d to be careful of food.
Do you know that in the United States every man, woman, and child on an
average throws away every year seven dollars' worth of food _on the
plate_? That would be enough to feed all the people in the poorhouses
and the hospitals.

Elephants are most careful of their food. Their president is all the
time thinking of the best method of making the food supply of the jungle
last them from season to season. But the other elephants must help him
to do that, by following his good example. If any particular elephant is
selfish and wants to eat up at once all the food near him, he is pushed
out of the line by the other elephants, as I have already told you. If
he is naughty again, he is more severely punished.

How he is punished, I shall tell you in another chapter. I shall then
tell you how all sorts of naughty elephants are punished; for, just like
people in a country, I am sorry to say that there are in the jungle a
few elephants that do not obey the law.

An elephant can be selfish not only in eating, but also in drinking. You
will remember what I told you in Book I--how all the elephants stand in
a line along the bank of a stream and drink; and after they have all
satisfied their thirst, they may jump into the water to bathe and swim.

It would be very selfish for an elephant to jump into the water before
the others had finished drinking; for then he would muddy the water
which some of the others were still drinking. And for such conduct an
elephant is very severely punished.

But the very worst offense in an elephant herd is quarrelling and
fighting; for, sometimes, two elephants do quarrel and fight, just like
a couple of naughty boys in school. But there is never any real need to
quarrel in an elephant herd; for if one of the elephants has done wrong
or broken the rules of the herd, he will be punished by the president of
the herd--just as in school a naughty boy would be punished by the
teacher or by the head of the school.

It is not necessary for any other elephant in the herd to quarrel or
fight with the naughty elephant, even if he has been injured by him; the
president of the herd will punish the naughty elephant soon enough. So
if two elephants do fight, _both_ of them are punished; of course the
one who began the fight is punished more severely than the other.

_He Must Avoid Danger from Outside_

The president of the herd must lead the elephants in such a manner as to
avoid an