The temple Elephant

1. Part 5
The temple Elephant

2. Albert looked out of the window and saw that
the weather was getting colder. Some leaves
on the Motely were already changing their col-
ors. He thought how nice it would be to go
somewhere warm. Then he grinned. All he had
to do was to go to the Motley and think himself
in a hot climate and KABOUM! He would be
magically transported there!
On his way to the tree he passed Herold who
had had exactly the same idea. They decided
to travel together. “I was thinking of meeting
some elephants, what do you think Herold?”
said Albert once they were inside the tree.
“Marvelous idea”, said Herold, “but we have to
decide whether we want to meet Asian or
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African elephants”.
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3. “Hm”, said Albert, “I didn’t know that they are
different. We have already been to Africa meeting
Gira. I think it is more interesting to go to a new
place. Let’s go to India.”
Herold, agreed and before he could even nod
his head, they found themselves standing in
front of a huge elephant. They were standing in
the gardens of a magnificent temple. The sun
was shining and it was very hot. Albert noticed
the scent of unusual spices and perfumes
coming from the many different types of exotic
flowers and bushes scattered around them.
The elephant looked down on them. “Well, hello
there” it said, “where have you come from? I was
just strolling around the temple grounds before
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my grooming session begins. I have to attend a
procession for an important wedding today.”
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4. “Hello to you too” said Albert, “I am Albert, and
my spiky friend here is called Herold and he is
a hedgehog. We come from a place called the
Motley and we would like to learn all that you
can tell us about elephants.
And then, if you would like it, we can invite you
to join us every full moon at the Motley, so you
can meet all our animal friends from around
the world.”
“Now that does sound exciting, and a bit un-
usual”, said the elephant. Herold felt that he
might have been a little hasty in telling her
about the invitation, and decided to find out
more about their new acquaintance.
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“May I ask what the other elephants call you?“
asked Herold.
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5. The elephant smiled and said: “I am Erla and I
have been around this part of the world for
quite some time. If you want to know anything
about anybody in this area you have found the
right person to ask”, she said.
Albert was easily impressed and was just
about to ask a question when Herold
cut in, “we would really very much
appreciate it if you could tell us as
much as you can about elephants”,
he said.
Erla shook her ears and said:
“Well then, as you have travelled
such a long way, I will tell you all
about Indian elephants and of the
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interesting things that we can do.
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6. “I do know that there are also elephants in Our eyesight is poor and, we usually have
Africa and they are bigger and taller than really small eyes. But we do have the largest
we Asian elephants. brains in the animal kingdom!
We can live for a very long time, up to We live in families, and several families will
70 years, and although we are big we can form a large group, which is called a herd.
swim for long distances, and our trunks The leader of the herd is usually the oldest
work like a snorkel. female elephant. I am the leader of my
herd and I am called a matriarch, which
means“ female leader”.
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7. All the babies and the other females follow my
lead. Young male elephants stay with the herd
until they are fourteen or fifteen years old. Then
they will try to find a female elephant as a com-
panion so that they can start their own family.
We are plant-eaters and we like leaves, grass
and tree bark. We spend most of our time eat-
ing and grazing.
The tusks of elephants – the long horn-like
parts that come out of the side of the mouths –
are made of ivory. Unfortunately humans find
ivory very valuable and sometimes shoot us so
that they can steal our tusks.
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8. Here in Southern India we are very much loved
and respected and there is even a deity, called
Ganesh, who has the face of an elephant. The
great celebration in his honor took place just
last month and the whole place was decorated
beautifully!
As we are an endangered species so many of
us live in temples, where we feel safe. We lead
a good life in the temples. I have three mahouts
– these are men who look after me, and bathe
and massage me regularly.“ There are even
more interesting things about elephants. Did
you know that we have been known to avert
disaster, or even to solve crimes? We also teach
our little ones important rituals.”
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9. “What do you mean when you say that you can
avert disaster?” asked Albert.
Before Herold could stop her Erla began to tell
a story.
“One time, after I had
been groomed for a pro-
cession and we were
about to parade through
the streets, I had a
strange feeling and
could sense that
something out of the
ordinary was going to
happen.
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10. Here in India our bodies are painted in beauti-
ful designs and colors for special ceremonies.
We usually attract a large crowd of cheering
people. They love to look at us, with our stun-
ning decoration and we feel very proud to be a
part of the celebrations. On this day, while I
was moving through the crowd, I started to
smell something strange. At first I couldn’t
quite make out what it was. But then I re-
alized that something was on fire and
heard people screaming as they began
running around in panic.
I turned to the other elephants and
told them to hurry to
the river to fill our
trunks with water.
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11. As we rushed, our trunks filled with water, we
could already make out where the fire was
coming from. We blew the water from our
trunks onto the flames and after only a couple
of runs to the river to refill our trunks, we were
able to put out the fire.
We saved a whole lane of
wooden shacks from the
fierce flames, and as a re-
ward we were given
special fruit treats. It was
a remarkable day for both
human and elephants
alike”, explained Erla.
Herold and Albert were
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impressed. Erla had an air
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12. of confidence about her. Albert wanted to hear
more stories but it was late, and they had to
return home.
Before they left, Albert explained how Erla could
travel to the secret place they call the Motley
during a full moon so that she could join them
with their other friends. It was time now to say
their good-byes. They were all of them very
much looking forward to meeting soon again.
Next up – some pre-Christmas fun with
reindeer facts
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