An Elephant Story Back to Jokes / Back Home
In 1986, Mkele Mbembe was
on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University. On a hike
through the bush, he came across ayoung bull elephant standing with one leg
raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Mbembe approached it very
carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot, and found
a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he
could, Mbembe worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the
elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man, and
with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.
Mbembe stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually
the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.
Mbembe never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.
Twenty years later, Mbembe was walking through the Chicago Zoo with
his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of
the creatures turned and walked over to near where Mbembe and his son Tapu were
standing. The large bull elephant stared at Mbembe, lifted its front foot off
the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted
loudly, all the while staring at the man.
Remembering the encounter in 1986, Mbembe couldn't help wondering if this was
the same elephant. Mbembe summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and
made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to
the elephant and stared back in wonder.
The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Mbembe's legs and
slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.
Probably wasn't the same elephant.