At first Umboo did not know what this word meant. But his keeper
gently pricked him with a sharp hook, called an "ankus," and to get
away from the prick, which was like the bite of a big fly, Umboo
stepped out and walked away.
"Ha! That is what I wanted you to do, little one," said the Indian,
speaking to Umboo as he might to a child. And indeed the Indian
mahouts consider their elephants almost like children.
When Umboo had learned that a certain word meant that he was to walk
along, he was taught two others, one of which meant to go to the left,
and the other to go to the right. Then, in a few weeks, he learned a
fourth word, which meant to stand still, and then a fifth one, which
meant to kneel down.
And though, at first, the elephant boy did not like doing the things
he was told to do, as well as he had liked playing about in the
jungle, he soon grew to see that his life was easier than it had been
with Tusker and the others.
He never had to hunt for food, as it was brought to him by the
keepers. Nor was he ever thirsty. And, best of all, he never had to
drop what he was eating and run away, crashing through the jungle,
because Tusker, or some other elephant had trumpeted the call of:
"Danger! I smell the man-smell!"
Umboo was used to the man-smell now, and knew that no harm would come
to him.
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