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    The Stolen White Elephant
    The Stolen White Elephant
    The Stolen White Elephant
    Ebook56 pages34 minutes

    The Stolen White Elephant

    By Mark Twain

    3.5/5

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateJan 1, 1882
    Author

    Mark Twain

    Mark Twain (1835-1910) was an American humorist, novelist, and lecturer. Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, he was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, a setting which would serve as inspiration for some of his most famous works. After an apprenticeship at a local printer’s shop, he worked as a typesetter and contributor for a newspaper run by his brother Orion. Before embarking on a career as a professional writer, Twain spent time as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi and as a miner in Nevada. In 1865, inspired by a story he heard at Angels Camp, California, he published “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” earning him international acclaim for his abundant wit and mastery of American English. He spent the next decade publishing works of travel literature, satirical stories and essays, and his first novel, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873). In 1876, he published The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a novel about a mischievous young boy growing up on the banks of the Mississippi River. In 1884 he released a direct sequel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which follows one of Tom’s friends on an epic adventure through the heart of the American South. Addressing themes of race, class, history, and politics, Twain captures the joys and sorrows of boyhood while exposing and condemning American racism. Despite his immense success as a writer and popular lecturer, Twain struggled with debt and bankruptcy toward the end of his life, but managed to repay his creditors in full by the time of his passing at age 74. Curiously, Twain’s birth and death coincided with the appearance of Halley’s Comet, a fitting tribute to a visionary writer whose steady sense of morality survived some of the darkest periods of American history.

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    Reviews for The Stolen White Elephant

    3.5/5

    17 ratings1 review

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    • 4/5
      Oh I did enjoy the satire here, laughed out loud a couple of times. And Ingpen's art is terrific fun. But I don't know that this is a juvenile book, though Elko library filed it as such. An experienced reader might not 'get' enough of the humor to understand what's going on....

    Book preview

    The Stolen White Elephant - Mark Twain

    Project Gutenberg's The Stolen White Elephant, by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

    This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

    almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or

    re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

    with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

    Title: The Stolen White Elephant

    Author: Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

    Release Date: August 19, 2006 [EBook #3181]

    Last Updated: October 29, 2012

    Language: English

    *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STOLEN WHITE ELEPHANT ***

    Produced by David Widger

    THE STOLEN WHITE ELEPHANT

    by Mark Twain

         [Left out of A Tramp Abroad, because it was feared that some

         of the particulars had been exaggerated, and that others

         were not true.  Before these suspicions had been proven

         groundless, the book had gone to press. —M.  T.]

    I.

    II

    III

    I.

    The following curious history was related to me by a chance railway acquaintance. He was a gentleman more than seventy years of age, and his thoroughly good and gentle face and earnest and sincere manner imprinted the unmistakable stamp of truth upon every statement which fell from his lips. He said:

    You know in what reverence the royal white elephant of Siam is held by the people of that country. You know it is sacred to kings, only kings may possess it, and that it is, indeed, in a measure even superior to kings, since it receives not merely honor but worship. Very well; five years ago, when the troubles concerning the frontier line arose between Great Britain and Siam, it was presently manifest that Siam had been in the wrong. Therefore every reparation was quickly made, and the British representative stated that he was satisfied and the past should be forgotten. This greatly relieved the King of Siam, and partly as a token of gratitude, but partly also, perhaps, to wipe out any little remaining vestige of unpleasantness which England might feel toward him, he wished to send the Queen a present—the sole sure way of propitiating an enemy, according to Oriental ideas. This present ought not only to be a royal one, but transcendently royal. Wherefore, what offering could be so meet as that of a white elephant? My position in the Indian civil service was such that I was deemed peculiarly worthy of the honor of conveying the present to her Majesty. A ship was fitted out for me and my servants and the officers and attendants of the elephant, and in due time I arrived in New York harbor and placed my royal charge in admirable quarters in Jersey City. It was necessary to remain awhile in order to recruit the animal's health before resuming the voyage.

    All went well during a fortnight—then my calamities began. The white elephant was stolen! I was called up at dead of night and informed of this fearful misfortune. For some moments I was beside myself with

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