The Wonders of the Jungle, Book One

The Midnight Pool

My dear, I shall tell you all about the wonders of the jungle. You have seen many animals in the zoo or in a circus-elephants, bears, lions, tigers, leopards, and many others. But the jungle is the place where these animals live before they are brought to the zoo or the circus.

In fact, jungle really means a wild place; that is, a place where trees and bushes grow quite wild, so that men never cut down the trees or clear away the bushes. That is the natural home for all sorts of animals.

Now I am going to tell you about the wonderful way in which they live there with their families, as we do in our homes; for the Papas and Mammas among the animals are just as fond of their children as ours are. So you must imagine that you are going into the jungle with me, so that I can show you everything. You see, it is just like a game of pretending, that we are going to play.

There is actually a place in the jungle where you can see all the animals at once. In fact, that place is so wonderful that King George and Queen Mary of England went to see it; that was a few years ago, when they went to India, which is a far-away country. For in India there is a huge jungle where many thousands of animals live.

So you must pretend that I am taking you to the Royal party, and that you are sitting with the King and Queen and all the fine men and lovely ladies; and we are watching the animals, while I tell you all about them.

First, I must tell you that it is midnight, and all the animals are coming to a stream of water to drink. This stream is a river about twice as wide as a large street in your home town. We are sitting on the bank, on one side of the stream; and the animals are coming to drink on the bank on the other side.

"But," you may say, "will not the animals see us across the stream, and get frightened and run away?"

That is quite true. But the King and Queen had thought of that. So they ordered a lot of men to put a large net on their side of the stream, just in front of them, and then to cover the net with twigs and leaves so cleverly that the animals thought the leaves were a part of the jungle, and did not see the people on the other side of the net.

So the King and Queen, and you and I, can peep quietly through the leaves and watch the animals. Almost all wild animals drink at midnight; so we shall see them now.

Where will the animals come from? You see the stream before us; well, on the other side of it is the jungle, where the animals live. Right in front of us we see a gap in the jungle close to the bank. That gap was made by elephants by beating down the bushes with their feet. They made it long ago to come to the water, and now they use it every night. In fact, it is known among the jungle folks as the Elephant Path; for no other animal would dare to use it before the elephants did.

The elephants, being the biggest of all animals, are the lords of the jungle; so they have the right to come first to drink. They are also the wisest of all animals. You have seen many kinds of animals-elephants, horses, dogs, monkeys, and others-do funny tricks in a circus. Now, all these animals except the elephant have to be taught to do tricks; the elephant is the only animal that can think out a trick for itself.

Of course in a circus there is always a teacher, or trainer, to show even the elephant how to do tricks; but in the jungle the elephant can find out how to do things for itself.

Very soon I shall tell you about the tricks which the elephant actually does in the jungle; and as you hear about them, you must think! Why? Because then you will know why the elephant does these things-and that will show you how clever you can be!

Elephants Drink First-but Down Stream

First let us watch the elephants as they come to the river through the gap in the jungle.

See! They come one at a time, one behind another; for the gap is not big enough for more than one at the same time. The elephant is so big that it can get through the jungle only in this way.

First come a number of bull elephants. They are the Papa elephants; you can always tell them by the huge tusks they have. The bulls come first, in case there are any enemies waiting to hurt their children; for then the bulls can drive off the enemies.

As each bull elephant comes through the gap, you see him turn to our right, which is down the stream-that is, the way the water flows. You see the first one walk along the bank that way, and the second comes after him, then the third, and so on.

But why do they walk along the bank? To make room, of course, for all their friends who are still coming from behind. In this way about a dozen bull elephants come ahead of all the others.

After them you see the cow elephants, also in a line, one behind another. They are the Mamma elephants; and nearly every one of them has a baby elephant trotting in front of her. You have often seen the ordinary cow that gives you milk; when she goes to graze in the field, her baby, or calf, trots by her side.

But the Mamma elephant is much wiser, and always tells her baby to toddle in front of her, in case any one comes suddenly to hurt or steal the baby. For a tiger sometimes wants to pounce on the baby from the side, grab it quickly, and carry it away. But he cannot do it if the baby is right in front of its Mamma; for then she will drive him off with her tusks, even if they are not quite so big as the tusks that the Papa elephants have.

As the Mammas reach the bank, each with her baby, you see them also walk along the bank down stream in a long line.

After all the Mammas and babies have come, you see another set of bull elephants coming out of the jungle. Why? Because some enemy might try to attack the Mammas and the babies from the back; so these bull elephants are there to guard them. You see, the Mammas and the babies are always in the middle, safe from all harm.

