Aristotle [ca. 350 BCE] (De animalibus Book 1, 9.5; 2, 1.2; 2, 1.4; 2, 3.15; 4, 9.9; 5, 12.14; 9, 2.11; 9, 11.1): [Book 1, 9.5] In the elephant, the nostril is very large and strong, and it answers to the purpose of a hand, for the animal can extend it, and with it take its food, and convey it to its mouth, whether the food is moist or dry. This is the only animal that can do so. [Book 2, 1.2] ...this animal has the toes less perfectly jointed, and its fore-legs much larger than the hind ones; it has five toes, and short ankles to its hind legs. It has a trunk of such a nature and length as to be able to use it for a hand, and it drinks and eats by stretching this into its mouth; this also it lifts up to its driver, and pulls up trees with it; with this organ it breathes as it walks through the water. The extremity of the proboscis is curved, but without joints, for it is cartilaginous. [Book 2, 1.4] ...the elephant is not constructed as some have said, but is able to sit down, and bend his legs, but, from his great weight, is unable to bend them on both sides at once, but leans either to the right side or the left, and sleeps in this position, but its hind legs are bent like a man's. [Book 2, 3.15] The elephant has four teeth on each side, with which he grinds his food, for he reduces his food very small, like meal. Besides these, he has two tusks : in the male these are large, and turned upwards ; in the female they are small, and bent in the contrary direction. The elephant has teeth as soon as it is born; but the tusks are small, and therefore inconspicuous at first. It has so small a tongue within its mouth, that it is difficult to see it. [Book 4, 9.9] The elephant utters a voice by breathing through its mouth, making no use of its nose, as when a man breathes forth a sigh; but with its nose it makes a noise like the hoarse sound of a trumpet. [Book 5, 12.14] The elephant arrives at puberty, the earliest at ten years of age, the latest at fifteen, and the male at five or six years old. The season for the intercourse of the sexes is in the spring: and the male is ready again at the end of three years, but he never touches again a female whom he has once impregnated. Her period of gestation is two years, and then she produces one calf, for the elephant belongs to the class of animals which have but one young one at a time. The young one is as large as a calf of two or three months old. [Book 9, 2.12] Elephant-hunting is conducted in the following way: men mount upon some tame courageous animals; when they have seized upon the wild animals they command the others to beat them till they fail from fatigue. The elephant-driver then leaps upon its back and directs it with a lance; very soon after this they become tame and obedient. When the elephant-drivers mount upon them they all become obedient, but when they have no driver, some are tame and others not so, and they bind the fore legs of those that are wild with chains, in order to keep them quiet. They hunt both full-growth animals and young ones. [Book 9, 11.1] Of all wild animals the elephant is the most tame and gentle; for many of them are capable of instruction and intelligence, and they have been taught to worship the king. It is a very sensitive creature, and abounding in intellect. The male never again touches a female that he has once impregnated. Some persons say that the elephant will live for two hundred years, others an hundred and twenty, and the female lives nearly as long as the male. They arrive at perfection when sixty years old. They bear winter and cold weather very badly. It is an animal that lives in the neighborhood of rivers, though not in them. It can also walk through rivers, and will advance as long as it can keep its proboscis above the surface; for it blows and breathes through this organ, but it cannot swim on account of the weight of its body. - [Cresswell translation, 1887]

Julius Caesar (Commentaries on the Gallic and Civil Wars, Book 6.27): There are also [animals] which are called elks [alces]. The shape of these, and the varied color of their skins, is much like roes, but in size they surpass them a little and are destitute of horns, and have legs without joints and ligatures; nor do they lie down for the purpose of rest, nor, if they have been thrown down by any accident, can they raise or lift themselves up. Trees serve as beds to them; they lean themselves against them, and thus reclining only slightly, they take their rest; when the huntsmen have discovered from the footsteps of these animals whither they are accustomed to betake themselves, they either undermine all the trees at the roots, or cut into them so far that the upper part of the trees may appear to be left standing. When they have leant upon them, according to their habit, they knock down by their weight the unsupported trees, and fall down themselves along with them. [The account following this one (6.28) compares the size of another beast to the elephant; this may be the source of the confusion of the elk and elephant.]

