Once the board with the Elephant on it bumped against a big Water Rat.
"Be careful who you're bumping!" snarled the Rat.
[Illustration: "Be Careful Who You're Bumping!" Snarled the Rat.
_The Story of a Stuffed Elephant._ _Page_ 114]
"Excuse me," replied the Elephant. "I didn't mean to."
The Rat tried to bite the Elephant's trunk, but again the swift current
carried the boat downstream.
Finally the rain stopped, after a day or so, but by that time the
Elephant had been carried a long way down the brook, at last coming to a
stop when the board was caught in the roots of an overhanging tree. By
now the Elephant was almost glued fast to the board, so wet and soaking
was he.
The rain stopped, the brook went down, the sun came out, and the
Elephant dried. But he still lay on the board, on the bank of the
stream, under the roots of the tree.
A man, who happened to be passing, saw the Elephant, picked him off the
board, and, seeing that he was an expensive toy, took the plaything to
his home.
"What a fine Elephant!" said the man's wife. "I'll put him on the
mantel, over the stove, so he'll dry out more. Some child lost this. We
haven't any children small enough to want to keep it.
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