The Elephant Tamer

I’m comfortable in the ring, intent on just being there, relaxed. With a thundering run that shakes the ground the lumbering beast appears. The whole floor shakes as the beast comes close, with a leap he lands right next to me in the ring. He circles, circles, circles about. I turn and twist, keeping the beast in front of me. I remember all the times I have seen the elephant tamer gently nudging the great beast into submission.

There is no way to rush a beast of this nature, you must await the beasts’ own time. And time it takes, as the beast circles and sniffs and hops about. He comes close and sniffs at my ear, barely missing landing his great paw on my face. He comes around the other side, leans in and places a slimy tongue across my face and my lips are covered with his saliva. He enjoys this and I twist about, trying to protect life and limb as I wipe his spit away with the back of my hand. The beast sniffs about and circles more, stepping over me as if I’m a crack on the sidewalk.

Whip you ask, why don’t I use a whip? Well, you wouldn’t know that with a beast of this nature, a whip does no good. No, a short stick works best. I can tap at the beast and slowly, gently direct him to the place I want him, a tap on the leg, a tap on his side, a tap on his rear. One tap at a time. I wait until he is close to the position I want him in. It takes some time as he has to plod about, sniffing my hair and clothes. He stretches a few times, great tail in the air, big body arched, long legs splayed in front and behind. At one point he drops like a rock, and rolls onto his back, huge paws flailing about in the air. He rolls, side to side for a few minutes and rights himself. This I know to be a sign that the beast is about to settle down.

I carefully give him a nudge on a back leg, moving him along to a position closer to where I want him. The trainer in me is on full alert as I know, one nudge to soon, to hard or in the wrong place will send the beast into another frenzied dance in circles and we would have to start all over again. I nudge, nudge, nudge the beast slowly in a circle and then a tap behind the leg and he starts to lower him self to the ground. A tap on the other leg brings him a bit closer and a tap on his side and he rolls over, onto his side, his great head just an inch from mine. He is not quite settled in as he must stretch his great paws and grab my hair, tousling it into a rats nest of tangles, this I have learned is a sure sign of affection from the beast.

He seems calm and just wiggles about for a few more minutes, actually wedging himself against my shoulder, his nose just inches from my ear. For a moment there is silence, then a great rumble erupts from the throat of the beast as he starts to serenade me with a purr.

Only an elephant tamer knows. Knows how to settle a great beast, one who can not be intimidated, nor threatened. One who cannot be beat into submission. An elephant tamer works with the natural instinct of the beast, and a lot of patience, as they gently nudge the elephant to do as they wish. The use a stick, and tap a signal on the elephant to indicate what they wish the elephant to do, a tap on the leg they wish the elephant to raise, a tap on the shoulder when they wish the elephant to kneel down, a tap on the side they wish the elephant to turn to. Only the elephant can decide if the wish will come true.