World Elephant Day is August 12 and there's always stories to tell about elephants. Additionally the World Wildlife Organization has so much to tell about them. They explain why these giants matter, the threats to them and, most importantly, what they are doing to reduce conflict between people and elephants. When I mentioned tigers two articles back before World Tiger Day on July 29, I should have mentioned the World Wildlife Fund works on these endangered animals to reduce not only threats to them, but reduce the conflict with people as that, too, threatens them. In fact it is often their biggest threat. Both these wonderful animals need our help.
Once before I told an elephant story for World Elephant Day and confess "The Elephant and the Dog" is my favorite elephant story. It is found in More Jataka Tales. Its predecessor, Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, includes a story about a white elephant. I tried Everywhere! to find a story illustrating the common term "white elephant" meaning a gift that is not wanted. That meaning is discussed often. The most thorough is at Everything-everywhere.com but the idea of a king (usually of Siam) gifting an elephant knowing it would financially ruin the recipient seems to have no folklore connected with it.
Surely telling the common use of the term "white elephant" should precede telling today's tale, and I would also follow it with "The Elephant and the Dog ."
One quick note about reprinting this story, it wasn't evident that each of the silhouetted drawings by Ellsworth Young were captioned from the text. The final one confused me at first, so I added parentheses.
THE KING'S WHITE ELEPHANT
Once upon a time a number of carpenters lived on a river bank near a large forest. Every day the carpenters went in boats to the forest to cut down the trees and make them into lumber.
One day while they were at work an Elephant came limping on three feet to them. He held up one foot and the carpenters saw that it was swollen and sore. Then the Elephant lay down and the men saw that there was a great splinter in the sore foot. They pulled it out and washed the sore carefully so that in a short time it would be well again.
Thankful for the cure, the Elephant thought: "These carpenters have done so much for me, I must be useful to them."
So after that the Elephant used to pull up trees for the carpenters. Sometimes when the trees were chopped down he would roll the logs down to the river. Other times he brought their tools for them. And the carpenters used to feed him well morning, noon and night.
Now this Elephant had a son who was white all over—a beautiful, strong young one. Said the old Elephant to himself, "I will take my son to the place in the forest where I go to work each day so that he may learn to help the carpenters, for I am no longer young and strong."
So the old Elephant told his son how the carpenters had taken good care of him when he was badly hurt and took him to them. The white Elephant did as his father told him to do and helped the carpenters and they fed him well.
When the work was done at night the young Elephant went to play in the river. The carpenters' children played with him, in the water and on the bank. He liked to pick them up in his trunk and set them on the high branches of the trees and then let them climb down on his back.
One day the king came down the river and saw this beautiful white Elephant working for the carpenters. The king at once wanted the Elephant for his own and paid the carpenters a great price for him. Then with a last look at his playmates, the children, the beautiful white Elephant went on with the king.
The king was proud of his new Elephant and took the best care of him as long as he lived.
May your stories be as great a gift as the white elephant in this story. We may not be kings able to have such magnificent creatures, but we can support them with World Elephant Day.
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This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, “Keeping the Public in Public Domain.” The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated. I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century. My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them. I hope you enjoy discovering them.
At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience. Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week. This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here. (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.) Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.
See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."
