"'Don't be so sure of that,' replied the priest. 'If you have ever done a good action to anybody, you can call him to your aid, and he will assist you. Think of some service you have given, and perhaps it will now be of use to you.'
"'I have done services on several occasions,' the elephant answered; 'but those who were favored were so small that they can now do nothing for a great body like me.'
"'Tell me one of them,' said the priest.
"'Last year,' said the elephant, 'the prince of this province had captured the king of the rats, and a great many of his subjects. He had them in earthen jars, and was about to drown them; but I came along in the night and broke all the jars, so that the rats ran away and were free.
REFUSING TO MOVE ON.
"'And another time a man had the queen of the tribe of the parrots in a cage, and hung it on a tree where nobody could reach it. I pulled the tree down and broke the cage, so that the queen flew away to her companions.'
"Just then the scream of a parrot was heard from a neighboring tree, and the priest said to the elephant,