When all the elephants have reached the stream, they stand in line and face the water. All these elephants belong to one herd; you can count about a hundred. A herd of elephants is really a republic, like the United States of America, and has a President, who is the wisest bull in the herd.

In another book I shall tell you how the elephants choose their President, and make laws, and keep order in the herd; how they choose some strong bulls among them to act as policemen in the herd, and catch and punish any naughty elephant who becomes a rogue; and how, if two elephants start quarrelling and fighting like naughty boys, the police elephants have to catch and punish both of them. Also, I shall tell you how the President has to lead the herd every day when they go in search of food, so that they will have plenty to eat.

And in the jungle, as there are other elephant herds and sometimes two herds find the same feeding ground, and then start quarrelling and fighting as to who found it first, it is the duty of the President to keep his own herd away from the two that are fighting, and not mix in the fight in any way. All these wonderful things and many others you will read in the other book, when you are a little older.

But let us see what the President has to do when the whole herd is standing in line, facing the water. He is at the bottom of the line, far down stream; so he looks up along the line to see that all are ready. Then he gives the signal for them to begin drinking; he does this by dipping his trunk into the water. Then the second one sees him do it, and does the same; in that way each elephant higher up the line sees that the next one below him has started drinking, so he too does the same. Soon they are all drinking, as you see in the picture at the beginning of this book.

But why does the President have to give the signal to begin? Why is it that any elephant, anywhere along the line, cannot start drinking, just as he or she pleases? Think!

Because if any one along the line started drinking too soon, he might muddy the water for those that stood below him along the line, because the water flows down that way. But if the lower ones drank a little before, it would not matter if they did muddy the water, for the higher ones would still have clear water to drink. That is why the lowest one drinks first, then the next, and so on up the line. Is not that very wise, and very fair to all?

How the Elephant Drinks

But you must not think that an elephant actually drinks through his trunk! He does not! The elephant's trunk is really his nose, though it is a very long nose. What he does is to dip the trunk into the stream and suck in the water about halfway up the trunk; then he curls up the tip of the trunk and gets it near his mouth; then he blows through the nose, and squirts the water into his mouth. Of course he has to do that many times, to get enough to drink. But he tries each time to dip only the tip of the trunk into the stream, so as not to muddy the water willfully!

Why the Elephant Drinks with His Trunk

But, you may say, why cannot he drink like other animals, by going right into the stream till he gets his mouth into the water? Because his mouth is so high up, and his neck is so stiff, that he would have to go quite two or three yards deep into the stream before he could get his mouth into the water, and then his heavy feet would stir up the mud in the stream where he was standing, and so dirty the very water he was drinking.

Now you see what a wise animal the elephant is! The only way he could get clear water to drink was by having a long nose! And that is exactly what happened many, many years ago-his nose became long enough to reach the water from the bank. How that happened I shall tell you in another book, as you will not understand it till you are a year or two older.

All the grown-up elephants drink in this way, and also some of the elephant children whose trunks have grown long enough to reach the stream. But what about a baby elephant? Why, its Mamma fills her own trunk with water, puts the tip into the baby's mouth and squirts the water into it.

But now after watching the elephants-who are on our right, down the stream-let us turn our eyes to the left, and look up the stream.

* * *

The Law of the Jungle

Hush! Here come all the animals! The buffaloes, the blue deer, the red deer, the wild pigs, the hyenas, the wolves, the red dogs, and many others. Watch and see how each kind of animal comes; it is not always in the same way. The moon is now shining clear above the trees, and we can see a long way up the stream.

See the buffaloes! They come a little above the elephants. But they do not come one behind another in a line, like the elephants. They come three or four together. They also have beaten down the bushes there years ago, to make a drinking place; and it is wide enough for three or four of them to drink at the same time, side by side.

How Buffaloes Come to Drink-in Rows

But why must they drink three or four at the same time? Because the buffaloes are like a body of soldiers, one row behind another. Sometimes twenty or thirty rows make up a herd. We see only the first row drinking now, but soon we shall see the others behind.

And why do the buffaloes come like a body of soldiers? Because they are afraid of their enemy-the tiger! Once upon a time the buffaloes lived scattered about, and many of them got eaten by the tiger, one at a time. Then those that escaped from the tiger became wise; they joined together like a body of soldiers, so that they could beat off the tiger. How they came to do that, I shall tell you at another time.

But now let us watch the first row drinking. They are all bull buffaloes, the Papas of the herd; you can tell that by their huge horns, a yard long on each side of the head. You see how the buffaloes stand side by side, so that their horns almost touch one another. That is the way the buffaloes have marched to the stream from their feeding place-horn to horn. Why? Because no prowling tiger can get past those horns.

