A Sense Of Ridicule
Persons who have the management of elephants have often observed that they
know very well when any one is ridiculing them, and that they very often
revenge themselves when they have an opportunity. A painter wished to draw
an elephant in the menagerie at Paris in an extraordinary attitude, which
was with his trunk lifted up, and his mouth open. An attendant on the
painter, to make the elephant preserve the position, threw fruits in his
mouth, and often pretended to throw them without doing so. The animal
became irritated, and as if knowing that the painter was to blame rather
than his servant, turned to him, and dashed a quantity of water from his
trunk over the paper on which the painter was sketching his distorted
portrait.
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