Part 5 (1/2)

”Come over this way.”

So Umboo moved the other way, and the smell of the sweet roots grew stronger, just as when you come nearer to a bakery or candy shop.

”Ah! Here they are! Right down under the ground, here!” suddenly cried Umboo, tapping with his trunk on a certain place under a big tree.

”The roots are here, mother,” he said. ”But how am I going to get them out? I can't eat them if they are under the dirt!”

”How would you think you might get them out?” asked Mrs. Stumptail.

”Come, be a smart elephant, Umboo. Use your brains. Elephants are the smartest animals in the world. Think a little and then see what you will do.”

So Umboo thought, and then he remembered seeing what the other elephants did when they were hungry, and wanted to dig up tree roots.

”I guess I'll poke away the dirt with my feet,” he said.

”Yes, that's a good way to begin,” said Mrs. Stumptail.

So Umboo, with his big, broad fore feet, loosened the dirt over the tree roots. They were not down very deep, being the top roots, and not the big heavy ones, buried far down in the earth.

”Ha! Now I can see the roots!” cried the little boy elephant. ”They are uncovered, but still I can't lift them up with my trunk, mother.

What shall I do next?”

”What are your tusks for?” asked Mrs. Stumptail. ”Don't be so silly!

Pry up the roots with your tusks!”

So Umboo knelt down and put one of his big long teeth under a root.

Then with a twist of his head he pried the root up from the ground.

”There! See how easy it is!” said his mother.

Then Umboo chewed the sweet root, but he did not swallow the hard, woody part. That would not have been good for him.

”Oh, but this is sweet!” he cried, shutting his eyes as he chewed away. ”This is the sweetest root I ever ate.”

”And you dug it up yourself! That is best part of it,” said his mother. ”You have learned to do something for yourself. Now, when you find yourself alone in the jungle, if you should stray away from the rest of the herd, you will know how to get something to eat. You have learned something.”

”Is this all I have to learn?” Umboo wanted to know.

”Indeed not!” cried his mother. ”There are many more things that you must know. But one thing at a time. A little later I will show you how to pull down a big tree, when there are palm nuts, or sweet branches, growing near the top, which you cannot reach, no matter how you try.

Pulling trees down will be the next lesson. But dig up some more roots.”

”I will dig some for you,” said Umboo.

”Excuse me for not giving you some of the first ones I dug.”

”Oh, that's all right,” said Mrs. Stumptail. ”I wanted you to learn, but you may give me some of the next ones you pry up.”

Umboo uncovered more roots, and gave his mother some, and then, as he was moving to another part of the jungle, there suddenly sounded through the forest a loud, shrill cry.

”Quick, Umboo, come with me!” cried his mother. ”That is Tusker calling us!”