Lucan [1st century CE] (Pharsalia, book 6, verse 228-235): Thus Afric elephant, when hunters press, / By shrug of hide shakes off the puny dart / Which finds a hold, while from his rugged bulk / Some fall in shivers; and his vital parts / Are safe within ; and though the spears are thick / Upon the beast, none reach the fount of blood: Thus countless wounds by lance and arrow dealt / Fail to achieve one death. - [Ridley, 1919 translation]

Pliny the Elder [1st century CE] (Natural History, Book 8, 1-13): [Book 8, 1] The largest land animal is the elephant, and it is the nearest to man in intelligence: it understands the language of its country and obeys orders, remembers duties that it has been taught, is pleased by affection and by marks of honor, nay more it possesses virtues rare even in man, honesty, wisdom, justice, also respect for the stars and reverence for the sun and moon. Authorities state that in the forests of Mauretania, when the new moon is shining, herds of elephants go down to a river named Amilo and there perform a ritual of purification, sprinkling themselves with water, and after thus paying their respects to the moon return to the woods carrying before them those of their calves who are tired. They are also believed to understand the obligations of another's religion in so far as to refuse to embark on board ships when going overseas before they are lured on by the mahout's sworn promise in regard to their return. [Book 8, 3] It is known that one elephant which was rather slow-witted in understanding instructions given to it and had been punished with repeated beatings, was found in the night practicing the same. [Book 8, 4] They themselves know that the only thing in Eupham them that makes desirable plunder is in their weapons which Juba calls 'horns', but which the author so greatly his senior, Herodotus, and also common usage better term 'tusks'; consequently when these fall off owing to some accident or to age they bury them in the ground. The tusk alone is of ivory: otherwise even in these animals too the skeleton forming the framework of the body is common bone; albeit recently owing to our poverty even the bones have begun to be cut into layers, inasmuch as an ample supply of tusks is now rarely obtained except from India, all the rest in our world having succumbed to luxury. A young elephant is known by the whiteness of its tusks. The beasts take the greatest care of them; they spare the point of one so that it may not be blunt for fighting and use the other as an implement for digging roots and thrusting massive objects forward; and when surrounded by a party of hunters they post those with the smallest tusks in front, so that it may be thought not worth while to fight them, and afterwards when exhausted they break their tusks by dashing them against a tree and ransom themselves at the price of the desired booty. [Book 8, 5] It is remarkable in the case of most animals that they know why they are hunted, but also that almost all know what they must beware of. It is said that when an elephant accidentally meets a human being who is merely wandering across its track in a solitary place it is good-tempered and peaceful and will actually show the way; but that when on the other hand it notices a man's footprint before it sees the man himself it begins to tremble in fear of an ambush, stops to sniff the scent, gazes round, trumpets angrily, and avoids treading on the footprint but digs it up and passes it to the next elephant, and that one to the following, and on to the last of all with a similar message, and then the column wheels round and retires and a battle line is formed: since the smell in question lasts to be scented by them all, though in the majority of cases it is not even the smell of bare feet. Elephants always travel in a herd; the oldest leads the column and the next oldest brings up the rear. When going to ford a river they put the smallest in front, so that the bottom may not be worn away by the tread of the larger ones, thus increasing the depth of the water. ...the elephant has a remarkable sense of shame, and when defeated shrinks from the voice of its conqueror, and offers him earth and foliage. Owing to their modesty , elephants never mate except in secret, the male at the age of five and the female at ten; and mating takes place for two years, on five days, so it is said, of each year and not more; and on the sixth day they give themselves a shower-bath in a river, not returning to the herd before. Adultery is unknown among them, or any of the fighting for females that is so disastrous to the other animals - though not because they are devoid of strong affection... [Book 8, 6] Italy saw elephants for the first time in the war with King Pyrrhus, and called them Lucan oxen because they were seen in Lucania, but Rome first saw them at a date five years later, in a triumph, and also a very large number that were captured from the Carthaginians in Sicily by the victory of the pontiff Lucius Metellus. [Book 8, 7] A story is told that the animal's natural gentleness towards those not so strong as itself is so great that if it gets among a flock of sheep it will remove with its trunk those that come in its