The rear of him had not sunk so far, so he was
on a slant which made it all the more difficult for him to lift
himself.

I ran off to the village and called for help. By the time we got
back with ropes and planks, he was holding his trunk up in order
to breathe, as the mud was up to his chin. There was only one
thing to do, and that was to lift Kari by his own weight, so we
tied the rope to the tree and flung it to him. He got it with his
trunk and pulled. The rope throbbed and sang like an electric
wire and the tree groaned with the tension, but all that happened
was that the elephant slipped forward a little and his hind legs
fell deeper into the mud.

Now he was perfectly flat in quick-sand. But something very
interesting had taken place. Now that he was holding on to the
rope with all his mortal strength we knew that he would not let
go of it, so it was easy to go near him and put planks under him,
as the hind part of his belly had not yet sunk to the level of
the mud. At last he stopped sinking, but as we could not put the
planks under his feet it only meant that he would not go further
down and smother to death.

Now that his head was lifted and there was an opening between him
and the mud, the question was how to lift the front part of his
body so that he could drag the rest of it out. Another elephant
had to be called in. It turned out to be Kari's mother who had
been given to the neighboring king. By the time she arrived,
however, dusk had fallen and nothing could be done. We trusted to
God and left him to his quick-sand for the night.

The next morning we found Kari in the same position as the
previous evening. He had relaxed his hold on the rope but had not
sunk deeper. We had to put more planks all around him but he now
knew that he should not attack anyone because we were trying to
save him. After the planks had been tested, his mother went up to
him. She put her trunk around his neck and started to lift him,
but he groaned with pain for he was being smothered. He began to
sink again and we just had time to put some more planks between
his chest and the mud.

We had also slipped a rope under him, which some men in a boat
near the river bank came up and threw over his back. The hawser
was made into a loop around his body and the other end was tied
around the mother. Then she pulled with all her might, and her
strength was so great that his fore-quarters were lifted up and
his small legs dangled in t