When a baby elephant is quite small, its Mamma has to feed it with milk. Afterwards, when it has teeth, she teaches it to feed from the jungle. All elephants eat tender shoots, herbs, and fresh young leaves; they seize a bough with the trunk, and pull it down in such a way that the end of the bough reaches right into the mouth. _Elephant Child Learns to Feed_ First, the Mamma elephant eats like that from several boughs, while the little elephant watches her do it. Then she looks at a low bough within easy reach, and says in the elephant language, "Eat that!" The little one looks at the bough, grabs it anyhow with its trunk, and pulls it down. But it cannot get the end of the bough _into its mouth_! Instead, the bough pokes it on the forehead, or eyes, or cheeks. "Hold it straight!" says Mamma, laughing. The little one tries several times, but still it cannot get the bough to come right. Then its Mamma puts her own trunk over that of her child, and turns it to right or left, till the bough comes exactly into the little elephant's mouth. "You must learn to use your trunk just like a _hand_," she says. "So you must bend your trunk, or turn it, or twist it, to get the thing you are holding exactly where you want it." And that is the first great thing the little elephant has to learn--_how to use its trunk as we use our hands_. After that everything else comes easy. Now I am going to tell you about the childhood of the most wonderful elephant in the world, who actually lives to-day in the courtyard of a palace in India. He is the biggest elephant that ever was; that is why he lives in a grand palace, and does nothing except carry a King, or some other great man, on his back on days of festival. In fact he was the leader among all the elephants in a long procession at a grand festival called the Durbar, held in honor of the King of England. On that day a lovely cloth of silk woven with gold was put on the elephant's back, and around his tusks were placed rings of solid gold studded with real diamonds, rubies, and pearls. At another time he carried on his back the Crown Prince of Germany, when he visited India a few years ago; and at other times he has carried Grand Dukes of Russia and Arch Dukes of Austria when _they_ visited India. So you see, he is quite the grandest elephant in the world. He has a real name, just like a man, and it is written down in books with the names of all the grand officers of the palace. His name is Salar Jung; so we shall call him Salar for short. He was born in the jungle, and his Papa and Mamma were quite wild then. It was only after he grew up that Salar came to live in a palace. _Elephant Child "Swats" Tormenting Flies_