The first thing he taught was at the stream at midnight. By this time Salar could swim quite well; so he was enjoying himself with the grown-ups. But his Papa kept watching him with the corner of his eye. Little by little he drew nearer and nearer to Salar, and waited till the youngster came to a part where the water was not at all deep. Then suddenly his Papa gave Salar a butt with his head. Down went Salar under the water, snorting and spluttering and hollering.
"Hold up your trunk, you simp!" cried his Papa.
But Salar was too frightened to remember to hold up his trunk; so his Papa caught Salar's trunk in his own and hoisted it clear out of the water. Then what was Salar's joy and surprise to find that he could breathe quite well, though his feet were actually touching the bottom of the stream. Of course he kicked out, and tried to get up to the top of the water again. But—
"Stay there!" cried his Papa, giving him another butt, though still holding the youngster's trunk carefully out of the water.
Then Salar lost all fear of the water; he was not a bit afraid of being ducked, so long as the tip of his trunk was out of the water. So he learned to do a wonderful thing—he learned to remain completely under the water, so that his feet were actually resting on the bottom of the stream, with only the tip of his trunk out of the water. No other animal can do that.
And the most astonishing thing about it is that the elephants have taught themselves to do that trick; so that a whole herd of elephants can walk into a stream in time of danger, and disappear from sight, the smaller ones standing in the shallow parts, and the full-grown ones standing in the deeper parts.
I have known of lots of hunters, who were chasing a herd of elephants and who saw the elephants run ahead toward a river, to find to their surprise, on reaching the river, that the whole herd had disappeared as if by magic. They saw nothing, and did not dream that the little things floating here and there, no bigger than your fist, could mean anything. But of course they were the tips of the trunks of the elephants hidden under the water.
To have thought out even that one trick for themselves proves that the elephants are the wisest of all animals, next after men folks. And they have thought out many more tricks, as I shall tell you very soon.
But now I shall tell you the next trick that Salar's father taught him. An elephant often has to break down trees in the jungle to clear a way for himself; or sometimes he has to do that to make an open space where he can lie down comfortably. So this is the way Salar's father taught him to break down trees.