Thread: Memory Lane (In my own language)

Another tale from little birds (with computer colored version of a B&W photograph)

In the reign of King Rama V, when came the time that the elephant department escorted the royal elephants down to ‘Ta (= pier) Chang’ to get a bath, once in a while, there were some elephants in musth whose behavior were aggressive.

When such time came, the department would allow the locals to tease them for fun. It happened quite regularly that finally it became a kind of festival. It was enjoyable for both the audience who just wanted to witness and the reckless locals who were willing to risk their safety.

During the process, a female elephant [chang pung (= female)] would lead ahead then came people from the department banging a gong alerting that the festival was about to begin. This alert also warned people who did not want to get involved and the shops around the area to close and beware of the damage that those elephants in musth might cause.

Soon after, the elephants in the musth would be ushered out in the street heading for the pier. It was the time for risky people who wanted to pump their adrenaline to get in the game of luring.

Where the elephants chased them, the audience scattered screamingly funny. It was an exciting sight to witness.

There was a mahout that was quite famous to talk about. He was said to be very good at luring the beasts. The locals always expected him. Whenever he appeared in the show, it guaranteed the satisfactory but not always. It was said that it depended on the gift he got from people; liquor.

Once the gift was enough, it guaranteed the quality of the show, long and fun but when the gift was not much the show ended quite soon.