiness. In fact, the leopard is a perfect type of feline
grace, beauty, and agility. The lion is the laziest animal of the Cat
Tribe; the leopard is the most active. The leopard is even more active
than the tiger.
_The Panther: Popular Name for Large Leopard_
There is no such animal as the _panther_. That is only the popular name
for a large leopard--particularly a large and ferocious leopard.
Some people fear a large leopard even more than they do a tiger, because
a large leopard attacks a man even more often than a tiger does. Other
wild animals as a rule avoid man, as I have told you before. But a tiger
very often attacks man, and a large leopard does so almost every time he
can. He is by nature even more ferocious than a tiger.
The leopard has this very bad quality: he is perhaps the only animal
that kills for the mere "fun" of killing--just like some men who call
themselves "sportsmen." If a large leopard gets among a herd of cattle,
he kills several of them, one after another. He does the same with wild
pigs, wild goats, and wild sheep. He kills many more than he can
possibly eat. In fact, the bad name some people give to the tiger in
that respect really belongs to the panther or large leopard. When a
large number of animals are found killed, a tiger is usually blamed for
it.
But wise people, who have studied the ways of animals, never make that
mistake. Of course, they cannot always tell by the paw marks on the
ground whether a small tiger or a large leopard did the killing--because
the paw marks of a large leopard look so much like those of a small
tiger. But if a single one of the animals killed has been eaten, then
they know whether it was a tiger or a leopard that did the killing. How
do they know that? By examining the part eaten--as I have already
described to you on page 178.
_How the Leopard Seizes his Prey_
A leopard usually seizes his prey by the throat. He grips the throat in
his jaws, and holds on till the animal cannot breathe and is suffocated.
If the prey is large, such as a big stag, the leopard's grip on the
throat may not suffocate it completely; then the leopard uses another
method. He keeps his grip on the throat of the prey, and _pulls
downward_ with his full weight. The prey tries to rear up on its hind
legs to throw off the leopard--but then the leopard pulls downward with
a sudden jerk. This breaks either the animal's spine or its neck, and it
falls to the ground.
The leopard seizes his prey by the throat when it is a swift-footed
animal, like the deer. But when it is a slow-footed animal, like cattle,
the leopard uses another method--at least on some occasions. He rushes
to the prey from the side or the back, and kills it by a blow of his paw
on the neck from above--as a tiger does. If one blow only stuns the
prey, and it falls, the leopard just starts _eating_ the throat, which
of course kills the prey.
_The Leopard's One Amiable Quality--He Loves Perfumes_
The leopard is said to have at least one amiable quality. It is said
that he is so fond of beautiful perfumes that he can be tamed with them!
That is, if you use some beautiful perfume which the leopard likes, you
can tame him with it for a time. But I cannot tell you whether that is
_always_ true.
There are many things said about animals that are not always true, for
instance, that every animal can be charmed with music--if only we use
the particular kind of music which that particular animal likes. No
doubt, particular kinds of animal _have_ been charmed in that way for
thousands of years; and even the most terrible kind of snake, called the
cobra, is regularly charmed in India with a flute.
You must have read of these serpent-charmers in storybooks, as they
charm even _wild_ cobras in that way. So it is quite true that several
kinds of animals can be charmed with particular kinds of _soft_ music,
such as the music of the flute and the violin. I shall tell you all
about that in my next book.
But about taming leopards with perfumes--we are not sure that _all_ wild
leopards can be tamed with beautiful perfumes. It is at least true that
_some_ wild leopards have been tamed in that way. I shall now tell you a
true story, to show you how that once happened.
_The Leopard and the Lavender_
Once a wild leopard had been caught in a trap in the jungle. He was put
into a cage and carried overland to a seaport. There the leopard in his
cage was put on a ship to be taken to England. The cage was placed on
the deck of the ship.
The leopard was very wild and ferocious. If any of the passengers or
crew came anywhere near the cage, he snarled with rage and leaped at the
bars of the cage. He shook and bit the iron bars, as if he wanted to get
out and attack the people. He was well fed all the time, but still
nothing seemed to lessen his ferocity.
Then, one day, a lady happened to take out her handkerchief. She was
standing about three or four yards from the cage, and a fresh breeze was
blowing from her direction toward the cage. Immediately a change came
over the leopard. A minute before he had been snarling with rage at
sight of her, and trying to get out to attack her.
But as soon as she took out her handkerchief, the leopard ceased to
snarl and to bite the bars. Instead, he tried to put his head through
the bars, as if to get his _nose_ as near her as possible.
