Deesa sat on Moti Guj's neck and gave him orders, while Moti
Guj rooted up the stumps--for he owned a magnificent pair of tusks; or pulled
at the end of a rope--for he had a magnificent pair of shoulders--while Deesa
kicked him behind the ears and said he was the king of elephants. At evening
time Moti Guj would wash down his three hundred pounds' weight of green food
with a quart of arrack, and Deesa would take a share, and sing songs between
Moti Guj's legs till it was time to go to bed. Once a week Deesa led Moti Guj
down to the river, and Moti Gui lay on his side luxuriously in the shallows,
while Deesa went over him with a coir swab and a brick. Moti Guj never mistook
the pounding blow of the latter for the smack of the former that warned him to
get up and turn over on the other side. Then Deesa would look at his feet and
examine his eyes, and turn up the fringes of his mighty ears in case of sores
or budding ophthalmia. After inspection the two would come up with a song from
the sea, Moti Guj, all black and shining, waving a torn tree branch twelve feet
long in his trunk, and Deesa knotting up his own long wet hair.
It was a peaceful, well-paid life till Deesa felt the return of the desire to
drink deep.
Pages:
1286
1287
1288
1289
1290
1291
1292
1293
1294
1295
1296
1297
1298
1299
1300
1301
1302
1303
1304
1305
1306
1307