So the end of the bamboo became like fibers, that
is, like a bunch of hair, only very thick and rough.

[Illustration: Elephant Pulling Bananas out of a Tricky Trap]

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_.

He twisted and twisted many times, taking care to keep the hairy end
of the bamboo pressed against the stalk of the bananas.

In this way the hairy end of the bamboo got knotted around the stalk.
That was just what the wise old elephant wanted.

Then he pulled the bamboo slowly along the ground, as you see in the
picture, taking care to give one or two more twists in case the knots
came undone. He pulled the bamboo lap by lap; that is, he pulled the
bamboo for about a yard, then he let go and took hold of the bamboo
farther up; he pulled again for another yard, and so on. In this way
he at last pulled the bunch of bananas quite out of the trap.

I need not tell you how he and Salar enjoyed that feast!

And the hunters, who were hiding in the trees around, laughed and
laughed at the trick the wily old elephant had played on them! For, as
you see, he got the bananas and yet escaped from that trap! He beat
the men at their own game!

But now I must tell you about other animals,--first about buffaloes.
They are the brave knights who helped that timid little lady, the blue
deer. They are just as wonderful as the elephants, in their own way.

CHAPTER VI

Buffaloes: The Knights of the Jungle

There are three or four kinds of buffaloes that live in different
countries. The kind that lives in America you may have already heard
about. I am sorry to say that hunters have killed so many of them,
that there are very few buffaloes left in the United States now; and
these few are kept in parks.

So in this book I shall tell you about another kind of buffalo, that
lives in the jungles of India. These are the buffaloes that have to
live in herds just because they have to guard themselves from the
tiger. Yet they are much bigger than all other kinds of buffaloes in
the world. Many of them are more than ten feet long, and a span taller
than a tall man.

They have two huge horns which stand outw