Of course the lady did not understand that. She merely wondered why the
leopard had changed his behavior so suddenly. She now noticed that the
leopard was bending down, and scratching the floor of the cage near the
front of the bars--just as a pet cat or dog will scratch the floor
outside your door to be let in. The lady wondered still more, and came
a little nearer to the cage.
Immediately the leopard got up, and began pacing the cage in joy. The
lady now stood about two yards away. Then the leopard put his paw
through the bars and began to _snatch_ with it. The lady was a little
frightened at first, but presently she noticed that the leopard was not
snatching at _her_, but at the _handkerchief_, which was still in her
hand. And the leopard was not snatching ferociously, but almost
playfully, like a great big cat.
After a moment's thought the lady realized that the leopard wanted the
handkerchief--but why he wanted it, she did not know. So she threw the
handkerchief at the bars. The leopard caught it in his paw, and pulled
it into the cage.
Then you should have seen how that wild and ferocious leopard behaved!
He played with that handkerchief more joyously than any kitten ever
played with a ball. He put the handkerchief on the floor of the cage,
leaped upon it, rubbed his nose on it, and even rolled over it.
Gradually the lady began to understand why he did that. The handkerchief
had been scented with lavender. She wondered if it could be the
_lavender_ that he loved, and not the handkerchief itself?
Struck by this idea, the lady went to her cabin and brought out a small
bottle of lavender scent. She opened the stopper, and splashed a few
drops of the scent through the bars. Then the leopard simply went crazy
with delight. He leaped upon the places on the floor where the drops had
fallen, and he rubbed his nose on them, and rolled over them. Then the
lady knew that it was the scent that the leopard loved.
After that she gave him the lavender to smell every day, and the leopard
became so tame that he allowed her to come to the bars and pat his body.
But as this is a true story, I must tell you the ending. One of the men
passengers on that ship gave the leopard a large piece of cotton-wool
soaked in lavender. That was unfortunate--I mean it was unfortunate that
the man used cotton-wool instead of a handkerchief or even a piece of
cloth.
The leopard played with the cotton-wool in delight, and rubbed his nose
and face on it. In doing so he must have got the cotton-wool into his
mouth--and then he must have taken in a deep breath. We don't know
whether he meant to do that, as he liked the perfume so much, or whether
he took the breath without meaning to do so. In any case, the
cotton-wool got into his windpipe, and he tried to cough it out; but he
could not. The foolish passenger did not know what was the matter; and
so he did nothing.
Then in a few days an inflammation set in, and the poor leopard died.
Some people are so thoughtless!
CHAPTER XV
American Leopard: The Jaguar
Now I shall tell you about an American leopard. He is called the
_jaguar_. He lives mostly in Central America and South America. His
favorite country is Brazil, near the Amazon and other rivers that flow
into the Amazon.
Some people call the jaguar the American _tiger_. This is a mistake,
because a tiger is striped, not spotted; and the jaguar is spotted, like
a leopard. So it is more correct to call the jaguar the American
_leopard_.
He has all the qualities of other leopards that I have already described
to you. But his spots are a little larger and not quite so completely
round; they are more nearly square, with rounded corners.
All four-footed animals can swim naturally in some fashion, but leopards
can swim especially well. And the jaguar, who lives near the Amazon and
other rivers, is a champion swimmer. He swims as easily as he climbs
trees. So he eats fish as often as he eats monkeys!
Yes, he actually catches a monkey sleeping on the bough of a tree! He
climbs up so silently that the monkey does not awake. At least, those
monkeys that do not cultivate the keenest sense of hearing, even in
their sleep, get eaten by the jaguar. But a jaguar that is clumsy in his
movements awakes the sleeping monkey--and then that jaguar has to go
without his dinner. So, again, life is like a competition or trial in
the jungle, as I have told you in Book I, pages 118-119. Those animals
that cultivate their gifts escape their enemies and they get enough to
eat. Those that do not cultivate their gifts are either killed by their
enemies, or are themselves starved to death.
The jaguar is very fond of monkey for his dinner, just as you are fond
of roast turkey. The things he likes next best are fish and turtle. He
catches a fish by pouncing on it from the bank. Turtles that he finds on
the bank he merely turns over on their backs, so that they cannot run
away. Then he leisurely scoops out the flesh with his paws and eats it.
But when the jaguar is in the water pouncing on fish, he in turn has an
enemy that wants to eat _him_. When the jaguar has pounced on a fish, a
silent snout may come up to him from behind--and grab him! Yes, an
alligator! And the alligator needs only to hold the jaguar in his jaws,
and drag him down, and keep him under water till the jaguar is drowned.
