ELEPHANTS 83 
I had rented in Orchard Road, I was approached by 
an Arab. 
“Tian mau jial? (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. “Tian, 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. 
“Tdaan, 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. Asa 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 
