Thunder 's Triumph in the Wilderness Chapter 3

The body color of Asian elephants is usually dark gray. White elephants are very rare. Scarcity makes things valuable. In the Dai villages in Xishuangbanna, white elephants are a symbol of beauty and happiness. There are wooden carvings of white elephants on the village gates, clay sculptures of white elephants in Burmese temples, girls love to wear silver necklaces of white elephants, and hunters carve a white elephant out of tiger teeth and hang it on their chests as a mascot. There is a folk legend that those who can see white elephants are the most blessed people, free from illness and disaster, with full warehouses of grain and many children and grandchildren.

And I not only saw the white elephants, but also made friends with the entire white elephant family. Although I was scared to death in the process of getting to know these giants, I was lucky enough after the recognition ceremony. I believe that this white elephant family can bring me good luck. I am an educated youth from Shanghai. All my relatives are in Shanghai. I live alone in the mountains and wilderness to take care of the rubber plantation. I feel lonely. With these white elephant friends, at least my life will become more colorful and can alleviate my loneliness. I generously gave two baskets of cassava to the seven white elephants, hoping that the friendship with this white elephant family can continue and develop.

Research data show that compared with Asian elephants, African elephants have strong personalities and are difficult to tame, while Asian elephants have gentle personalities and are easier to tame. Asian elephants have two obvious bulges on both sides of their foreheads, commonly known as "wisdom tumors", while African elephants do not have these. Therefore, the IQ of Asian elephants is generally higher than that of African elephants.

As expected of Asian elephants with tumors of wisdom, these white elephants are really smart. I stroked their bodies and called their names, and after a few times, they remembered them. When I called out, Lily White would turn around and look at me. When I called out, Second Ivy would come running over, without any mistake.

They live in the tropical rain forest on the west side of the rubber flat. Whenever I pass by there, stand on a toad-shaped rock and shout Silver Gray Nose's name a few times, the herd of elephants will come to me. When I go to see my white elephant friend, of course I don't forget to bring some sugarcane, bananas, pineapples and other fruits. They will let me stay among them and play with them. A few times when it was late, I slept with them in the woods.

I found that young elephants are particularly favored in the elephant society and are taken care of in every possible way. No matter they are walking on the road or camping at night, Sterling is always sandwiched in the middle, for fear that it will get lost or attacked by wild beasts. When adult elephants find something delicious, they always remember to share some with Sterling. I have never seen Pilixiong or other elephants beat Sterling. Once, Pilixiong was yawning, and I don't know if it was intentional or accidental, but Yinhuibi raised his nose and threw a ball of sand into Pilixiong's open mouth. Pilixiong grunted and coughed violently, and used the tip of his nose to dig in his mouth. He was so uncomfortable that tears came out. Yinhuibi's behavior was undoubtedly disrespectful to the elders, or an offense to the head elephant. I couldn't help but sweat for it. I thought that Pilixiong would definitely wave his long trunk and beat it to the ground. To my surprise, after Pilixiong spit out the sand in his mouth, he just patted Yinhuibi's B*tt twice with his nose as a punishment. I was really moved by his tolerance towards the young elephant.

Another time, when Yinhuibi was walking on the beach by the Lancang River, his right front hoof got stuck between two pebbles for some reason, and he sprained his ankle. He limped and could not keep up with the speed of the herd. All the elephants stopped and waited by Yinhuibi's side, waiting for a whole day and night without any complaints or regrets. Only when Yinhuibi's sprained foot recovered did the herd leave the Lancang River.

The seven white elephants were all very friendly to me. I grabbed Old Dai's tusks and turned his head, but he didn't get angry. I used a bunch of bananas as bait, and the starving ghost would keep bowing to me, looking funny and making me laugh. When I was bathing in the stream, the Daisy Silly would draw water with her nose and spray it on me like a high-pressure faucet to wash off the soap foam on my body. I climbed onto the root of Lily White's nose, and it would bend its nose into an L shape and let me sit on it and swing. Every time the Second Ivy saw me, she would K!ss me on the forehead like putting a rubber stamp. I don't know where she learned this foreign etiquette. Thunder Pili was the head elephant, so his attitude was naturally more arrogant. He would not try to please me for a little food. But every time I was about to leave, it would wave its long trunk at my back and let out a Thunder Pilious roar to see me off. Of course, the one who was best friends with me was the little white elephant's silver-gray trunk. Every time it saw me, it was very affectionate. Its nimble trunk would wrap around my arm and it liked to press its forehead against my head and play the game of bullfighting with me. Of course, I was no match for it, and even if I used all my strength, I could not make it move half a step. It would easily take two steps forward, and I would lose my balance and retreat step by step. It was so happy that it would purr and cry.

Once, I was walking through the dense forest with the white elephant family. When we came to a Chinese toon tree, Thunder Pili suddenly lifted his front legs into the air, stood upright, and raised his nose high to touch the tree crown. At first, I thought it was going to roll up the fresh Chinese toon leaves. Elephants have a wide diet, eating all kinds of wild fruits, wild vegetables, wild grasses, and tender bamboo. When they encounter short trees, they stand on their hind legs and use their noses to pick tender leaves to eat. But this time, after pulling a leaf off, it did not put it into its mouth to chew, but still stood upright with its nose pointed to the sky to make a hook-like pull. The other white elephants also stopped and imitated Thunder Pili, standing on their hind legs and holding up their noses to blow air at the tree crown. I put my hands on the pergola and looked up carefully. On a horizontal branch of the tree crown, there was an oval honeycomb hanging, and some bees were flying around the nest. I knew this kind of bee. The local people called it rock bee and its scientific name was bumblebee. It built its nest on a big tree or steep rock, collected wild flowers to make honey, and the honey was golden and fragrant, and it tasted great. Obviously, Thunder Pili It smelled the fragrance of honey and wanted to pull the beehive down. Unfortunately, even with its upright body and the length of its nose, it still couldn't reach the beehive, which was still more than a meter away. It was very unwilling to give up, and kept poking it with its nose, but it was like trying to catch the moon in the water, and it kept failing. This toon tree was not too tall, and there were galls and branches on the trunk for stepping on. I could climb up and get the beehive down, but I knew that although bumblebee honey was delicious, bumblebees were not easy to mess with. Bumblebees are large, covered with black hair, and have long and sharp stingers on their tails. When they encounter invaders, they will attack in groups. I hesitated and didn't dare to act rashly. The white elephants made a fuss under the tree for a while, roared a few times helplessly, and prepared to evacuate. The Sterling drooled, shook its nose angrily, and walked past me.