Then the alligator can have jaguar flesh for _his_ dinner.
Here again we have an example of competition in the jungle. The jaguar
must cultivate not only quickness in catching fish, but also his own
sense of hearing, so as to escape from the alligator in time.
"But what about the alligator?" you may ask. "Doesn't _he_ need to
cultivate some gift to escape his enemy? Is there no enemy that tries to
eat the alligator in his turn?"
No! There is no other animal in the water that wants to eat the
alligator, or that can do so. But still the alligator may have an enemy
near by, who wants to kill him. There may be a hunter on the bank who
wants to shoot the alligator to provide you with purses, handbags, or
satchels. So the alligator too must be on his guard against his own
enemy.
[Illustration: The Chain of Conflict in the Jungle]
You can understand the whole story by supposing that there are in that
place:
A small fish,
A bigger fish,
A jaguar,
An alligator, and
A hunter.
Then let us suppose that the small fish is trying to catch some tiny
creature of the water on which it feeds. But while the small fish is
catching the tiny creature, the fish itself must look out for its own
danger. Otherwise:
A bigger fish comes, and eats the small fish. But the bigger fish also
must look out for its own danger. Otherwise:
The jaguar comes, and eats the bigger fish. But the jaguar also must
look out for his own danger. Otherwise:
The alligator comes, and eats the jaguar. But the alligator also must
look out for his own danger. Otherwise:
The hunter comes, and shoots the alligator.
So you see that the animals that dwell in the jungle have to cultivate
all their gifts to get on in life.
CHAPTER XVI
The Dog Tribe
I have told you of several flesh-eating animals that are of the Cat
Tribe. But there are some flesh-eating animals that are of the Dog
Tribe. The most important one of these in the jungle is the _wolf_.
How can you tell the difference between the Cat Tribe and the Dog Tribe?
By the four qualities that the Cat Tribe has, and which the Dog Tribe
does not have.
I. The members of the Cat Tribe have four fangs. Those of the Dog Tribe
do not have fangs. They have special teeth of their own kind.
II. The members of the Cat Tribe have a rough tongue. Those of the Dog
Tribe have a tongue which is not quite so rough. They do not need a very
rough tongue, as they can scrape the meat from a bone with their teeth.
III. The members of the Cat Tribe have retractile claws. The Dog Tribe's
claws are rigid and stiff; that is, they are thrust out all the time.
The members of the Dog Tribe do not use their claws in seizing or
holding their prey; they hold the prey in their jaws.
IV. All of the Cat Tribe have padded paws: they have them for many
reasons, which I have mentioned on pages 71-72. But the paws of the Dog
Tribe are not so thickly padded with muscles. The Dog Tribe do not need
the thick padding of muscles, because:
1. They do not need to stalk their prey silently. They catch their prey
by running it down, as a greyhound catches a hare.
2. They do not strike down their prey with their paws, but seize it in
their jaws.
3. They do not need to give a _bound_ in catching their prey, so the
muscles under their feet need not act like _springs_.
The members of the Dog Tribe gain on their prey by moving their legs
_quickly_, not by covering a large amount of ground with each movement
of their legs. But the Cat Tribe do just the opposite: they do not move
their legs so quickly, but they cover a larger amount of ground at each
movement of their legs. As I have told you already, a dog _gallops_, but
a cat _bounds_. The dog's legs move much faster than the cat's, but the
cat gives a bigger jump than the dog each time.
_The American Gray Wolf_
I have said that the most important wild animal of the Dog Tribe is the
wolf. Wolves are found in every continent--Europe, America, Asia, and
Africa. And there are many species of wolves in these continents. I
shall tell you more about them in another book, but now I must tell you
about the American gray wolf.
There is in the United States one of the most wonderful animals in the
world--the American gray wolf. He is perhaps the only animal in the
world _that has beaten man_!
I mean this: Man has killed off many four-footed wild animals; that is,
he has killed so many of those animals in a place, that they have _died
out_ in that place. He has not succeeded in killing off the American
gray wolf.
In some places man has almost killed off certain animals, even when he
did not _want_ to do so. He killed the animal merely for sport or for
profit--but he did not want that species of animal to die out
altogether; for then he could not have any more sport or profit from it.
And yet, the hunter killed so many of that species of animal that it
has almost died out in some places. In this manner, as I have already
told you, almost all the elephants have been killed off in parts of
Africa, for the sake of sport or for the sake of the tusks. In the same
way, the buffalo has almost disappeared from the United States.
