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Show LEGENDS OF THE ELEPHANT Many and Wonderful Are the Talea Told Concerning Its Virtue and Its Wisdom. Naturally we talked first about elephants, ele-phants, of which he was almost as childishly fond as I. But In contrast to my poor knowledge, he possessed the rich lore of a man who had not only observed baihl for many years with loving Interest, but had also listened lis-tened to the tales of mahout and shikari shi-kari from Slam to Ceylon. He poured out a hundred gifts from an apparently apparent-ly inexhaustible store. He told of I "round-ups" In Burma, when the wild herds are driven into gigantic corrals to be tamed for the service of puny man. Then, turning to the names be- t stowed by doting mahouts on these colossal darlings, he pointed out that In this nomenclature of affection Lotus, Lo-tus, or Lily or Pearl was only a commonplace, com-monplace, while even Sliver Star and Golden Joy seemed Inadequate. Folk tales, too, he repeated, among them the narrative of the wise elephant that used to be sent out from a cer- j tain city the morning after the king's j death to bring back In Its bejeweled I howdah the man it had chosen as successor suc-cessor to the throne. Finally, just j as we were leaving the bunk of the , stream, he spoke of the part played by the elephant In the story of him who became the Light of Asia. Before the birth of Gautama, destined to be the savior of mankind, his mother dreamed dream-ed that a six-rayed star from heaven entered her right side, and of this star the token was a white elephant with six perfect tusks. Again, in the prophetic vision of his father, the second sec-ond Fear was ten huge silver-tusked elephants, signifying the ten great gifts of wisdom, In strength whereof the prince should shake the world. In Buddha's middle years an enemy sought to take his life by sending against him a raging elephant, but the animal recognized the good head of the "Venerable Omniscient One" and stood in peaceful adoration before I the divine person. Asia Magazine. I |