"He is much
smaller than I am. His head hardly comes up to my tusks, and some of
the tame elephants are even larger than I. Why are we so afraid of the
men as to do just as they tell us?"
Of course Umboo did not know, but it is because man, who is also an
animal, is put in charge of all the beasts of the jungle, the woods
and fields. Animals are given to help man, and to feed him. And as a
man has more brains--that is he is smarter than animals--he rules over
them. Thus it is that even great elephants, and savage lions and
tigers, as well as horses, know that man is their master, and must do
as he wants them to.
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.
One of the first things Umboo learned was to walk along, when he was
told to do so in the Indian language.
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