“I was stroking him with my hand in passing, when I noticed that one of the two planks which supported the bucket on either side had fallen away. It thus happened that the bucket, being upheld on one side only, spilled its contents without a possibility of being filled.
“The elephant did not think that his work was ended because one side of the bucket was filled: nor did he attempt the impossible feat of trying to fill the other side until both sides were even. In a few minutes the water commenced to run from the lower side of the bucket, and the animal began to show signs of uneasiness; nevertheless he continued to pump. Soon, however, he dropped the handle and drew nearer to observe the cause of the trouble. He returned to the pump three times, each time coming back to examine the bucket. I awaited the end of this strange scene with unflagging interest. All at once a waving of the ears seemed to indicate that an idea had occurred to him.
“He came over to lift up the plank that had fallen away, and for a moment I thought that he intended to put it back in its place under the lower side of the bucket. But he was not troubled about the lower side, which was already tilled with water; it was the other side which annoyed him. Lifting the bucket carefully, he supported it for a moment with one of his great feet, while with his trunk he pulled out the second plank, and placed the bucket on solid earth, thus making it even on all sides. This done, the labor of filling it was easy.
“The elephant is much attached to the women and children in the villages, and it would be dangerous for a stranger to make even an unfriendly gesture in the presence of this animal.
“It is a remarkable sight to see him guard his master's children in their promenades; he watches everything; beasts, serpents, turf-pits and swamps, in fact, any danger which may be imagined, is overcome by his presence. His pace is regulated by that of the children, and he attends them, gathering flowers, fruit from the trees, and sugar-canes; at a motion from one of them he will break a tree-branch if one desires to make a whip or cane. At the slightest noise which he does not understand, if he sees a jackall or a hyena in the distant thicket, he instantly gathers his brood under his trunk, commences to roar with rage, and anything, lion, tiger or man which threatens harm to his charges, is in danger of being dashed to the ground.
“In the lowlands of the Ganges, a swampy country covered with jungles and rice-fields, the royal Bengal tiger is found of great size and ferocity. The combats between this terrible beast and the elephant, guarding the cattle, servants or children of his master, are of almost daily occurrence. The royal Bengal tiger is so fierce that he never refuses to fight his adversary, although the end of the combat generally finds him crushed to death under the feet of his terrible enemy. In spite of the fact that the elephant is an unpitying foe in his battles with the tiger, bear or rhinoceros, he never molests the smaller, inoffensive animals. No matter what power a keeper may have over him, it is impossible to make him crush an insect.
“There is a little insect which children in Prance call 'les betes a bon Dieu'; the same insect is found in India, but growing to a size twice as large as in France. I have often seen one of these little creatures placed on a level surface, in the troughs of a yard, for instance; I have seen the elephant ordered to crush the insect, but never, for master or driver, would he lift his foot above it in passing by, evidently avoiding any opportunity to do harm. If, on the contrary, he is commanded to bring it to you, he will pick it up delicately with his trunk, and place it in your hands without bruising its wings.