The Elephant

-          Slowomir Mrozek (1930- )

This story mocks at the authoritarian rule in Poland. The director of the Zoological Gardens represents the authoritarian bureaucracy.

The director of the zoo rose in his post very fast. He had no real interest in the animals of the zoo. So, there were many shortcomings in the zoo. Lack of an elephant was one of them.

On the anniversary of the liberation, on 22^nd July, the staff were notified that the zoo would have an elephant. The director had written a letter to Warsaw asking for an elephant in a more economic way.

To save money and energy, the director had planned to make a life-size rubber elephant and fill it with air. It would be painted with correct colour so that nobody would be able to say it was unreal. Then, it would be placed behind the railings. A notice about the elephant’s laziness would be pasted on the railings.

The Ministry approved the director’s plan. Then, he ordered his workers to make the rubber elephant. Two workers were given the task to fill the air in the carcass at night. They secretly hid themselves in a workshop and started their work. Soon they became tired but they could blow the air into the rubber elephant hardly a few inches up. So, they were worried.

While taking rest, they saw a gas pipe and decided to fill the elephant with gas. Their idea worked.

Next morning, the elephant was kept in the centre of the zoo just beside the monkey cage in front of a large rock.

The first visitors were a group of students from a local school. When they reached in front of the elephant, the teacher started giving them objective lesson about it. The students were amazed to see the magnificient elephant along with the teacher’s description. Sincere students were hurriedly making notes. But suddenly a strong wind lifted the elephant in the air. Then, it disappeared into the sky. The monkeys were also surprised. The students also did not believe their teachers there after. They turned themselves into hooligans.