[Illustration: Gray Wolf
From a photograph copyrighted by the New York Zoological Society.]
But in the case of the American wolf, man _wanted_ to kill him off
altogether as a race of animals; and yet he has not been able to do so.
At first the hunter may have killed the wolf only for the sake of its
fur; but in the last few years the American farmer and the ranchman have
tried to wipe out the wolf altogether as a _pest_--because the wolf
kills their sheep and cattle. And yet, the wolf flourishes in the West.
He has beaten the farmer and the ranchman.
The wonderful part of it is that the American wolf has beaten man _by
his own efforts_. And for an animal to beat man in that manner is a
great achievement.
I have told you before that one animal has to use its gifts against
another animal, to protect itself from danger; for instance, the fish
has to look out for the jaguar, and the jaguar in his turn has to look
out for the alligator. But in that competition of the jungle, the
animal has generally to use its wits merely against another animal--not
against man. But the American wolf had to use his wits against man; and
he has beaten man, as I shall describe to you.
_The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Gun_
About a hundred years ago, when people began to go West, they shot many
buffaloes, wolves, antelopes, and deer. They did that for sport or for
profit; they made a profit, because they sold the skins and other parts
of the animals' bodies. At that time the hunters did not want the
animals to be killed off altogether, but they actually killed so many of
these animals in a few years that the buffalo, the deer, and the
antelope became scarce. These particular animals, of course, tried to
use their wits to escape from the hunters. They did not succeed in doing
so. They fell as victims of the gun.
But not so the wolf. He began to use his wits against man and his gun.
He soon realized that man was his enemy and also that man could kill him
from a considerable distance. A wolf saw a man at a distance; then the
wolf heard a bang, and immediately felt a sharp pain in his body. That
wolf fell and died. But another wolf saw his brother die like that. He
set his wits to work. He concluded that the man had caused the bang
which made his brother fall and die. Hence the wolf realized that man
was dangerous to him, even at a distance. So after that the wolf
resolved to run away from man. And other wolves learned to do the same.
Of course, the whole race of wolves did not learn this lesson so
quickly. Many hundreds of wolves meanwhile fell victims to man's gun;
but a few wolves escaped. These few wolves also saw repeatedly that if
any of their brothers allowed a man to approach anywhere near him, he
was killed. So after seeing that happen many times, the surviving wolves
learned that they must always run away from the presence of man.
These few surviving wolves taught their children to do the same. Some of
these wolf children did not heed that lesson when they grew up; so they
too were killed. But a few of the wolf children remembered the lesson
when they grew up; so they escaped getting killed.
In turn these wolves also taught _their_ children to run away from the
presence of man. So in a few generations a race of wolves grew up in the
West that the hunter _did not even get the chance to shoot_.
That in itself was a great achievement for the wolf. Why? Because some
species of animals as a race do not learn so quickly to run away from
the mere presence of man; one or two animals personally may learn
quickly to do that, but not all the animals of a species. That is why
the buffaloes and some of the antelopes and deer in the West were wiped
out; they did not learn in those same few years to run away from the
presence of man. The wolves alone learned this, and they have survived
as a race.
_The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Trap_
But the battle was not yet over. Seeing that his gun had now failed, man
used his wits to kill the wolf in another way. He set _traps_ for the
wolf; and he cunningly baited the traps with tempting food. Then the man
went away from the traps. He thought that because he was not himself
anywhere near the traps, the wolf would not be afraid to approach them.
Well, at first some wolves did go up to the traps, and were caught by
them.
But a few other wolves saw that fate of their unwary brothers. So those
surviving wolves again set their wits to work to discover the cause of
this new danger. And after a time they saw the steel traps. "So, _this_
is our new enemy!" they said.
After that they avoided the traps, even if the traps were baited with
the most tempting food. And they taught their children to do the same.
So again man was beaten in this battle of wits. He found that the trap
could catch the wolf no more.
But man tried again. He _hid_ the trap cunningly under leaves or under
snow; only the tempting bait was placed in sight. He thought that
because the wolf could not now _see_ the trap, he would fall into it.
Well, some wolves did fall into it.
But a few other wolves saw the fate of their unwary brothers. So these
surviving wolves again set their wits to work to discover a way of
detecting the traps. Perhaps they saw the hunter's footprints; or
perhaps they realized that the snow or the leaves covering the trap did
not look _natural_. You remember, in Book I, how Salar's father detected
a very tricky trap because the ground there did not look natural. Well,
in some way, the surviving American wolves detected the traps, even when
the traps were covered up. So after that they began to avoid these
_hidden_ traps, and they taught their children to do the same.
