Read Mémoires d'un Éléphant blanc. English Page 14

  CHAPTER XII

  PARVATI

  During our absence a little Princess had been born in the Palace ofGolconda.

  Alemguir, overflowing with joy, brought her to show me, in her babyrobes of lace.

  What a darling she was! How pretty, and fragile.... She was like aFlower!

  Her little hand held a golden rattle, and round her neck was a stringof great pearls that looked like drops of frozen milk.

  They had called her _Parvati_, which is the name of a Goddess. Iwas filled with deep emotion at the sight of her. My heart beatviolently.... But I could only express my feelings by awkwardlyshuffling from one foot to the other.

  Saphire-of-Heaven had been at the point of death, and they hadconcealed from her the reverses of the army, and the defeat and captureof her husband, the Prince. She had learned at one and the same timeof the dangers he had encountered, and of his present safety. And theanticipation of seeing her husband so soon had aided her convalescence.

  When she learned the part I had played in his escape, she came solemnlyto thank me. To my great embarrassment she knelt before me, and did mehomage, as they had done in Siam. Then she declared that, as my poorMahout had been killed in battle, I should never have another, butshould only be waited on by servants, having shown an intelligence sosuperior as to make it unnecessary to exercise control over me.

  I was hereafter to be allowed complete liberty, in the Park, andthroughout the Domain, both in the city and in the country, whenever Ichose to walk out by myself.

  Then began for me a most delightful existence. I felt as if I hadbeen elevated to the dignity of a human being! And the sense ofresponsibility attached to this new condition inspired me withthe resolve to avoid at all times giving trouble, or creatingdisturbance--and of proving myself worthy of the trust reposed in me.

  Oh! what pleasure to leave the city, and go out into the fields andon to the forest!--and to roam freely under its branches, treadingthe underbrush, pulling up the young trees, as of old, without beingobliged to consider and restrain my motions, as I was forced to do sooften in surroundings that were too small for my stature.

  I was able now to use some of my extra strength, and this rested andsoothed me delightfully....

  But after a few hours I began to feel how impossible it would be for meto endure the former solitude--how superior to myself I had become; andhow entirely weaned from savage life.

  A restlessness would seize me, a desire to see my Masters--my Friends,rather!... A fear of being lost, abandoned--of not being able to findmy way back came upon me.

  I would hasten towards the city, relieved as soon as I saw the wallsof Golconda--its domes, the colour of snow--its slender minarets,more beautiful than the palms of the forest! Once inside the walls,I loitered about the streets, sauntering through the bazaars, whereeveryone took pains to offer me something good.

  Then I would enter the Palace, and my first thought was always to seekthe little Princess Parvati. I would find her surrounded by her nursesand maid-servants, among gardens of jasmine and roses, and I wouldstand and watch her from a distance, absorbed in delighted admiration.

  Slowly I watched her bloom, from day to day, from month to month; soonshe was able to roll about on the flowery lawn, and walk, on hands andfeet, like a young animal; then she stood up and began to take herfirst steps among out-stretched arms....