Watch the first row as it finishes drinking; the whole row wheels around to the side like soldiers. Then the buffaloes that have had their drink march to the back of the herd, and stand there in a row facing the jungle.

Meanwhile the second row in the front has stepped to the water to drink. These also are bull buffaloes. When they finish drinking, they also wheel, march to the back of the herd, and there stand behind the first row. In this way four or five rows of bulls drink, one after the other, and go to the back of the herd.

Next come about a dozen rows of cow buffaloes and their calves, or children. You see again, like the elephants, the Mammas and children among the buffaloes are also in the middle, safe from all harm.

Then at the end there are four or five rows of bull buffaloes again, to guard the Mammas and the children from enemies in the back.

Buffalo Knights Guard the Timid Deer

But wait a moment! Before the buffaloes go away, a most wonderful thing happens. You have read stories, how once upon a time there were brave knights who used to come to the help of ladies who were in danger. Well, you will be glad to know that these bull buffaloes are just like those brave knights. Do you see that timid little shadow creeping in by the side of the buffaloes?

She is a blue deer, a very timid lady indeed; for she knows that a tiger is waiting in the high ground behind, to catch her. It is the last chance of the tiger to get his supper; so he waits by the high ground behind, and watches for some weak animal like the deer to come to drink.

But the blue deer knows that; so she hides in the bushes, and waits for the buffaloes to come to drink. Then as the buffaloes come to the water, row after row, horn to horn, she tries to creep in toward them; she even tries to creep in under the horns of the buffaloes, knowing that there she will be quite safe from the tiger. It takes her a long time to reach the buffaloes in that way, without being caught by the tiger.

But do you see the wonderful thing? The buffaloes wait a little for her! They take a little longer to drink, to give her a chance to reach the water by their side. Like the brave knights, they feel proud of helping a lady.

Now see! The blue deer also has finished drinking. She goes away with the buffaloes, under their horns. They all reach the jungle again. She looks carefully: the tiger is watching her, but he dares not come too near. She sees where he is-then suddenly she gives a leap-another leap-and another-quickly! The tiger leaps after her-but she leaped first! She is gone! She is safe!

The Buffaloes and the Blue Deer

The tiger is furious. He stands a moment before the buffaloes, growling with rage. But the bulls in front of the herd paw the ground, and rattle their horns with one another. They are going to charge!

But that tiger does not wait for the charge of the bull buffaloes. He does not want to be trampled into a mess under their hoofs, or cut up into pieces with their horns. Instead, he sneaks away, growling. He sneaks back to the stream, to wait for some other weak animal.

So, you see, the jungle folks are in many ways just like us; for a brave man always helps a lady or anybody who needs his help.

But now let us watch the stream higher up.

Wild Pigs-Careless

Here come the wild pigs. They are not exactly a herd; but still there are many dozens of them, all one large family with all their relations-cousins and uncles and aunts. Some of the wild pigs are called boars; they are the Papas among the wild pigs. You can always tell them by the two sharp tusks, or teeth, one on each side, which grow upward from their under jaw. Each tusk is as long as a knife, and so sharp that a tiger does not always care to fight with a boar.

The wild pigs drink in any fashion, and go off in any fashion-just as they like. They trust to luck or to the sharp tusks of some of the boars to guard them from danger. But they have not learned enough yet to do things in proper order.

Red Dogs-Bold, Fearing Nobody

Meanwhile other animals have also come. The moon is now quite high in the sky. A band of shadows in the moonlight seems to fall upon the water. It is a pack of red dogs; they have come boldly, as they are afraid of nothing. For if a hungry tiger attacks them, the whole pack will jump on the tiger and tear him down-that is, the tiger could kill dozens of the dogs in a few minutes, but then the rest of the wild red dogs would tear the tiger to pieces.

So the red dogs are not afraid as they come flocking to the stream. They lap up the water with their lolling tongues. Then they look up at the moon. Do you see what they are doing? Can you hear them? They are howling at the moon in a chorus. Dogs always howl at the moon. Men do not quite know just why dogs do that. But perhaps they do it because they are glad and satisfied, and are trying to sing! When you sing, and there is a dog near by, you may hear him start howling. He does that, I suppose, because he likes your singing, and wants to join in the chorus!

So the wild dogs of the jungle also howl when they are glad. Then, after the red dogs have howled as long as a song, they scamper off into the jungle again. That shows, I suppose, that their howling was really a song!

Other Animals Come Alone

The red dogs are the last of the animals that come in a bunch. Now you see other animals coming one by one. A sneaking shadow there! It must be a hyena. That is an animal that eats what remains from some other animal's supper; so the hyena waits to see if a tiger or a leopard has caught any supper, or else it will have to go hungry.