Man found himself beaten once more by the wolf in this battle of wits.
He found that the American wolf could not be caught even by a hidden
trap.
That again was a great achievement for the American wolf. Why? Because
even the elephant, clever as he is, gets caught at last by a tricky
trap, even if he avoids it for a long time. To do better than the
elephant is a triumph indeed!
So far the hunter had tried to kill the wolf for the sake of the fur;
and the wolf took no revenge for these years of persecution. He bore no
grudge against man, and did not try to pay him off. The wolf merely
wanted to live, and to be let alone. Man would not let him alone. He
wanted to kill the wolf just for the sake of money.
Then a new thing happened. Many people began to go West; farms and
ranches began to be started. These farms and ranches had many sheep and
cattle.
Then the wolf had _his_ turn! He found that sheep and cattle were far
easier to kill than the wild animals on which he had made a living so
far. So the wolf began to raid farms and ranches at night. He still
avoided man; he never let a man come near enough to shoot him; and he
never touched a hidden trap. But still he began to kill sheep and
cattle.
Man now found the tables turned on him! Formerly he had persecuted the
wolf; now the wolf persecuted, or at least tormented, _him_! So man made
one last desperate effort to beat the wolf in this battle of wits.
_The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Poison_
Man set his wits to work, and at last devised the use of _poison_. He
selected different kinds of poison, with different tastes and different
smells,--or no taste and no smell at all! He chose the nicest kinds of
meat, on which to put the poison. Then he cunningly placed pieces of the
poisoned meat all over the paths by which the wolves must come to raid
the sheep and cattle. He thought that _now_ he would beat the wolf!
Well, some of the wolves did eat the poisoned meat; they died. But a few
of the wolves saw the fate of their unwary brothers. So these surviving
wolves once more set their wits to work to discover the cause of this
new danger. It may have taken them some time to suspect that the meat
was the cause of this new danger; and a few more wolves may have died
meanwhile from eating the meat.
But some of the wolves did detect the new danger. We do not know exactly
how they did so. Perhaps this time they used one of their other gifts to
save their lives; that is, they used their power of _smell_. They
recognized man's scent in or about the meat. So they knew that man had
put the meat there.
They had long known that anything that had to do with man was dangerous
to wolves. So the wolves resolved to leave the meat untouched. Instead,
they went on raiding the sheep and the cattle. And they taught their
children, and their children's children, to do the same.
And now the American wolf has beaten man, finally and absolutely. The
farmer and the ranchman can think of no other method of killing the
wolf. So the American wolf continues to flourish merrily.
The marvel of all this is that the wolf is not naturally a very
intelligent animal. Most animals have far more natural intelligence than
the American wolf; and yet none of these animals seem to be able to beat
man in the battle of wits. The American wolf alone has done it, though
he naturally has very little brains.
But _he has used all his brains_. He has concentrated his efforts to
save his life by beating man. He has not only used all his brains, but
he has done so _all the time_. He determined to overcome each new danger
as it arose. And he _worked hard all the time_.
My dear children, that is a great lesson for us. All children, or all
men and women, do not have great talents; but everybody can use all the
brains he or she has. Some few people prosper in life because they have
talents and use them. Other people of talent are lazy, and do not use
all their gifts; these people do _not_ prosper. But many people, who
have no talent at all, prosper just the same; they do what the American
wolf has done.
1. They first decide on something _worth doing_, just as the wolf
decided on saving his life.
2. Then they _use all the brains they have_ to do that thing.
3. They _concentrate_ their efforts on it.
4. They _work hard all the time_ to do that thing.
5. As they meet each difficulty or danger or trap, they devise a method
of _overcoming_ that difficulty or danger or trap.
If you learn this much from the American wolf, you will learn the secret
of success in the battle of life, when you grow up.
Meanwhile, remember all that I have told you, till I come back and tell
you in the next book many more Wonders of the Jungle.
Till then, as they say in the Orient, God and His peace be with you!
* * * * *
Transcriber's note
The following changes have been made to the text:
Page vi: "as Heroic Husband" changed to "as a Heroic Husband".
Page vi: "Why the leopard has spots" in the TOC changed from page 172 to
170.
Page 45: "Heading off Criminal Elephant" changed to "Heading off a
Criminal Elephant".
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Wonders of the Jungle, Book Two" ***
Copyright 2023 LibraryBlog. All rights reserved.