"Oh, mother! I wish I could slide!" said Umboo, when he saw what fun
the other elephants were having. They really did slide down hill, just
as otters do, only the otter, or beaver, likes to have water on his
slide, and the elephants did not care whether their slide was wet or
dry. Down they came, over sticks and stones, and their skin was so
tough that they never got hurt. And yet a fly could bite through that
same hide! But that is because a fly has a very fine, sharp bill,
which can go through the tiny pores, or holes, in the elephant's skin.
"Oh, I want to slide!" said Umboo to his mother. "I'm big enough, and
if I can't swim when I splash in the water, you can be near to pull me
out. Please let me slide down hill!"
"And did she let you?" asked Snarlie, the tiger, as the elephant
stopped in the telling his story long enough to take a bite of hay.
"Did she let you, Umboo?"
CHAPTER IV
UMBOO LEARNS SOMETHING
Umboo, the big circus elephant, swallowed the sweet hay he had been
chewing, and was about to keep on with the telling of his story about
the things that happened to him when he was a little chap in the
Indian jungle, when a lot of men came in the tent where the animals
were standing about, or resting in their cages.
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