Memoirs of a White Elephant

The legendary white elephant Iravata takes up his pen to set down the extraordinary tale of his existence. Once worshipped as a living god in the kingdom of Siam, then captured and forced into service, he has known both glory and ruin. He has been a warrior, fighting beside his master in battles whose outcomes hung on his great grey shoulders. He has been a prisoner, and in his captivity, he proved his devotion by saving the life of the man who held him, then orchestrating a daring escape through jungles and across rivers. Most tenderly, he has been companion and guardian to the beloved Princess Parvati, inventing wondrous games to ease her loneliness and serving her with a love he cannot fully explain. Yet even the wisest elephant harbors shadows in his heart. Published in 1878, this pioneering fantasy imagines history through the eyes of an animal consciousness, asking what it means to serve, to love, and to remember.