KARI, the elephant, was five months old when he was givento me to take care of. I was nine years old and I couldreach his back if I stood on tiptoe. He seemed to remainthat high for nearly two years. We grew together; that isprobably why I never found out just how tall he was.
Everyday I used to take him to the river in the morning for hisbath. He would lie down on the sand bank while I rubbedhim with the clean sand of the river for an hour. After thathe would lie in the water for a long time.
I went into the forest to get some luscious twigs forhis dinner. One has to have a very sharp hatchet to cutdown these twigs; it takes half an hour to sharpen thehatchet because if a twig is mutilated an elephant will nottouch it.It was not an easy job to get twigs and saplings for Kari.I had to climb all kinds of trees to get the most delicate andtender twigs. As he was very fond of the young branches ofthe banyan tree which grows like a cathedral of leaves andbranches,
I was gathering some, one spring day in March,when I suddenly heard Kari calling to me in the distance.As he was still very young, the call was more like that of ababy than an elephant. I thought somebody was hurting him
so I came down from my tree and ran very fast to theedge of the forest where I had left him, but he wasnot there.I looked all over, but I could not find him.I went near the edge of the water, and I saw a blacksomething struggling above its surface. Then it rose higherand it was the trunk of my elephant. I thought he wasdrowning.
he began totrumpet and struggle up to the shore. Then, still trumpeting,he pushed me into the water and, as I fell into the stream, Isaw a boy lying flat on the bottom of the river. that is how kari saved a boy