shelter. Soon we saw the red tongue of fire
licking the grass and the trees. A terrible heat settled upon the
country-side.

I could now go near any animal and touch him. The terrible danger
which was common to all had made them forget their relations with
each other--that of hunter and prey. Tiger, elephant and man were
standing near each other. All had a sense of common friendship,
as if the tiger had thrown away his stripes, man his fear, and
the deer his sense of danger. We all looked at one another,
brothers in a common bond of soul relationship. This sight made
me realize why the Hindus believe that each plant and each
animal, like man, has a golden thread of spirituality in its
soul. In the darkness of the animal's eyes and the eloquence of
man's mind it was the same Spirit, the great active Silence
moving from life to life.

The jungle was burning to cinders. The tiger hid his face between
his paws; the wild cats curled up, hiding their faces. None
wanted to see the passing of the terror. Later in the afternoon
some of the birds that were flying aimlessly around were drawn by
the hypnotism of the flames into the jungle where they perished.
If one is frightened beyond his control, fear possesses him so
that he loses all consciousness of self-protection and he is
drawn down into the vortex of the very destruction which rouses
that fear.

The more I watched Kari and the other animals, the more I came to
understand why Kari and I loved each other. We had a soul in
common. I played the flute for him and was deeply moved. I felt
that if I could be dumb like he, I could understand him better.
This was the lesson the fire taught me: do not hate and fear
animals. In them is the soul that is God, as it is also in us.
Behind each face, human or animal, is the face of the Christ.
Those who have eyes to see can always find it.

CHAPTER X

KARI IN THE LUMBER YARD

Not long after this Kari was sent to the lumber yards. It was
very interesting to see that he learned all the tricks of the
lumber trade in a few days. He would pull heavy logs out of the
forest into the open, lift the lighter ones with his trunk and
pile them up, one on top of the other. He had such a good sense
of symmetry that his piles were always extremely neat.

Soon an older elephant came to help him. Whenever there was a log
which was too heavy for Kari to lift, they would each take one
end of it and lift it on the lumber wagon. An eleph