ELEPHANTS 83 



I had rented in Orchard Road, I was approached by 

 an Arab. 



"Tuan man jualf (Sir, do you wish to sell?)" 

 he asked. 



"Of course," I answered. I was sick and tired 

 and I did not want to be bothered. 



He persisted. "Tuan, how much ?" 



"All of them or just one?" 



"That one," he answered, pointing to the elephant 

 I was leading. 



I thought he was asking just out of curiosity, and 

 so I set a price that I thought would silence him 

 $3,000 Mexican. 



"Tuan, truly will you sell it for that?" 



"Yes." 



He followed me to the animal house, and I won- 

 dered what he had on his mind. As a matter of fact, 

 I would have sold the elephant for $450, because it 

 was young and small. At the animal house, he 

 again asked me if I would sell for $3,000; then he 

 undid several of the shirts he was wearing and 

 pulled forth an old wallet. He gave me $500 to 

 bind the bargain and called a friend of his to act 

 as witness. When he left to get the rest of the 

 money, I went to the stall where I had placed the 

 animal and examined it. 



It didn't take me long to discover why the Arab 

 was willing to pay $3,000. The little elephant had 

 twenty toes instead of the usual eighteen. Twenty- 

 toed elephants are held in veneration throughout 



