The Elephant God by Gordon Casserly
page 11 of 344 (03%)
page 11 of 344 (03%)
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see."
He handed the man the antiseptic and swabs. Then he turned to the elephant and patted it. "Good-bye, Badshah, old boy," he said. "I don't think that Ramnath will ill-treat you." The huge beast seemed to understand him and again touched him with the tip of its trunk. "Badshah knows Your Honour," said the Hindu. "He will regard you always now as his _ma-bap_ (mother and father)." Dermot smiled at this very usual vernacular expression. He was accustomed to being called it by his sepoys; but he was amused at being regarded as the combined parents of so large an offspring. "Badshah has never let a white man approach him before today, _Huzoor_," continued Ramnath. "He has always been afraid of the sahibs. But he sees you are his friend. _Salaam kuro_, Badshah!" And the elephant raised his trunk vertically in the air and trumpeted the _Salaamut_ or royal salute that he had been taught to make. Then, at Ramnath's signal, he lowered his trunk and crooked it. The man put his bare foot on it, at the same time seizing one of the great ears. Then Badshah lifted him up with the trunk until he could get on to the head into position astride the neck. Then the new _mahout_, salaaming again to the officer, started his huge charge off, and the elephant lumbered away with swaying stride to its _peelkhana_, or stable, two thousand feet below in |
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