But hush! Here is a red deer coming carefully to the water. This animal is much bigger than the blue deer, and more able to take care of herself. But, still, she comes very quietly, looking to right and left to make sure that the tiger is not just in that place. She reaches the water and starts drinking. But do you see how her ear is bent to the side? The red deer is listening most carefully, even while she is drinking!

But look, look! The bush behind the deer parts very slowly, and a huge yellow form crouches there! It is the tiger!

He is not near enough to jump on the deer; so he takes one step forward-as softly as a cat!

But the deer has heard the footfall! For she can hear even a leaf when it falls to the ground. And in that one second, even while she was drinking, the red deer has turned and leaped to the side. The tiger has also leaped at the same time, and he aimed at the place where the deer was. But the deer has just left that place, and the next second she gives another leap, like a flash, and gets out of the tiger's reach.

The tiger stands where he leaped, and growls with rage. He knows it would be no use chasing the deer, as the deer can run much faster. So he stands there, and growls for quite a while. Then, as he did not get any supper that night, he can at least have a drink. So he drinks and goes away, still growling.

Now all is quiet at last at the midnight pool, as all the animals have gone away.

The Law of the Jungle-Clear Water for All

But before we leave the place, I want you to remember something. I showed you first the elephants; they were on our right-that is, down the stream, the way the water flows. And the elephants drank first among all the animals.

Then all the other animals came to the stream, but more to our left-that is, up the stream. Why was that? Think!

I shall tell you. By the time the elephants finish drinking by dipping their trunks into the stream many times, the water begins to get muddy. In fact, after drinking, the elephants jump into the water to have a bath and a swim, as I shall tell you in the next chapter.

So the water gets muddy near the elephants and all the way down stream from that place, as the water flows that way. And as the other animals do not want muddy water to drink, they always go up the stream, where the water is still clear.

That is The Law of the Jungle, though it is not written down in a book, like the laws among men. The Law of the Jungle says that as the elephants are the lords of the jungle, they shall drink first: but they must be careful to drink down the stream, so that all the other animals may have a place higher up, where they can get clear water to drink.

And that law has never been broken, for many thousands of years, among all the different sorts of animals.

But with men the laws among the different sorts of people, called nations, are often broken, because some of them want all the best things and the best places, and do not care if they muddy the water that their neighbors have to drink.

So, my dear children, we can learn many things from the animals, even how to be better men and women when we grow up.

* * *

The Elephants' Bath

I have just told you that, after drinking, the elephants jump into the water and have a bath and a swim. That is, all the grown-up elephants do that, while the little ones stay on the bank and play about.

But, you may ask, why does not the tiger try to grab one of the little ones then? Because even when the Mammas go into the water they keep their eyes on the babies, who play quite near by, so that the Mammas can come to them any minute.

And the Mammas can smell a tiger a little before he gets there, so that they have enough time to climb out of the water. Besides, the babies themselves can smell the tiger when he is coming; then they call out to their Mammas by making a queer rumbling sound in their throats, and the Mammas come to them at once, before the tiger can get there.

So all the grown-up elephants can go into the water, without any worry. And at first they have a regular shower bath.

How do they do that? Why, each elephant fills his trunk with water; then he curls up the trunk in the air over his head and squirts the water out, and it falls in a shower all over his body. You can see how he does it in the picture. All the grown-up elephants do that, and even those that are half grown.

After the shower bath, they swim about; but the Mamma elephants do not do that. Why? Because they have to get busy and bathe their little children. They call to the children to stop playing, and come and have a bath-just as our Mammas do.

How do they call? Why, I must tell you at once that all kinds of animals have a language of their own. They do not speak exactly as we do, but make different sounds through their mouth or nose, and each sound means something.

If the Mamma elephant wants to say "Come here," she makes one kind of sound, and the baby elephant has learned to know exactly what that means. And if the Mamma elephant wants to say "Keep still," she makes another kind of sound, and the baby knows also what that means.

An Elephant Giving himself a Shower Bath

In this way all animals can talk among themselves. Of course they cannot say many things, as we do, but quite enough to tell what they want.

So each Mamma elephant calls to her child to come and stand on the bank. Now, many of our children often hate to be bathed; and the elephant children are just the same! In fact, the very small ones actually cry and shriek, just like our babies!

Elephant Child Obeys Mamma-or Gets Spanked

But when the Mamma elephant calls to the baby to stop playing and come and stand by the bank, the baby comes at once, even though it hates to be bathed. The baby elephant obeys its Mamma almost the first time, whatever she tells it to do.

