Sarath Kumar Ghosh

“ You must imagine that I am taking you quietly through the jungle, where the buffalo herd is grazing right ahead of us. We are following them from behind. You must be careful not to make a sound. If you should tread on a rotten twig, the buffaloes would hear the sound as far away as a quarter of a mile.
In another book I shall tell you why all animals that keep their ears close to the ground while they are feeding can hear a sound a long way off.
But now let us hide behind this bush for a minute, and watch the herd. They are eating the grass as they walk along. ”

“ There he makes a gap in the grass, and walks out into the open. It is a tiger!
He was trying to sneak up to the buffaloes; but the sentinel found that out. And now the bull buffaloes are ready for him. The tiger growls in rage. He prowls round and round the ring of bull buffaloes, as you see in the picture. But he dare not try to break through those horns.
He roars with fury, shaking the ground; it is just like thunder. The jungle around is taking fright at the roar. See! All the small animals rush out in fright—wild pigs, wild goats, and all sorts of small deer. ”

“ In Book One I have depicted only such wild animals as appeal to the interest of young children, and even to their sympathy and love. In subsequent books I shall describe the animals that prey upon others. As those animals are not lovable, it would be better for the child to read about them a year or two later. But even to those animals I shall be just, and shall depict their good qualities as well as their preying habits. How many people know that the very worst animal, the tiger, is a better husband and father than many men? ”

“ If by any chance a deer cannot hear a sneaking tiger, he can still smell the tiger.
Most animals can smell their enemy a long way off, even if they do not hear him or see him; but the deer and the antelope can smell the farthest. Even if a sneaking tiger is so cunning that he stops in a thicket and stands quite still for a minute, so that he does not make any sound at all,—and so the deer cannot hear him,—even then the deer can smell him when he is still a long way off. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The black bear is always a funny animal. Perhaps you have seen him in the zoo. He will squat on the ground like a man, and if he sees a crowd of people before him, he will swing his arms just as a man does when he talks to a friend. Perhaps the bear has seen some men do that, and has learned to do the same!
And sometimes he will sit on the ground, hold his tail in his mouth, and fumble head over heels, or roll over and over, or spin round and [161] round—just for fun! In fact, the black bear is among the few grown-up animals that love to play. ”

“ When a traveler is crossing the desert and sees nothing but sand for several days, it sometimes happens that his camel suddenly stops, stands quite still for a minute, raises his head, and sniffs the air. ”

“ The camel has very little to do with the kind of jungle I have been telling you about; but he has much to do with the desert. A desert is another kind of wild place. As I told you before, jungle means any wild place; but usually, of course, there are lots of trees and bushes and thickets in it. But we call the wild place a desert when trees and bushes and thickets will not grow there, because the ground is all covered with sand. In the desert there is nothing but sand all over the ground, and not a single tree or a tiny blade of grass anywhere, as far as you can see. ”

“ Dogs always howl at the moon. Men do not quite know just why dogs do that. But perhaps they do it because they are glad and satisfied, and are trying to sing! When you sing, and there is a dog near by, you may hear him start howling. He does that, I suppose, because he likes your singing, and wants to join in the chorus!
So the wild dogs of the jungle also howl when they are glad. Then, after the red dogs have howled as long as a song, they scamper off into the jungle again. ”

“ You have seen many animals in the zoo or in a circus—elephants, bears, lions, tigers, leopards, and many others. But the jungle is the place where these animals live before they are brought to the zoo or the circus.
In fact, jungle really means a wild place; that is, a place where trees and bushes grow quite wild, so that men never cut down the trees or clear away the bushes. That is the natural home for all sorts of animals. ”

“ Then that cunning elephant sat down on the ground and pushed the bamboo along the ground straight before him toward the bananas. When the hairy end of the bamboo reached the stalk of the bananas, he began to twist the other end of the bamboo with the tips of his trunk; for an elephant can use the tips of his trunk in the same way that you use your fingers. ”

“ And of course all the flamingos rise up in the air and fly away to a safe place, till the enemy goes away.
To see a whole flock of flamingos flying in the sky far above one's head is a most wonderful sight. You have seen a cloud at sunset shining with lovely tints of red and pink and orange: well, the flock of flamingos flying in the sky looks something like that. And they all keep level at the same great height, in rows and ranks, just like an army, as there are thousands and thousands of flamingos in the flock. ”

“ When the camel is quite well and strong, if he eats any food which is a little more than he actually needs for his hunger, that food after a while goes to his hump and helps to make it bigger. In this way the hump becomes a store of all the extra food that he has eaten. Then, on going on a long journey through the desert, if the camel has nothing to eat and begins to feel hungry and weak, a little of the hump is used up to give him strength, just as if he were to eat a meal. ”

“ But the deer that lives in the jungle has to try very hard all the time to be as fast as he can be, or else he would be eaten by the tiger! And, as you must know, we can do the best in anything when we try the hardest.
So, all kinds of wild deer in the jungle have been trying their hardest to run as fast as they can. And as their fathers and grandfathers have been trying to do that, the wild deer to-day have become the fastest runners among all the animals I have told you about. ”

“ Of course, while his antlers are still growing, and are soft and tender, the elk cannot use them to fight another animal; so during that time he hides in the bushes. But as soon as his new antlers have become hard and strong, he is very brave again, and is ready to fight!
Does the elk fight much? He does! He fights most awfully when he has his new antlers. What he fights about, and with whom he fights, I shall tell you in another book.
There are a few other kinds of deer in America, but the funniest of them is called the mule deer, which lives along the Rocky Mountains. ”

