A
Girl and Her Elephant
The
Animal Companions Series #1
by
Zoey Gong
Genre:
YA Adventure
All
of the elephants wept as one of their own lay dying in childbirth.
But Kanita, the daughter of the royal elephant trainer, refused to
give up. With her own hands, she helped bring the baby elephant,
Safi, into the world, beginning a lifelong friendship between a girl
and her elephant.
But
many of the villagers worried about the curse of the white elephant
with the red birthmark across her face.
Raised
in the mountains of northern Siam, Kanita’s idyllic life is
shattered when she is ordered to marry a much older man and leave her
beloved yet cursed elephant behind. But Kanita’s stubborn nature
refuses to bow to her parents’ wishes.
Kanita
and Safi flee their village with the goal of redeeming Safi from her
cursed reputation and cementing their bond, vowing to never be
separated.
But
the jungle is more dangerous than Kanita or Safi could have
imagined.
From
new author Zoey Gong, follow Kanita and Safi through the jungles of
ancient Siam in a story of friendship, hope, and redemption.
A
Girl and her Elephant is the first book in the Animal Companion
series, but each book is a stand-alone novel with new characters and
adventures.
**Only
.99 cents!**
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The
cries of the elephant could be heard throughout the jungle.
Kanita
could no longer ignore the elephant’s suffering. Even though her father—the
king’s mahout—had warned her to stay away, she had to see what was happening
for herself. She snuck out of her bedroom window and ran through the village to
the royal stables where the white elephant was in heavy labor.
Even
though it was late at night, the stables and yard were lit with torches, and
mahouts were running here and there, trying to calm the rest of the elephant
herd. But they seemed incapable of being consoled, and each one trumpeted in
distress.
“Bring
more hot water!” Kanita heard her father call to one of his men. “And my kris.
I will have to cut the baby loose.”
Her
father had asked for his dagger! The poor elephant,
Kanita thought. If the elephant—one of the sacred white elephants—died, the
king would be displeased. She moved a bale of hay to a stable window and
climbed on top of it to get a better view.
On
the floor of the stables was the large white elephant. She was straining to
birth her calf into the world and tears seeped from her eyes.
She
looked at Kanita, and Kanita’s heart froze in her chest. It was as though she
could hear the elephant begging her for help.
The
elephant’s wet eyes found Kanita’s, and she raised her trunk toward her.
Kanita
jumped down from the hay bale and ran into the stables. She had to do something
to help. As she entered the building, she saw her father walk behind the
elephant with his kris.
“Por!
No!” Kanita cried as she ran to him, pulling on his arm. “You’ll kill
her.”
“Kanita!”
he said sternly. “I told you to stay in the house with your mother. Get out of
here.”
“No,
I can help,” she said. She went to the elephant and looked at where the baby
was supposed to come out. The area was red and swollen, but she thought she
could see a trunk trying to wiggle out.
She
had never helped birth a baby elephant before. As a girl, she was forbidden
from becoming a mahout. But she had helped her mother bring a woman’s baby into
the world just a few days before. It didn’t look so different to her. She just
needed to reach inside and pull the baby out. And with her small hands and
arms, she thought she was just the right size to do it.
She
slid her hands inside the mother elephant.
“Be
careful,” her father cautioned. “Can you feel the calf’s legs?”
She
wasn’t sure what she was feeling. It was like nothing in the world she had
touched before. She closed her eyes and let her hands do the seeing for her.
She
felt it. The trunk. She could feel the length of it and the ridges up to the
baby elephant’s face. She felt the trunk wrap around her arm.
“I
feel its face!” Kanita cried.
“Keep
going,” her father said.
She
pushed further into the elephant, all the way to her shoulders. She slid her
hands down the side of the baby elephant and gripped it under its front leg.
“I
have it!” she said. “I have the leg!” She tried to pull it out, but she was not
strong enough. “Help me!” she cried.
Her
father wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled. “Don’t let go!” he
ordered.
She
could feel her hands start to slip, but she refused to release her grip. The
baby elephant’s trunk wrapped even more tightly around her arm. She started to
feel the baby elephant’s mass give way.
“It’s
coming!” she yelled, and the mother elephant trumpeted again, forcing the baby
out.
Kanita
and her father fell backward as the baby elephant plopped out of her mother on
top of them covered in birthing goo. The baby struggled, still partially
trapped in her amniotic sack. Kanita’s father used his kris to cut the sack
away.
The
baby elephant took her first full gasp of air, and Kanita wrapped her arms
around the baby, a baby that was probably ten times the weight of
eight-year-old Kanita. A baby girl elephant.
“You
did it,” her father said, patting her on the back.
Kanita
breathed a sigh of relief, happy to have saved the baby elephant and her
mother.
But
then the mother elephant trumpeted again and let out a horrifying moan. Blood
and other fluids poured out of the mother elephant, soaking the stable floor.
“Oh
no!” Kanita cried as she stood, her chong kraben drenched
with blood. Her feet slipped on the floor as she made her way to the mother
elephant’s face.
The
mother elephant groaned as Kanita stroked her face.
“I’m
so sorry,” Kanita said. “I’ll take care of her. I promise.”
The
mother elephant sighed one last time, her eyes focusing softly on Kanita as
though she understood before closing them forever.