But if the baby does not obey, does its Mamma spank it? Of course she does-like all Mammas! The elephant Mamma does the spanking with her trunk.

But I must tell you at once that an elephant child never gets spanked more than once in its life-and that is enough! And some are so good that they never get spanked!

The elephant child learns very quickly to obey its Mamma and Papa, and afterwards its trainer or teacher. The elephant child even obeys the very minute it is told to do anything; in fact, sometimes in the jungle there is a sudden danger, even if the elephant child does not see the danger. But its Mamma or Papa sees it.

Then the Mamma or Papa calls out to the child to stop, or come away, or do something, at once; and if the child does not do it at once, it may get killed. Among men folks, if a child runs out into the street, and an auto or a street car comes suddenly, then if the child will not obey its Mamma at once and do exactly as she says, the child may be run over and killed. In the jungle the elephant child also has sudden dangers like that, though in a different way.

In the next chapter I shall tell you a wonderful story about a boy elephant who escaped a great danger because he obeyed his Papa at once.

But sometimes it happens that a boy elephant is really naughty-just like a bad boy among men. As you know, a bad boy among men usually grows up to be a bad man, and then he gets into a lot of trouble. In the elephant herd it is just the same; a bad little elephant grows up to be a bad big elephant; it is then called a rogue. In another book I shall tell you how the President of the herd orders all the police elephants to stand in a ring around the rogue and give him a most awful spanking. And they do that, not with their trunks this time, but with their tusks-which hurt most dreadfully.

How the Elephant Child is Bathed

But now I shall tell you about the baby elephant when its Mamma calls it to come and be bathed. It comes to the edge of the bank, and stands facing its Mamma. Then the Mamma fills her trunk with water, brings the trunk quite near the baby, and squirts the water all over it.

The baby may howl and jump about and make faces, but it never runs away! Again and again the Mamma squirts the water, till all the mud and dust of the jungle is washed away from the baby's body. Then she tells the baby to play about on the bank again, while she attends to the bigger children.

What has she got to do to them? She must teach them to swim!

Of course all animals with four legs know how to swim naturally; their bodies float in the water quite easily, and they have only to work their legs to move along in the water. But with elephants it is a little different. Why? Just think!

I shall tell you. Although they can float quite naturally, their noses point downward right into the water. As I said before, the elephant's trunk is its nose-that is, the elephant has to breathe through the trunk. So of course, if in trying to swim a little elephant kept its trunk down in the water, it would not be able to breathe at all, and would die.

That is why the Mamma elephant has to teach her child how to swim properly. And the way she does it is quite wonderful.

I must first tell you that the trunk is not only like a nose to the elephant, but also is useful as a hand; the elephant can hold a lot of things with it, and can even pick up with its tip a tiny thing as small as a pin.

How the Elephant Child Learns to Swim

So the Mamma elephant stretches out her trunk before her, just like an arm, and tells her child to lie across it. In that way she holds up the child in the water, so that the little elephant has only to think of curling up the tip of its own little trunk out of the water to breathe. Then she tells her child to kick out with its legs, so as to move forward through the water.

But sometimes, in kicking out, the little elephant forgets to hold up the tip of its trunk out of the water at the same time; then down goes its trunk into the water, and it cannot breathe!

Then what happens? The Mamma elephant can do nothing, as she is already using her own trunk to hold up her child. So, what is to be done?

Really, the elephants are so wise that they take no chances of that happening. The Papa elephant takes care of that. When he sees that the Mamma is teaching the little elephant how to swim, he always comes near them. He may be swimming about, as if he were enjoying himself; but he is really watching them all the time.

And if the little elephant forgets to hold up its trunk out of the water, the Papa comes quickly, and with one upward stroke of his own trunk he lifts up the little elephant's trunk clear out of the water. Is not that very wise and thoughtful of the Papa elephant?

In that way the little elephant soon learns to do both things-that is, to kick out with its legs so as to move along, and also to hold up its trunk to breathe. And then, of course, it can swim properly.

And yet the elephants are so very wise that they never take the risk of tiring out a little elephant, if they have to swim a very long way. Sometimes a whole herd of elephants has to swim across a very wide river. Then the Mamma elephant tells her child to swim in front of her, while she encourages the child from behind with many fond words.

But sometimes after swimming halfway across the river-

"Mamma, I am getting tired!" cries the little one.

"Then come on my back, darling!" says the Mamma.

She dives, and comes up right under the little elephant; so now her child sits on her back. In that way she swims along, and carries her child across the wide river, as you see in the picture.

An Elephant Mamma Carrying her Child across the River

* * *