way, so as not unwittingly to crush one. Also they never do any harm unless provoked, and that although they go about in herds, being of all animals the least solitary in habit. When surrounded by horsemen they withdraw the weak ones or those that are exhausted or wounded into the middle of their column, and advance into the fighting line in relays as if by command or strategy. When captured they are very quickly tamed by means of barley juice. [Book 8, 8] The method of capturing them in India is for a mahout riding on the domesticated elephants to find a wild elephant alone or detach it from the herd and to flog it, and when it is tired out he climbs across on to it and manages it as he did his previous mount. Africa captures elephants by means of pit-falls; when an elephant straying from the herd falls into one of these all the rest at once collect branches of trees and roll down rocks and construct ramps, exerting every effort in the attempt to get it out. Previously for the purpose of taming them the kings used to round them up with horsemen into a trench made by hand so as to deceive them by its length, and when they were enclosed within its banks and ditches they were starved into submission; the proof of this would be if when a man held out a branch to them they gently took it from him. [Book 8, 9] The females of the genus elephant are much more timid than the males. Mad elephants can be tamed by hunger and blows, other elephants being brought up to one that is unmanageable to restrain it with chains. Besides this they get very wild when in heat and overthrow the stables of the Indians with their tusks. Consequently they prevent them from coupling, and keep the herds of females separate, in just the same way as droves of cattle are kept. Male elephants when broken in serve in battle and carry castles manned with armed warriors on their backs ; they are the most important factor in eastern warfare, scattering the ranks before them and trampling armed soldiers underfoot. Nevertheless they are scared by the smallest squeal of a pig; and when wounded and frightened they always give ground, doing as much damage to their own side as to the enemy. African elephants are afraid of an Indian elephant, and do not dare to look at it, as Indian elephants are indeed of a larger size. [Book 8, 10] Their period of gestation is commonly supposed to be ten years, but Aristotle puts it at two years, and says that they never bear more than one at a time, and that they live 200 and in some cases 300 years. Their adult life begins at 60. They take the greatest pleasure in rivers and roam in the neighborhood of streams, although at the same time they are unable to swim because of the size of their bodies, and also as they are incapable of enduring cold: this is their greatest infirmity; they are also liable to flatulence and diarrhoea, but not to other kinds of disease. I find it stated that missiles sticking in their body fall out when they drink oil, but that perspiration makes it easier for them to keep their hold. It also causes them disease to eat earth unless they chew it repeatedly; but they devour even stones, consider trunks of trees a great delicacy, and bend down the loftier palm trees by butting against them with their foreheads and when thus prostrate consume their fruit. They eat with the mouth, but they breathe and drink and smell with the organ not unsuitably called their hand. They hate the mouse worst of living creatures, and if they see one merely touch the fodder placed in their stall they refuse it with disgust. They are liable to extreme torture if in drinking they swallow a leech (the common name for which I notice has now begun to be 'blood-sucker'); when this attaches itself in the actual breathing passage it causes intolerable pain. [Book 8, 11] Elephants are produced by Africa beyond the deserts of Sidra and by the country of the Moors; also by the land of Ethiopia and the Cave-dwellers, as has been said; but the biggest ones by India, as well as serpents that keep up a continual feud and warfare with them, the serpents also being of so large a size that they easily encircle the elephants in their coils and fetter them with a twisted knot. In this duel both combatants die together, and the vanquished elephant in falling crushes with its weight the snake coiled round it. [Book 8, 12] Every species of animal is marvelously cunning for its own interests, as are those which we are considering. One difficulty that the serpent has is in climbing to such a height; consequently it keeps watch on the track worn by the elephant going to pasture and drops on him from a lofty tree. The elephant knows that he is badly handicapped in fighting against the snake's coils, and therefore seeks to rub it against trees or rocks. The snakes are on their guard against this, and consequently begin by shackling the elephants' steps with their tail. The elephants untie the knots with their trunk. But the snakes poke their heads right into the elephants' nostrils, hindering their breathing and at the same time lacerating their tenderest parts; also when caught in the path of the elephants they rear up against them, going specially for their eyes: this is how it comes