THE KING'S MAHOUT 25 



days I was on terms of daily intercourse, once told 

 me that there are two things you must never do 

 with an elephant if you wish to control it. First, 

 never disappoint, and second, never show affec- 

 tion for it, as the animal 's own regard for you 

 will be sure to diminish in proportion as you are 

 demonstrative. Certainly Choo achieved brilliant 

 success with just such methods. Often, however, 

 he talked to his elephants, sometimes encour- 

 agingly, sometimes sharply, as the occasion war- 

 ranted, but never tenderly. His usual tone was a 

 complaining one, and though I could not under- 

 stand what he said, I have heard him for several 

 minutes at a time in an uninterrupted high-pitched 

 oratorical effort, rather suggesting a father read- 

 ing the riot act to a sluggard son. Perhaps it was 

 my imagination— and at all events I do not offer 

 it as a contribution to the new school of animal 

 story-tellers— but it always seemed to me that 

 Choo's mount showed unmistakable contrition in 

 the, as it appeared to me, absurdly abashed expres- 

 sion which came into his face, and the droopiness 

 of the pendent trunk. Often I went into roars of 

 laughter at sight of Choo leaning over the ele- 

 phant's ear solemnly lecturing, while the beast 

 blinked its uninviting little pig eyes. At such 

 times the king's mahout included me in the tale 

 of woe he confided to the elephant's great flopping 



