“We must go,” he declared, smiling with confidence. Walking Mountain’s limp might slow them down, but only during the raw mornings. There would be tons of food to browse once they reached the teak mountains.
They returned to the stable for Run-Run’s bundle of possessions. He slipped his grandfather’s porcelain amulet around his neck. He cocked his father’s colored headdress on his head.
He gave the stable a last look for anything he might have forgotten. There, hiding like a mouse under the corner straw, lay the prince’s pouch of coins. Run-Run picked it up.
Prince Noi had tossed it as a reward for saving his idle life. It was a true gift, was it not?
Run-Run unknotted the drawstring and shook coins onto his palm. He held out the money for his elephants to see. “Look! A fortune in silver!” he exclaimed.
He turned his back on the stable that had been his home for so long. He climbed onto the neck of Walking Mountain. The old elephant would set the pace. Sahib, his hide mud stained, would follow.
Follow where? The other side of the far mountains had always beckoned Run-Run. What would he find?
Hadn’t his father always complained that in Chattershee everyone lived under a coconut shell? Run-Run was aware of a moment’s fear, to be tumbling outside the safety of the shell. Were there serpents and dragons out there?
But there must be a school. He had enough silver for that!
He turned for a last look at the village houses standing huddled in the dawn shadows. He could hear the faint stirring of old Bangrak’s wind chimes.
“Good-bye, Chattershee,” he said.
Before long, the village vanished behind him. He gave Walking Mountain a reassuring pat. And then he threw a smile at Sahib, in full sway behind him.
“Bring us luck, white elephant!”
Author’s Note
While this story is a work of imagination, it was inspired by a curious event half a world away and centuries ago.
Before old Siam gave itself a new name, Thailand, a great king became angry at one of his palace advisers. With a mad twinkle in his eye, King Rama gave the courtier a white elephant. That would punish the man! Regarded as sacred, the royal beast was not allowed to work. Nevertheless, the white elephant must be fed its hundreds of pounds of fruit and fodder a day and otherwise cared for. The courtier was ruined.
The term survives today in white elephant sales, during which unwanted or burdensome objects are offered for sale. The old king would be amused.
About the Author
Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in San Diego, California, Sid Fleischman began his professional life in vaudeville and as a newspaperman—adventures described in his autobiography, The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer’s Life. Mr. Fleischman is regarded as a master of the comic novel. He was awarded the Newbery Medal for The Whipping Boy, and his stories have been translated into the languages of nineteen countries. He has written the biography Escape! The Story of The Great Houdini, and his novels include The Giant Rat of Sumatra, or Pirates Galore; Disappearing Act; Bo & Mzzz Mad; Bandit’s Moon; The 13th Floor: A Ghost Story; and Jim Ugly. The father of three children (one of whom is Newbery Medalist Paul Fleischman), he lives in Santa Monica, California. You can visit him online at www.SidFleischman.com.
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Also by Sid Fleischman
The Whipping Boy
The Scarebird
The Ghost in the Noonday Sun
The Midnight Horse
McBroom’s Wonderful One-Acre Farm
Here Comes McBroom!
Mr. Mysterious & Company
Chancy and the Grand Rascal
The Ghost on Saturday Night
Jim Ugly
The 13th Floor
The Abracadabra Kid
Bandit’s Moon
A Carnival of Animals
Bo and Mzzz Mad
Disappearing Act
The Giant Rat of Sumatra
Escape! The Story of The Great Houdini
Jacket art © 2006 by Robert McGuire
Jacket design by Paul Zakris
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE WHITE ELEPHANT. Copyright © 2006 by Sid Fleischman, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition July 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-196491-6
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