“ Some of the wild pigs are called boars; they are the Papas among the wild pigs. You can always tell them by the two sharp tusks, or teeth, one [18] on each side, which grow upward from their under jaw. Each tusk is as long as a knife, and so sharp that a tiger does not always care to fight with a boar.
The wild pigs drink in any fashion, and go off in any fashion—just as they like. They trust to luck or to the sharp tusks of some of the boars to guard them from danger. But they have not learned enough yet to do things in proper order. ”

“ CHAPTER II The Law of the Jungle
Hush! Here come all the animals! The buffaloes, the blue deer, the red deer, the wild pigs, the hyenas, the wolves, the red dogs, and many others. Watch and see how each kind of animal comes; it is not always in the same way. The moon is now shining clear above the trees, and we can see a long way up the stream.
See the buffaloes! They come a little above the elephants. But they do not come one behind another in a line, like the elephants. They come three or four together. They also have beaten down the bushes there years ago, to make a drinking place ”

“ You may think it is great fun to have a pretty bird in a cage. But is it any fun for the bird? How would you like to be shut up in a cage all your life, instead of playing about in God's free air and living in your own home? The bird wants to fly about and live in his nest in his own home land. Think of that when you wish to put a bird in a cage.
Children who are kind to all animals grow up to be men and women who are kind to other people. And it is only by being kind to others that we ourselves deserve to be happy and are happy. ”

“ But now he held on to the log with his knees, not his paws, and sat straight up without bending, and slid down the log in that way—just as a boy might hold on to the banister with his knees, not using his hands at all, and slide down the banister in that way, just to show how smart he could be!
You may be sure those men cheered the bear, and gave him lots to eat.
There is another kind of black bear that is also funny, though in another way. He is called the Himalayan black bear, because he lives in India near some huge mountains called the Himalayas. ”

“ The Two-Humps camel has in winter a coat of long, shaggy hair on his back to guard him from the cold; and in summer the shaggy hair comes off his back, just as if he were to cast off his thick coat. But the One-Hump camel has only short hair, as the country is too hot all the time to need a thick coat. ”

“ The elephant Mamma does the spanking with her trunk.
But I must tell you at once that an elephant child never gets spanked more than once in its life—and that is enough! And some are so good that they never get spanked! [28]
The elephant child learns very quickly to obey its Mamma and Papa, and afterwards its trainer or teacher. The elephant child even obeys the very minute it is told to do anything; in fact, sometimes in the jungle there is a sudden danger, even if the elephant child does not see the danger. ”

“ It takes her a long time to reach the buffaloes in that way, without being caught by the tiger.
But do you see the wonderful thing? The buffaloes wait a little for her! They take a little longer to drink, to give her a chance to reach the water by their side. Like the brave knights, they feel proud of helping a lady.
Now see! The blue deer also has finished drinking. She goes away with the buffaloes, under their horns. They all reach the jungle again. She looks carefully: the tiger is watching her, but he dares not come too near. ”

“ Teddy bears, with which you have played, are sometimes made of that color. Teddy bears of course are very nice, as they are toys; but I am sorry to say that the real grizzly bear is not nice; he is very fierce. In fact, he is the only kind of bear that is so fierce. Even grown-up men do not want to go near him.
The grizzly is found in many parts of North America, near the Rocky Mountains, from the United States right up to Alaska. He lives on berries and all kinds of fruits, and also on the soft roots of trees. But the grizzly bear eats meat also, if he can manage to catch deer or cattle. ”

“ I shall tell you how the men catch the buffaloes from the jungle in India, where they are still wild.
They catch the buffaloes in many ways. The easiest way is to find some stream or pond where the buffaloes are fond of going. Then the men take strong nets made of ropes, and spread the nets under the water. So when the buffaloes come to bathe or roll in the mud, some of them are caught in the nets.
Then the men rush in from their hiding place and drag out the nets. Of course, those [84] buffaloes which are not caught run away. But those that are caught struggle fiercely. ”

“ But the animal folks are better off in one way: what they have to learn is not like a lesson in school, but just play. In fact they learn everything by just playing it as a game! I shall tell you how.
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 [36] a way that the end of the bough reaches right into the mouth. ”

“ The fallow deer lives in Europe. When he is wild, he lives in a forest; but when he is tame, he lives in a park. He is a small deer, about the size of a donkey. His coat is very soft and glossy and beautiful. In winter his coat looks dark brown, and his legs and the under part of his body are light brown. But in summer his coat becomes a lovely light red in color, with white spots jotted all over it. Then he is very handsome. [113]
In India also there is a handsome deer, which the people call the lion deer. He looks quite gentle and mild. Then why do the people call him the lion deer? ”

“ Forty years passed, and a new set of people came to live there. They took no notice of the silent old parrot. They put food and drink in the cage, but knew nothing about him except that he had been in the cage for many years. For a parrot lives much longer than a man—sometimes one hundred years.
One day a sailor came to the house. He had lived in South America, and knew Spanish. He saw the parrot sitting in his cage, all alone and silent, with his head bent down, and his beak on his breast. Then the sailor spoke to the parrot in Spanish. ”

“ It is to run straight into the jaws of the tiger! It may just happen that when the deer hears the tiger coming, he does not listen quite carefully, and so he does not know which way the sound is coming. Then, in running away, the deer may happen to go just the wrong way—and fall into the tiger's jaws. ”

“ The child is encouraged at every step to think and to reason why the animal does certain things; e.g. why the elephant does not drink directly with its mouth, but has to squirt the water into it with the trunk.
3. To teach a moral from the study of animals. The whole of Creation is one immense and beautiful pattern: so the child may well be trained to see the pattern in this also. And as a practical benefit from the study of animals, the child may learn thereby the value of certain qualities, such as obedience, discipline, and good citizenship—e.g. ”