Kanita
stood back and then kneeled, kowtowing to the white elephant, thanking her for
her service to the king and honoring her as his representative. All of the
mahouts in the stables—including Kanita’s father—did the same, as was proper.
The rest of the elephants in the king’s stables—white and gray—let out a mournful
trumpet, as though they all suffered from the loss of one of their own.
Kanita
was the first to raise her head, as her thoughts were now with the baby
elephant left behind. The baby elephant was sitting up, its eyes wide,
apparently confused about what was going on. Kanita raised the baby’s trunk and
coaxed her to follow. She led her to her mother so she could nurse. Even though
the mother was dead, the milk she made in preparation for her baby should still
be good for the baby’s first drink.
As
the men discussed what to do next with the deceased royal elephant—they would
have to inform the king and then hold a royal procession for her.
Kanita
grabbed a bucket of water and started washing the baby. As she did so, she was
greeted with an incredible sight.
“Por!”
she called to her father. “Look!”
Her
father and some of the other mahouts came to see what she was excited about.
“Well,
I’ll be…” her father trailed off as he sunk to his knees.
The
baby—like her mother—was a white elephant.
Once
again, everyone in the stables—including Kanita—prostrated themselves before an
auspicious elephant.
“Is
this the first time a white elephant has been born in captivity?” Kanita asked
after they all were standing again.
“King
Sakda is truly a blessed monarch,” her father said.
“Hey,
boss,” one of the mahouts said, calling her father to him. He went to him, and
the two talked quietly for a moment, frowning at the baby elephant.
“What
is it?” Kanita asked. She went to her father’s side and realized what they were
looking at.
The
baby elephant had a long red birthmark down one side of her face. On her pale
pink skin—white elephants were not really white, but only a pale gray or pink
in color—the mark showed dramatically.
“It’s
nothing,” Kanita said, remembering that her friend Boonsri had a red birthmark
on her back. “She’s still a white elephant. We will still honor her.”
“It’s
a bad omen elephant, boss,” the other mahout mumbled.
“Don’t
say that!” Kanita yelled.
“Enough,”
her father said firmly. “I will send an urgent message to the king, telling him
what happened and about the new white elephant. In all his wisdom, he will know
what to do.”
“We
should take good care of her,” Kanita said. “The king will want to know his
auspicious elephant is well cared for.”
Kanita
went over to the little elephant, who had now finished drinking her mother’s
milk, and led her to a clean area of the stables. She finished washing and
drying the elephant and laid her on a fresh bed of straw.
“Don’t
worry,” Kanita said as she laid down with the elephant, wrapping her arms
around her. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Safi, my sweet little
friend.”
But
in her heart, she worried about the mahout calling the baby elephant a “bad
omen.”
A young girl eight years of age wakes to the cry an elephant
giving birth. Upon awaking the young girl, Kanita races to the elephant’s side
where she is having a hard time delivering the baby elephant. Kanita assist in
the birth of the baby elephant before long Safi is born but with sadness they
watch as her mother dies.
While Kanita is bathing Safi she realizes that she is a
white elephant like her mother. White elephants are considered sacred but Safi
is borne with a birthmark on her face which in the village is considered a bad
omen and must be killed. Kanita has come to care for the little elephant very
much and begs her father to let her keep him. Reluctantly and against the
king’s orders he agrees.
When Kanita is sixteen years old an older man comes wanting
to marry her. Kanita doesn’t want to marry this old man or anyone but what
choice does she have when her father agrees and accepts his proposal.
Before the wedding can take place Chakri informs Kanita that
she can’t keep Safi and that she must be killed by order of the king. Not
knowing what to do run off into the jungle with her beloved elephant and friend
Safi.
Kanita made a promise a long time ago that she would take
care of Safi and keep her safe and that is exactly what she plans to do. Kanita
soon realizes she didn’t plan well enough as she becomes hungry and thirsty. As
Kanita and Safi make their way through the jungle Kanita tries to come up with
a plan to save Safi. What is a girl to do? How can she prove to the people that
Safi is not a curse?
When I saw A Girl and Her Elephant I wanted to read it right
away as for some reason I love elephants. I went to a circus once and saw
elephants preforming and when I saw them they seem to look so sad. It made me
think that elephants don’t belong in captivity. They belong in the jungle where
they can roam free. I have never forgotten that day and have loved elephants
ever since and that is why I had to read A Girl and Her Elephant.
A Girl and Her Elephant will stay with for a very long time.
I hope forever. This is one book I hope to never forget. Elephants are very
smart creatures who never forget anything. Safi seemed to care a whole lot for
Kanita and protected her just as much as Kanita protected her. Kanita and Safi
grew up together and became close friends with a bond that could never be
broken. Now that is true friendship.
A Girl and Her Elephant was a very fast read that kept me
glued to my seat wondering where Kanita and Safi were going next and where they
would end up. There was a few times where I was wondering if they were going to
make it out or not.
I would recommend A Girl and Her Elephant to anyone who
loves a great story young and old alike. A Girl and Her Elephant has been an
amazing journey for me. I can’t wait to check out more of this authors works.
ZOEY
GONG was born and raised in rural Hunan Province, China. She has been
studying English and working as a translator since she was sixteen
years old. Now in her early twenties, Zoey loves traveling and eating
noodles for every meal. She lives in Shenzhen with her cat, Jello,
and dreams of one day disappointing her parents by being a Leftover
Woman (剩女).
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