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THE HUNGRY ELEPHANT
The elephant is a sagacious beast, cautiously feeling his ground before putting his feet forward. There is reason enough for representing Ganesha, the Hindu God of Wisdom, with an elephant's head.
Here is a story from an old novel to show how an elephant can use both sense and strength:
(Ganesha)
Once a crafty old elephant named Futtehgurrh, the Fort-Winner, felt extremely hungry and, breaking loose from his shackles, wandered into a bazar stocked with grain. As soon as the grain-sellers saw him coming they shut up their shops and ran away. One had only time enough to put up the shutters before the elephant came and stood in front of his shop.
“Ho there! I want some rice,” cried out the elephant.
“No rice,” said a voice from within.
“Flour then,” said the elephant.
“No flour,” was the reply.
“Ghee then,” said the elephant, again.
“No ghee,” responded the shopkeeper.
“Very well, molasses,” cried the elephant, angrily.
“No molasses,” answered the shopkeeper with a hearty laugh, as if it were a good joke.
“I’ll find out the truth for myself then,” said the elephant, with a snort. The angry animal butted at the shutters with its full force, and crash! They went to pieces in an instant, and the shopkeeper was discovered in the midst of plenty, tumbling affrighted over his baskets of grain,
“Oh mercy! mercy ” he cried. “Here is rice ... flour ... ghee... and molasses, O good Futtehgurrh! Take what you will!”
And Futtehgurrh had such a feast off them as he had never had before in his life.
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