2010-12-26

A Moving Tale of Trust for Boxing Day*

elephants1

In 1986, Mkele Mbembe was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University. On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Mbembe approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it.

As carefully and as gently as he could, Mbembe worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.

Mbembe stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away. Mbembe never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty four years later, Mbembe was walking through the
Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Mbembe and his son Tapu were standing.

The large bull elephant stared at Mbembe, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Mbembe couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant. Mbembe summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant looked at Mbembe as if could see straight into his soul.

The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Mbembe's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.


* Yes, this is a repeat of from the last two Christmases
. But I have to keep up the tradition.
I hope you are had / are having a very merry Christmas.

7 comments:

Cora said...

Maybe it was the elephant's bitter ex-wife. I mean, do we really know how the piece of wood got embedded in his foot in the first place? No, we do not. Perhaps the elephant had it coming. Maybe Mbembe should have left things alone.

*snicker*

Here's a big shout out to Tiger Woods for inspiring this comment.

Merry Christmas, Scope!

SkylersDad said...

That is one of my all time favorite jokes! Merry Christmas Scope.

Soda and Candy said...

Haha, a classic.

I got you a lollipop for Christmas, come see my blog!

J.J. in L.A. said...

I love this one! lol!

Merry Christmas!

Sassy Britches said...

Awwww! I fell for it again. Pffffft.

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Johnson said...

Nice. The lesson here, I guess, is never help other living things.