The Elephant Page #3

"The Elephant" by Aleksandr Kuprin is a poignant and thought-provoking novella that explores the themes of human emotion, isolation, and the complex relationship between humans and animals. Set in a traveling circus, the story centers around the elephant, a majestic yet tragic creature that becomes a symbol of both beauty and suffering. Through vivid descriptions and deep character development, Kuprin delves into the lives of those connected to the elephant, revealing their struggles, desires, and moral dilemmas. The narrative invites readers to reflect on empathy, the nature of captivity, and the impact of societal indifference towards both animals and individuals in distress.

• Novel

								

with a thick layer of straw.... Tommy was fastened by the leg to a ring
which had been screwed into the floor. They put some fresh carrots,
cabbages and turnips in front of him. The German stretched himself out
on a sofa by Tommy's side. The lights were put out, and everybody went
to bed.

VI

Next morning the little girl woke very early, and asked, first thing:

"The elephant? Has he come?"

"Yes, he's come," said mamma; "but he says that Nadya must first of all
be washed, and then eat a soft-boiled egg and drink some hot milk."

"Is he good?"

"Yes, he's good. Eat it up, dear. We'll go and see him in a minute."

"Is he funny?"

"Yes, a little. Put on your warm bodice."

The egg was quickly eaten, and the milk drunk. Nadya was put in the
perambulator in which she used to be taken out when she was too small
to walk by herself, and wheeled into the dining-room.

The elephant looked much larger than Nadya had thought when she saw
it in a picture. He was only just a little lower than the top of the
door, and half as long as the dining-room. He had thick skin, in heavy
folds. His legs were thick as pillars. His long tail looked something
like a broom at the end. His head had great lumps on it. His ears were
as large as shovels, and were hanging down. His eyes were quite tiny,
but they looked wise and kind. His tusks had been cut off. His trunk
was like a long snake and had two nostrils at the end, with a moving
flexible finger between them. If the elephant had stretched out his
trunk to its full length, it would probably have reached to the window.

The little girl was not at all frightened. She was only just a
little astounded by the enormous size of the animal. But Polya, the
sixteen-year-old nursemaid, began to whimper in terror.

The elephant's master, the German, came up to the perambulator and said:

"Good morning, young lady. Don't be afraid, please. Tommy's very good,
and he likes children."

The little girl held out her little white hand to the German.

"Good morning," she said in answer. "How are you? I'm not in the least
afraid. What's his name?"

"Tommy."

"Good morning, Tommy," said the child, with a bow. "How did you sleep
last night?"

She held out her hand to him. The elephant took it cautiously and
pressed her thin fingers with his movable strong one, and he did this
much more gently than Dr. Michael Petrovitch. Then he nodded his head,
and screwed up his little eyes as if he were laughing.

"Does he understand everything?" asked the little girl of the German.

"Oh, absolutely everything, miss."

"Only he can't speak."

"No, he can't speak. Do you know, I've got a little girl just as small
as you. Her name's Lisa. Tommy's a great, a very great, friend of hers."

"And you, Tommy, have you had any tea yet?" asked Nadya.

The elephant stretched out his trunk and blew out a warm breath into
the little girl's face, making her hair puff out at each side.

Nadya laughed and clapped her hands. The German laughed out loud too.
He was also large and fat, and good-natured like the elephant, and
Nadya thought they looked like one another. Perhaps they were relations.

"No, he hasn't had tea, miss. But he likes to drink sugar-water. And
he's very fond of rolls."

Some rolls were brought in on a tray. The little girl handed some to
her guest. He caught a roll cleverly with his finger, and turning up
his trunk into a ring hid the roll somewhere underneath his head, where
one could see his funny three-cornered, hairy, lower lip moving, and
hear the roll rustling against the dry skin. Tommy did the same with
a second roll, and a third, and a fourth and a fifth, nodding his head
and wrinkling up his little eyes still more with satisfaction. And the
little girl laughed delightedly.

When the rolls were all eaten, Nadya presented her dolls to the
elephant.

"Look, Tommy, this nicely-dressed doll is Sonya. She's a very good
child, but a little naughty sometimes, and doesn't want to eat her
soup. This one is Natasha, Sonya's daughter. She's begun to learn
already, and she knows almost all her letters. And this one is
Matreshka. She was my very first doll. Look, she hasn't got any nose
and her head's been stuck on, and she's lost all her hair. But I can't
turn an old woman out of the house. Can I, Tommy? She used to be
Sonya's mother, but now she's the cook. Let's have a game, Tommy; you
be the father and I'll be the mother, and these shall be our children."

Tommy agreed. He laughed, took Matreshka by the neck and put her in his
mouth. But this was only a joke. After biting the doll a little he put
her back again on the little girl's lap, just a little wet and crumpled.

Then Nadya showed him a large picture-book, and explained:

"This is a horse, this is a canary, this is a gun.... Look, there's a
cage with a bird inside; here's a pail, a looking-glass, a stove, a
spade, a raven.... And here, just look, here's an elephant. It's not
at all like you, is it? Is it possible an elephant could be so small,
Tommy?"

Tommy thought that there were no elephants in the world as small as
that. He didn't seem to like that picture. He took hold of the edge of
the page with his finger and turned it over.

It was dinner-time now, but the little girl couldn't tear herself away
from the elephant. The German came to the rescue.

"If you allow me, I will arrange it all. They can dine together."

He ordered the elephant to sit down, and the obedient animal did so,
shaking all the floor of the whole flat, making all the china on the
sideboard jingle, and the people downstairs were sprinkled over with
bits of plaster falling from the ceiling. The little girl sat opposite
the elephant. The table was put between them. A tablecloth was tied
round the elephant's neck, and the new friends began their dinner. The
little girl had chicken broth and cutlets, the elephant had various
vegetables and salad. The little girl had a liqueur glass full of
sherry, and the elephant had some warm water with a glassful of rum in
it, and he sucked up this liquid through his trunk with great pleasure
from a soup tureen. Then they had the sweet course--the little girl
a cup of cocoa, and the elephant a tart, a walnut one this time. The
German, meanwhile, sat with papa in the drawing-room, and, with as much
pleasure as the elephant, drank beer, only in greater quantities.

After dinner some visitors came to see papa, and they were warned in
the hall about the elephant so that they should not be frightened. At
first they couldn't believe it, but when they saw Tommy they pressed
themselves close up against the door.

"Don't be afraid, he's good," said the little girl soothingly.

But the visitors quickly hurried into the drawing-room, and after
having sat there for five minutes took their departure.
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