nce more, would he be
punished just the same? Yes, he would be. But I must tell you that a
herd of elephants does not want a criminal among them. So after the
third or fourth crime all the other elephants drive him out of the herd.

Then this very bad elephant meets a most awful fate. He becomes a
solitary wanderer in the jungle. No other elephant will have anything to
do with him. He is a _rogue elephant_.

"But could he not go to another part of the jungle and join some other
herd of elephants who don't _know_ that he is a rogue?" you may ask.

He could. But those elephants would find out _at once_ that he had been
driven out of his own herd for being a rogue.

_The Brand of the Rogue_

How would they find that out at once? By seeing the scars of the wounds
on the place where he had been repeatedly punished. Those scars are _the
brand of the rogue elephant_.

So the new herd also would drive him out, for neither do they want a
rogue among them.

Thus, no matter what herd the rogue elephant tried to join, he would be
driven out.

Then he would be fated to roam the jungle by himself all his life--which
is a most awful punishment. An outlaw among men has a similar fate, as
he is shunned by all honest people.

A rogue elephant, being the _outlaw of the jungle_, does not live long.
Just as an outlaw among men gets shot by the sheriff's men sooner or
later, so also a rogue elephant gets shot by hunters. For, although the
hunters must not shoot an ordinary wild elephant that is a member of a
herd, they may shoot at sight a rogue elephant that is roaming in
solitude.

So, my dear children, remember that such a terrible fate comes to a
rogue elephant who may have _begun_ his downward path by just one act of
disobedience or some other fault--and who obstinately persisted in his
wickedness, and _would not repent_.

_The Reward of Repentance_

On the other hand, how much wiser it is to repent, even if one has been
so foolish as to do wrong! Mukna committed the most terrible crime--he
actually tried to kill people; and then he tried to run away into the
jungle and perhaps become a rogue elephant. But afterward, when he was
being punished, he repented of his crimes. So, what happened?

I shall tell you. Mukna was put on probation for a year; that is, the
keepers watched him for a year to see if he would behave well. And for
the whole year Mukna was on his best behavior; he was gentle and docile
and obedient, an