about that elephants are frequently found blind and exhausted with hunger and wasting misery. What other cause could anybody adduce for such a quarrel save Nature arranging a match between a pair of combatants to provide herself with a show? There is also another account of this contest - that elephants are very cold-blooded, and consequently in very hot weather are specially sought after by the snakes; and that for this reason they submerge themselves in rivers and lie in wait for the elephants when drinking, and rising up coil round the trunk and imprint a bite inside the ear, because that place only cannot be protected by the trunk; and that the snakes are so large that they can hold the whole of an elephant's blood, and so they drink the elephants dry, and these when drained collapse in a heap and the serpents being intoxicated are crushed by them and die with them. [Book 8, 13] Ethiopia produces elephants that rival those of India, being 30 feet high; the only surprising thing is what led Juba to believe them to be crested. The Ethiopian tribe in whose country they are chiefly bred are called the Asachaeans; it is stated that in the coast districts belonging to this tribe the elephants link themselves four or five together into a sort of raft and holding up their heads to serve as sails are carried on the waves to the better pastures of Arabia. - [Rackham translation]

Aelianus [170-230 CE] (On the Characteristics of Animals, Book 1, 37; 2, 11; 2, 18; 4, 10): [Book 1, 37] It seems that the fat of an elephant is a remedy against the poisons of all savage creatures, and if a man rub some on his body, even though he encounter unarmed the very fiercest, he will escape unscathed. The Elephant has a terror of a horned ram and of the squealing of a pig. It was by these means, they say, that the Romans put to flight the elephants of Pyrrhus of Epirus, and that the Romans won a glorious victory. This same animal is overcome by beauty in a woman and lays aside its temper, quite stunned by the lovely sight. And at Alexandria in Egypt, they say, an elephant was the rival of Aristophanes of Byzantium for the love of a woman who was engaged in making garlands. The elephant also loves every kind of fragrance and is fascinated by the scent of perfumes and of flowers. [Book 2, 11] The elephant when once tamed is the gentlest of creatures and is easily induced to do whatever one wants. [Book 2, 18] ...when it is assailed with spears and a shower of arrows, it eats the flower of the olive or the actual oil, and then shakes off every missile that has pierced it and is sound and whole again. [Book 4, 10] I am informed that when the new moon begins to appear, Elephants by some natural and unexplained act of intelligence pluck fresh branches from the forest where they feed and then raise them aloft and look upwards at the goddess, waving the branches gently to and fro, as though they were offering her in a sense a suppliant's olive-branch in the hope that she will prove kindly and benevolent to them. - [Scholfield translation]

Gaius Julius Solinus [3rd century CE] (De mirabilibus mundi / Polyhistor, Chapter 20.7; 25.1-15): The island Gangavia, above the region of Germania, produces an animal like the alces. But, like the elephant, this creature is not able to bend its hocks, and does not, therefore, lie down when it must sleep. Trees sustain those who are drowsy. Men split these trees so that they are almost falling, so the beasts, supported by their accustomed props, fall. They are thus captured; it is otherwise difficult to seize them, for in that stiffness of knee they have an incomprehensible swiftness. [Chapter 25.1] Tingitana, one of the Mauretanian provinces, meets the solstitial region. Where it stretches towards the inner sea, seven mountains rise, which, because of their similarity to one another, are called the Brothers. They border upon the strait. [Chapter 25.2] Elephants are very numerous in these mountains. This admonishes me to here speak of this type of animal. Elephants have an understanding close to the intelligence of humans. They have memories and keep the discipline of the stars. When the moon begins to shine they seek the rivers in herds. Next, drenched with liquid, they salute the rising of the sun with what movements they can. Then they return to the forests. [Chapter 25.3] There are two breeds of elephant. The more noble breed is indicated by its larger size. They call the smaller breed “bastards”. An elephant is understood to be young if its teeth are white. Of these teeth, one is always in use. The other is spared, lest, blunted by continual abrasion, it is less effective for fighting. [Chapter 25.4] When elephants are pursued by hunters, they break both teeth together, so, having damaged the ivory, they are not sought after. For they understand that this is the cause of their danger. They wander in herds. The eldest by birth leads the herd; the nearest in age collects the followers. [Chapter 25.5] When they are about to cross a river, they put the smallest in front, lest the elders wear away the river bed by their ingress, and make deep ruts in the low fords. The females do not mate before they are ten years old, and the males before they are