ISO BOMBAY DUCKS 



the elephant, which every child is made to read. It 

 will be remembered that the sagacious creature was 

 taking a constitutional through an Indian bazaar. It 

 happened to turn its trunk in the direction of a dirzie 

 who was at work, and this individual pricked the 

 elephant's trunk with his needle. The elephant passed 

 quietly on. The next day it came strolling through 

 the same bazaar and, as it passed the dirzie who had 

 pricked its trunk, soused him with dirty water, which 

 it had carefully secreted in its trunk. This is held up 

 as an example of the way in which the noble quad- 

 ruped revenged itself on its tormentor. 



Let us suppose the facts are as stated — I am far 

 from believing this, but let us for the moment suppose 

 them to be true — what evidence is there to show that 

 the elephant squirted water by way of revenge? If it 

 did so, it would have to understand that tailors in 

 white clothes dislike dirty water. Now, how could an 

 elephant possibly know this? If there is one thing 

 which it enjoys more than another, it is having water 

 thrown over it ; an elephant never loses an opportunity 

 of dashing water over itself with its trunk, and the 

 animal would naturally expect every other creature 

 to like what it likes. 



If one does a good turn to a small child who is 

 sucking a sweet, that child will, if it be of a nice 

 disposition, and not old enough to know better, prob- 

 ably take the sweet out of its mouth and offer its 

 benefactor a suck ! This it does, not in order to annoy 

 the latter, but by way of showing its gratitude. So 

 that, if the elephant did squirt the water over the 



