"Then, it is decided," said the venerable Mr. Tapir. "We are, my friends, going to contest for a dancing prize. It is felt that such an entertainment will relieve the rather tedious monotony of our evenings in this lovely spot.
"One week from to-night there will be the finest party we have ever given. No expense is to be spared. Music will be supplied by the celebrated5 company of Baboons6 and Macaws; and the ladies will adjourn7, forthwith, as a committee on refreshments9."
Mr. Tapir went on at great length, for all the animals loved to hear him talk, and he loved to hear himself. He had been to London. He knew how things ought to be done. So he said it all over several times, but he always ended with, "and the ladies will adjourn forthwith," which beautiful words struck the animals as the finest they had ever heard.
"What oratory10! Such a flow of London speech!" they whispered. And the lovely Miss Giraffe broke down and cried. Such is the power of eloquence11.
Great jealousies12 ensued, however, for Mrs. Kangaroo let it be known straightway that the prize was hers for sure. No one could dance as she could. She had only to straighten her waist, lift her chin, and give a leap. It was her specialty13.
"When it comes to grace and speed," Mrs. Leopard2 remarked, "there is something in my motion which is utterly14 lacking to the rest of you."
Now, Mrs. Elephant kept quiet. She knew what they thought of her. She was always referred to as "that good, solid, easy-going person" unless her friends were spiteful, when they did not hesitate to call her "that ungainly old cow of an elephant." She knew their ways and spite.
"But I shall get that prize," she grunted15, as she trudged16 to her handsome, roomy home under the chocolate trees. Nor did she feel less determined17 in the cool bright morning, when, as a rule, the resolutions of the night before grow pale. Immediately she put her housekeeping into the hands of her sister-in-law, who was young and willing.
"I have much to do," she said.
Then she set out to find her friends, the bull-frogs. They would pipe their tunes18 all day in the shade, and she would practise her steps.
It was hard at first, but soon she devised a wonderful dance. Up and down and around she went all day, and most all night. But she kept her doings a secret; and it was well she did, for all the animals would only have laughed at her had they seen her flopping20 around on the edge of the bull-frogs' pond.
The night of the dance came. The elegance21 of the costumes and the abundance of the refreshments were a delight.
It was a little game of sly Mrs. Fox's to urge everybody to eat as much as possible, and this she would do with the sweetest smile.
"Oh, do eat another bunch of bananas," she would say to Mrs. Elephant; for she wanted everybody to overeat except herself. Then they could not dance, she knew, and she would get the prize if she showed only her wonderful walking steps.
But the animals guessed her scheme. They only thanked her, and stroked their dresses or went off into corners to try their steps.
It was a brave show, and after a few had risen to the floor and danced their steps, favor was plainly directed to the lithe22 and lovely Mrs. Leopard.
"Just wait for Mrs. Kangaroo," was whispered from one to another. "She's wonderful, you know."
Then Mrs. Kangaroo came forth8. Yes, it was marvelous what she could accomplish. First she strutted23 high and proud, then she bounded up and down, and finally made a great leap; but it was a leap before she looked, for what did she do but jump right into the lily pond, ker-splash!
Great embarrassment24 seized the company, and the less polite, such as the monkeys, simply yelled in derision.
"Mrs. Elephant! Mrs. Elephant!" was now the cry.
"Yes, yes, Mrs. Elephant!" came from all sides; for the animals, already amused by Mrs. Kangaroo's unfortunate conclusion, were ready to be boisterous25. They could roar at Mrs. Elephant if they wanted to; she was so thick-skinned, as they thought, that you could never hurt her feelings anyway.
But Mrs. Elephant was very modest, and a trifle grand. Besides, she was all polished and trimmed in a manner most affecting. All that afternoon her sister-in-law had stood in the water with her, smoothing down her dress and rubbing her head; and two simple palm leaves behind her ears, with a little rope of moon-flowers garlanded over her placid26 forehead gave her a regal aspect which the animals were surprised and delighted to note.
"How thin she's grown! How do you suppose she did it?" they gasped27.
Then Mrs. Elephant danced.
At her special request, Mr. Frog played for her, not too fast, on his elegant flute28. But scarcely had she taken her first two steps when the orchestra struck up that grand old march, Tigers Bold and Monkeys Gay, which, as you know, would set anybody a-marching even if they had nowhere to go.
Waving her splendid arms to the sky, and making the most wonderful bows, flapping her ears and curling and pointing her trunk, all to the tune19 of the music, she was, as the eloquent29 Mrs. Tapir was moved to say, "as majestic30 as the night."
At her signal, when she knew she had captivated the audience, the music changed, and she came tripping toward them with open arms and the pinkest, biggest smile the world has ever seen. She begged them all to strike up the chorus; and suddenly, without knowing what they were about (for such is the way with an audience, once the hard-worked artist has enraptured31 his fellow-beings), they were all shouting the stirring words:
I'm the jungle dandy, O,
You're the zebra's daughter,
Come an' kiss me, handy, O,
Nuts and orange water.
Of course she took the prize. And all she would say, or all, indeed, that can be got out of her to this day, about it is:
"Practise, my dears, practise. No, I have never done it since, nor would I think of trying. I only wished to feel in my old age that I had accomplished32 something. The race, as wise men have said, is not to the swift. Determination and careful, unremitting practise: that's what is wanted."