five. In a period of two years, elephants do not mate on more than five days in a year. They do not return to the main herd until they have cleansed themselves with fresh water. [Chapter 25.6] Because elephants never fight over females, they know no adultery. The virtue of compassion is in them. If they by chance see a man wandering through the desert, they lead him all the way to known paths. Or if they meet with thronging cattle, they make passage for themselves with their trunks gently and placidly, lest they kill any animal in the way by an accidental collision. [Chapter 25.7] If ever battle is fought, elephants have a not mediocre care for the injured. They receive the weary and wounded into the middle of the herd. When elephants come into captivity at the hands of men, they are tamed by draughts of barley. [Chapter 25.8] When they are about to pass over the seas, they will not climb into the ships before an oath is sworn to them about their return. Mauretanian elephants fear Indian elephants, and, as though conscious of their own smallness, scorn to be seen by them. The wombs of elephants do not grow heavy over a period of ten years, as the common people think, but in two, as Aristotle specifies. They do not bring forth more than once, nor more than singly. [Chapter 25.9] Elephants live for 300 years. They are most intolerant of cold. They eat tree-trunks and swallow stones. They consider dates the most pleasing of foods. They actually flee the odor of a mouse most of all; they even refuse fodder which has been touched by a little mouse. [Chapter 25.10] If by chance any of them devour a chamaeleon, a worm which is poisonous to elephants, the elephant heals itself of the pest by eating wild olive. Elephants’ skin is very hard on their backs, and softer on their bellies. They have no bristles or hair. Between elephants and snakes is continual enmity. [Chapter 25.11] Indeed, traps are prepared by the following craftiness. The serpents lurk on paths along which the elephants are accustomed to wander. After the leading elephants have passed, the serpents assail the hindmost elephants, so those who preceded them cannot aid them. The serpents first bind the elephants’ feet with knots so their legs are ensnared, and their means of advancing is impeded. [Chapter 25.12] For the elephants, unless prevented by this hindrance of coils, bring themselves into contact with either trees or rocks, so they may kill the brazen serpents by means of their oppressive weight. [Chapter 25.13] The especial cause of this combat, they say, is this. Elephants have rather cold blood, and for this reason, in the scorching heat snakes long for it most avidly. Wherefore, snakes never attack elephants unless they are burdened with water, as when the elephants’ veins are inundated, the serpents may take greater satiety from those they overwhelm. [Chapter 25.14] The serpents seek the elephants’ eyes above all, because they know that these alone are vulnerable. They also seek the inner parts of the elephants’ ears, as this place cannot be defended by the trunk. When they drink the blood, and the beasts fall, the snakes are crushed. [Chapter 25.15] Thus on both sides the poured blood soaks the land, and whatever tints the earth becomes a pigment which they call cinnabar. Italy first saw elephants in the 472nd year after the founding of Rome, in the Epirote war in Lucania. Because of this, they were called Lucanian cows. - [Arwen Apps translation, 2011]

Saint Ambrose [4th century CE] (Hexameron, Book 6, 5.31-35 The elephant, too, has a prominent trunk; otherwise he would be unable, because of his surpassing size, to reach the ground in order to find pasturage. He therefore makes use of this trunk in his search for food. Through it this monstrous beast imbibes huge quantities of water. This trunk is hollow and capacious. In the effort to satisfy his thirst this huge beast empties entire troughs. Thus he inundates himself within with rivers of water. In fact, his neck is smaller than the massive size of his body demands, so that it may serve a useful function and not be an encumbrance. For the same reason the animal does not bend his knees. In order that such a mighty contrivance be held in balance, there is need that his legs be like columns of a more than ordinary rigid character. The extremities of his feet are slightly curved, but the remaining parts of his legs are rigid throughout from top to bottom. Such a huge beast cannot bend his knees as we do. Naturally, therefore, he does not share with the rest of animals the ability to bend over or lie down. In order that without danger to himself he may sway a little in his sleep, he is supported on both sides by what may be called huge beams, inasmuch as he has no articulated joints in his limbs. For elephants that are tame a type of support has been contrived by men who are expert in this work. For the wild and untamed there is certainly an element of danger in the fact that no provision has been made for such supports. Elephants actually make use of trees either for scratching their sides or for relaxation in sleep. These trees are sometimes bent or broken by the weight of such a body, which causes the animals to fall headlong. Being