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Updated: July 15, 2025
So, though he could see that he was larger than a man, Umboo did not think much farther than this, and so he never made up his mind that, if he wanted to, he could run away, and that no one man could hold him. But perhaps it was just as well as it was, and that the elephant remained gentle and did as he was told, not trying to use his great strength against his friends.
Then the snake glided, or crawled, along through the jungle, and Umboo, watching which way she went, followed, carrying in his trunk the branch of palm nuts for his mother. On and on went the snake, now and then stopping to coil and raise her head above the ground so she might listen.
"That means you are moving away from the roots," his mother told him. "Come over this way." So Umboo moved the other way, and the smell of the sweet roots grew stronger, just as when you come nearer to a bakery or candy shop. "Ah! Here they are! Right down under the ground, here!" suddenly cried Umboo, tapping with his trunk on a certain place under a big tree.
"Oh, yes, I knew he was smart when he did that handkerchief trick," said the man from India. "Umboo will be ready to join the circus before any of the others." Once more Umboo was hoisted up by the ropes, but there was really no need for it. He knew what was wanted of him, and he did it. "That's fine!" said the big elephant.
And Umboo was big enough, now, to get along without his mother. "Were you once living in the jungle, as I was?" asked Umboo of Chang, which was the name of one of the tame elephants. "Surely," answered Chang, "I was as wild as Tusker, your big herd- leader. But when I was caught in the trap, as you were, and sent to school, I found the life here was much easier than in the jungle.
"Quick, Umboo, come with me!" cried his mother. "That is Tusker calling us!" "What does he want?" asked Umboo. "He wants to tell us there is danger!" said Umboo's mother. "Hurry! Come with me back to the rest of the herd!" Not stopping to dig up any more roots, Umboo rushed off through the jungle after his mother, who hurried on ahead.
One of the first was to let a man come near him to pat his trunk, and to feed him. In the beginning Umboo was very much afraid, because he smelled the man-smell, which Tusker had so often said meant danger. But Umboo grew to know that not all men were dangerous. For, though some might be hunters, with guns and sharp arrows, those who had caught the wild elephants were kind to the big animals.
"Oh, I never could drink all that water," said the baby elephant. "No one expects you to!" said his mother, with an elephant laugh. "But we are going to swim across it to get on the other side." "What is swimming?" asked Umboo. "It means going in the water, and wiggling your legs so that you will float across and not sink," said Mrs. Stumptail.
"And, when I get a little bigger my mother is going to show me how to pull over, or knock down, a whole tree. But now I am hungry for roots." So Umboo kept on sniffing at the ground with his trunk. He was feeling quite hungry. Suddenly Keedah cried: "Ha! I have found some sweet roots! I am going to dig them up!"
None of them could even so much as take a handkerchief out of a man's pocket, so really Umboo was one class ahead of them. But that did not make him proud. One day, about a week after he had come to the circus-barn, Umboo saw some men coming toward him with ropes and other things. Among the men was the one from India, and this man Umboo liked.
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