A Prehistoric Encounter

After our village “book” study, our usual Tuesday-night hangout is at a market in a nearby town.  We always go to the same place, eat from the same food stall, and then end the night with a street-side crêpe (chocolate with chocolate sprinkles is my favorite, but I have heard that the tuna with pig brain ones are good too).  Well, an unusual occurrence happened (actually very usual here, but unusual in the States) at this crêpe stall while I was ordering.  Something brushed up next to me.  It was large with prickly hair.  The sidewalk shook as it passed by.  I turned and to my astonishment there was a large beast strutting down the sidewalk.  It wasn’t just any beast, it was a baby dinosaur.  The food stall man corrected me and told me it was a chang (which mean elephant). 

 

I ran across the street, dodging motor scooters, and stray dogs to tell the others to turn around.  There, five feet away from them stood the animal.  Actually, by this time it was standing on one leg, playing a harmonica, hitting on the ladies, all while strumming a banjo. 

It was an impressive entertainer.  But I had to go back to pick up my crêpe.  After all, Tuesday nights are incomplete without the sweet cone-shaped crispy pastries.  (I am pretty sure the pig brain ones would be kind of salty though.)

As I made it back to the table, some friends of ours were feeding it.  I couldn’t believe they got suckered into paying for a street performance. 

However, it was impossible to refuse the cute six-foot tall toddler when it took a bag of sugar cane and handed it to me with its long nose (aka trunk, aka head tail, aka proboscis).  For 75 cents, we teased the Elephantidae (which according to Wikipedia is the official species family name). 

We would take a piece of sugar cane and hold it just out if its reach.  Then he would blow snot on us and we would give in.

Elephants are amazing creatures.  They are not only brilliant, but they have an unbelievable amount of power.  This one was only two years old, but it could easily trample everyone in the marketplace if it wanted to.  Look at the feet of the full-grown Asian elephant we saw a few weeks ago.    

The opposition we face here seems enormous like an elephant.  It seems too big to defeat on our own.  But then I’m reminded of the old-school cartoon elephants like Dumbo.  They are always afraid of mice.  They don’t seem too scary when you think that faith the size of a mouse can take down the opposition.