The White Elephant
Long, long ago, in a small kingdom there lived a washerman. Whenever anybody wore clothes washed by him, it looked as though they were donning new dresses. For, so well did he wash and press them! He was known by one and all for his good and honest work. No doubt, he prospered well. One day, well before the sun rose over the hills, there was a gentle knock on his door. When he opened it, he saw the potter standing before him. "Dear friend, what brings you here so early in the morning?" he asked. "Tomorrow the king has called me for some important work. But I've only one pair of good dress that badly requires to be washed and pressed. Could you please do it for me?" said the potter. "I'm indeed blessed," replied the washerman, "for wearing the clothes washed by me when you go to meet the king!" The potter handed over a pair of a blue dress and returned home. It was for the first time that he was going to wear clothes washed and pressed by the well-known washerman.
But when he went back, the next day, to take his clothes, he could not recognise them. They had been blue, now they were white! "What have you done to my clothes? What happened to their colour?" he demanded. "My friend, the quality of colour in which your clothes were dyed was very poor. When the clothes - and you had dirtied them too much - were put in hot water, the colour left them in patches. They looked funny. I had to labour very hard to remove it entirely. But I'm not charging any extra for that," said the washerman. "Extra? It's for me to demand compensation from you, for the loss of my precious blue!" said the potter. Soon they were quarrelling. The washerman threatened to report to the king if the potter did not pay him his due. But he refused to pay and left in a huff. As the potter made his way to the palace, he heard the royal herald proclaim, "The king wants a white elephant. Whosoever can get it will be handsomely rewarded." The king asked him to make a special pot out of a particular clay. For, the queen had been suddenly taken ill, and it was only in that pot that some herbs were to be crushed and the medicine made for her. "You're wearing a beautiful dress, as white as snow!" remarked the king, as the potter was taking his leave. "Yes, Your Majesty," replied the potter with a naughty smile, "actually it was blue in colour but the washerman turned it white. He's the pride of your realm, O king. He can make everything white. Why don't you ask him to fulfil your long-cherished wish to possess a white elephant? He can wash any of your grey elephants white! He has magic!"
"Ah!Ah!" exclaimed the king. "Is it so? A genius in my kingdom and I'm not aware of it! A white elephant at last! It is a good omen and will bring us happiness!" On his way home, the potter chuckled to himself. "Now let's see how the fellow faces this challenge. He had the cheek to threaten me!" The washerman was summoned to the king's presence. "I hear you can make everything white!" asked the king. "I only clean the clothes of your subjects to the best of my ability, your Majesty," replied the man humbly. "Now I want you to wash my dark grey elephant into white. Mind you, if you fail, you shall be banished from our kingdom," ordered the king. The washerman was surprised at this strange command. He thought for a while and easily guessed that the potter must have been behind this mischief. "Your Majesty," he replied in a measured tone, "I'm prepared to carry out your desire and wash the elephant by the same methods I wash people's clothes. But none of the pots I have is large enough to contain the animal!" The potter was called once again and asked to make a pot that would hold the royal elephant. He was at his wit's end. How could he ever make a pot large enough to hold such a gigantic beast? But he dare not disobey the king's order. He gathered his kinsmen to help him in his task. The entire family somehow managed to fashion a large vessel, from a huge quantity of clay.
The washerman was again summoned to the palace. The elephant was led in. Potfuls of soap, buckets of water, and scrubbing brushes were kept ready. The king and his courtiers sat with curiosity in their eyes as the great beast was directed towards the huge pot. Alas, no sooner had the elephant stepped into it than the giant vessel broke into a hundred pieces. "Oh! Oh!" exclaimed the washerman. "We'll need a much stronger pot for the elephant to be washed white!" The king thereupon sent for the potter and scolded him. "The pot was too fragile for the purpose. Now make a stronger one by dawn tomorrow." The potter went back looking as pale as a ghost. Once again he and his family toiled day and night to make a pot strong enough to take an elephant's weight. The task was at last completed and the vessel was delivered at the palace. Now the elephant was made to step right into the pot and this time it did not break. Everybody looked with bated breath as the washerman poured soap and water into the pot and lit a fire underneath.
"The animal has to be boiled like clothes for the dirty grey to be washed out of its skin," he explained. But when the water began to boil, the elephant grew restless. It trumpeted and lifted its forelegs and brought them down with such ferocity that not only did the hot water splash on the king's face but the pot broke again, its contents flowing in all directions. The potter was again asked to make a sturdier pot in two days or else lose his head. He left the kingdom that very day. "O King!" said the washerman with a low bow. "Allow me to take the royal elephant home for a night and on the morrow, I shall deliver it white as cream." "All right. But remember, if you fail, you shall be banished from my land," replied the king rather sternly. When the moon shone over the little kingdom and everybody was asleep, the washerman quietly led the elephant into his backyard. Placing a ladder across it, he climbed with a bucket in one hand and a brush in the other and began to whitewash the animal. By morning he had covered it with half a dozen coats." The king's joy knew no bounds when he saw the washerman leading a snow-white elephant into the palace.
"So, you have at last washed the elephant white!" he exclaimed. "Yes, Your Majesty," replied the washerman with a twinkle in his eyes, "I've completely whitewashed the dark grey elephant." The king in his excitement did not observe how the clever washerman had played with his words. He at once rewarded him with a thousand gold coins and a handsome horse. A holiday was declared in honour of the white elephant and the washerman, and there was much rejoicing. When all were thus busy enjoying the festive atmosphere the washerman, mounted his horse and sneaked out of the kingdom. "At least till the next rains, no one will be able to find the truth behind the white elephant," he thought as he reached the edge of a forest. The evening had set in. Tying his horse to the trunk of a tree, he sat under it and soon fell fast asleep. In the morning, when the sweet chirping of the birds woke him, whom do you think he saw sitting beside him? None other than the potter himself! "Dear friend, it's due to your foolishness that you're here today. I, too, have left the kingdom, but richer by a thousand gold coins and a beautiful horse. I'm going to settle down in the neighbouring kingdom, marry and live happily." As for the king, he joyfully lived in his dreams of good omen and prosperity that his white elephant will bring him someday, but only till the next monsoon.
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