The Institutes of Akbar 82.2.6

82.2.6

Elephants will lift up their young ones, for three or four days after their birth, with their trunks, and put them on their backs, or lay them over their tusks. They also prepare medicines for the females when they are sick or in labour pains, and crowd round about them. When some of them get caught, the female elephants break through the nets, and pull down the elephant-drivers. And when a young elephant falls into a snare, they hide themselves in an ambush, go at night to the place where the young one is, set it at liberty, and trample the hunters to death. Sometimes its mother slowly approaches alone, and frees it in some clever way. I have heard the following story from His Majesty.—‘Once a wild young one had fallen into a pit. As night had approached, we did not care to pull it out immediately, and left it; but when we came next morning near the place, we saw that some wild elephants had filled the pit with broken logs and grass, and thus pulled out the young one.’ Again, ‘Once a female elephant played us a trick. She feigned to be dead. We passed her, and went onwards; but when at night we returned, we saw no trace left of her.’ There was once an elephant in the Imperial stables, named Ayás. For some reason, it had got offended with the driver, and was for ever watching for an opportunity. Once at night, it found him asleep. It got hold of a long piece of wood, managed to pull off with it the man’s turban, seized him by his hair, and tore him asunder.