I shall now tell you about that. The best way to lead the herd is to satisfy all their needs. So the president of the herd has four great duties.
The Duties of the President
First Duty: He must lead the herd in such a manner that all the elephants will get enough food to eat every day.
Second Duty: He must lead the herd in such a manner that all the elephants will get enough water to drink every day.
Third Duty: He must keep order in the herd, and not allow any naughty elephant to fight or quarrel.
Fourth Duty: He must guide the elephants in such a manner as to avoid all danger from outside; and if such danger does happen to come, he must guard the herd from that danger.
I shall now tell you about these four duties more fully.
He Must Provide Daily Food
Elephants are such large animals that they need a great amount of food. So they have to walk a long way every day, munching the leaves of the trees as they go.
They walk in line, one behind another, as that is the easiest method of walking through the thick jungle; for then one gap through the jungle is enough for all the elephants to go through, one at a time, and they need not make a different gap for each elephant.