The elephant has a good memory and also a fine sense of justice. It is not a safe animal to play tricks upon, for it does not forget the man who did this and will wait long for a chance to get even with him. Here is an instance told by a Captain Shipp, who wished to learn for himself if the elephant would bear in mind an injury and try to repay it.
One day he gave an elephant a sandwich of bread, butter and cayenne pepper. After he had waited for six months he visited the animal to see how it would act and began to fondle it as he had been used to do. The great beast showed no signs of anger and the captain thought that it must have forgotten him and his pepper sandwich. But suddenly, while he was not looking, the elephant filled his trunk with dirty water and drenched the captain from head to foot.
You may see from this that elephants have very good memories.
One gentleman tells of visiting some elephants in London, and moving out of reach with his cane a part of the hay one of them was feeding on. The great beast showed much anger at this act. "Look out for him," said the keeper; "he will never forget it." The joker forgot it, for some weeks later he visited the same place and came within reach of the animal's trunk. Instantly it made a savage blow at him, that would have cracked his skull and killed him on the spot if he had not jumped back.
In fact, many instances might be given where elephants have killed those who had injured them. Numbers of such tales could be told. Here is a story that teaches more than one lesson of elephant nature.
An English gentleman, Mr. G. L. Layard, was visiting Ceylon and there saw a troop of working elephants coming up the road in the evening. Mrs. Layard asked if she might go down from the bungalow and see them nearer at hand. "Certainly," said Mr. Birch, the gentleman who had them in charge.
He took a bunch of bananas from the lunch table and led the way to a fine female elephant, who was swinging her trunk about and looking at them. He gave the fruit to the lady and said:—
"You may give them to her, Mrs. Layard; she is a nice, quiet beast."
Mrs. Layard held them out to the elephant, who took them gently, put them in her mouth and swallowed them, and then fondled the giver with her trunk. After patting and talking to her for some time they walked back to the house, where something was said in praise of the animal.