The villagers feared a stampede, but cautiously investigated. They arrived just in time to see the last of the mash mountain demolished and the first of the pachyderms lie down. Soon the scene resembled an elephant graveyard as the creatures sprawled out, one by one.

It takes quite a lot to give an elephant a snootful, but every one of the creatures was pickled. When they woke up, they proved their ancestry with mammoth hangovers.

The booze company has since started squeezing out the last drop and compressing the mash into cattle cakes which have no kick, and the drunken wild elephants are sobered up. Such is the price of this modern civilization, even in Thailand.

But drunk or sober, elephants are the favorite animal in Thailand, the mascot not only of Asian Games but of the entire country. Here are two of the common beliefs associated with them:

LUCKY AND PLUCKY

You increase your fortune when you walk under an elephant's chest. A pregnant woman who strolls beneath its stomach guarantees she'll have no trouble giving birth. For Westerners it means some stooping, but most Thais can manage the feat without bending over.

You demonstrate your faith in fate and in the three-headed elephant god when you let an elephant step over your prone body. This exercise isn't recommended for the faint-hearted, though the beasts are famed for being graceful even though they are bulky.

Elephants can be trained to walk a "tight" rope, to play soccer, to dance, or even to stand on the head of a small but sturdy pedestal. When ridden by mahouts -- handlers who drive them with commands and raps of the stick or goad carried as badge of their job -- they can move logs or carry passengers.

Usually, these include two or three children thrilled out of their minds. Tourists are also given rides at rates which seem reasonable to them but which will pay for that week's upkeep, perhaps.

Traditionally, elephants were used in war, and they're highly rated for historic movie scenes. But whether they're at work shifting timber or sham-fighting, it's all the same to the tame elephant.

Two things they don't like are to be confined in zoos or to be driven in heavy traffic in search of handouts. Elephants can cry.

A "white" elephant is born with certain markings, and becomes royalty. Rather than be put to work, the animal is chained and put on exhibit in leg irons at Dusit Zoo.

A sidestreet elephant frightens dogs and flirts with being smashed by an auto. Its handlers excuse such dangers by saying the beasts have to come here rather than stay in Surin or wherever and starve to death.

These elephants cry. So do we. ##

By Don Bott

© Copyright 1998-2008 by Rainer F. Otto