Now I am going to tell you something that will astonish you--as it has astonished a good many clever scientific men. Do you know why people are at all able to use elephants in a circus, and give you pleasure by making them do tricks? Suppose one of the elephants suddenly went mad? Then he could kill a dozen people in a minute by just rushing at them and trampling on them. No _men_ could stop him, even if they had guns ready all the time; for it might take several minutes to kill an elephant even with a special kind of gun. And meanwhile the mad elephant could trample upon scores of people in a crowded circus. And it is just the same in a procession, when elephants are used to carry grand people--kings and queens, princes and princesses, lords and ladies. An elephant in a sudden fit of rage could kill many of them. Then why do people use elephants in a circus or in a procession? Why do they trust themselves with such large and strong animals? Just think! "Because an elephant is naturally docile and gentle," you may say. That is quite true. But still a bull elephant might get into a _sudden_ fit of rage about something, just like a naughty boy; and as a naughty boy in a sudden fit of rage might break things, so also that bull elephant might rush about and trample on people. Then why do people trust themselves with elephants? Think again! It is because of the _police system among the elephants themselves_. Because if any elephant in a circus or a procession tried to do any mischief, even in a sudden fit of temper, all the other elephants there would prevent him! The _men_ there might not be able to prevent him; but the other _elephants_ could, and they would. Nobody need tell the other elephants to do that. Without being told to do so, they would rush to him, surround him, and prevent him from doing any mischief. And if only one bull elephant happened to be near enough to him at that time, he would at least head him off--that is, throw himself in the way of the angry elephant. I shall tell you a wonderful story about that presently. I have said that nobody need tell the other elephants to prevent a bad elephant from committing a crime. The other elephants would do that themselves, because _they have got into the habit of doing so in the jungle_. I must tell you that almost all the elephants you see in a zoo or a circus were once wild in the jungle; they have been caught, then tamed, then trained. But they still remember the laws of the jungle; and they follow those laws whenever necessary--just as children who get into the habit of keeping the rules of their school also form the habit of keeping the law when they grow up. So the men who use elephants allow them to practice this particular law; that is, they allow and encourage the elephants to continue this police system among themselves.