unable to raise himself up, he lies there and dies. He may be discovered by his cries of pain, as he exposes the softer parts of his body to wounds and death. Weapons cannot easily penetrate his back and the other harder parts of his body. Hunters in search for ivory prepare the following scheme to trap these animals. From the trees which the elephant makes use of they cut away a small section on the sides opposite those which generally served his purpose. The trees subjected to this pressure cannot sustain the weight of the elephant's limbs and become the immediate cause of his downfall. To find fault with these facts is like finding fault with the height of buildings which often threaten to fall headlong and are with difficulty restored. But if we frequently raise these aloft for the sake of artistic beauty or to serve as watchtowers, we ought to approve of this, too, in the case of elephants because they perform a useful service in time of war. The Persians, for example, a race of fierce warriors, are noted for their expertness in archery and in similar arts* They advance in battle array surrounded by what appear to be moving towers, from which they shoot their weapons. When shot from a higher position these do more execution against the enemy below. In the center of the battlefield the combat seems to be concentrated around a rampart, citadel, or watch-tower, where the entrenched warriors appear to be spectators of the war rather than participants in it. They seem to be so remote from danger behind the protective bastion of the beasts. Who would venture to approach them, when he could be hit by a weapon from above or be annihilated by the onrush of the elephants from below? As a result, the battle line with its battalions drawn up in wedge formation gives way before them. The camping grounds which were laid out in blocks of squares have completely vanished. The elephants attack the enemy with a force that is irresistible. They cannot be held back by any embattled array of soldiers with massed shields. They take on the appearance of mountains moving in the midst of the battle. Conspicuous with their high crests and emitting a loud trumpet sound, they inspire fear in everyone. What avail are feet or strength of muscles or manual dexterity to those who have to face a moving battlement packed with armed men? What use is his steed to the horse man? Driven by fear at the hugeness of this beast, his horse flees in panic! What can the bowman do against such an onslaught, although the armored soldier may not be affected by a rain of arrows directed from above? Moreover, the beasts' hides, even when unprotected, are not easily penetrated by a weapon. Protected by this armor, they cut their way through and overwhelm the opposing masses of men without any risk of danger to themselves. As in the case of huge buildings, we see that elephants, too, are supported by foundations of unusual strength. Otherwise, they would totter in a brief space of time because of lack of comparable sustaining power in their extremities. We are told nowadays that elephants live 300 years or more a fact that corresponds to the hugeness of their bodies. And so their limbs are all the more sturdy because they are compact, not disjointed as ours are. ... And no wonder that elephants, when equipped with arms, are an object of fear. Actually, they always present an armored front, with their tusks acting as a natural spear! Whatever they take hold of they break into pieces with their trunks and whatever they trample on they annihilate such is the force of their onrush!. - [Savage translation, 1961]

Isidore of Seville [7th century CE] (Etymologies, Book 12, 2:14-16): [Book 12, 2:14] The Greeks believe that the elephant (elephans) is named from the size of its body, which looks like a mountain, for in Greek a mountain is called lophos. Among the inhabitants of India an elephant is called a barro after the sound it makes, whence also its trumpeting is called barritus, and its tusks called ivory (ebur). Its snout is called a trunk (proboscis) because with it the beast moves its food to its mouth (pabulum+os, “to feed”), and it is like a snake protected by an ivory palisade. [Book 12, 2:15] These animals were called Lucan cows by the ancient Romans; cows because they had seen no animal larger than a cow, and Lucan because it was in Lucania that Pyrrhus first set them against the Romans in battle. This kind of animal is suited to warfare, for the Persians and Indians, having set wooden towers on them, attack with javelins as if from a rampart. Elephants are very strong in intellect and memory. [Book 12, 2:16] They proceed in herds; they give a greeting with a gesture, as they can; they flee from mice; they mate facing away from each other; and when they give birth they deliver the offspring in the water or on an island on account of serpents, because serpents are their enemies, and kill them by coiling around them. They carry the fetus for two years, never bearing more than once nor more than one; they live three hundred years. At first elephants were found only in Africa and India, but now only India produces them. - [Barney, Lewis, et. al. translation]

Aberdeen Bestiary [circa 1200 CE] (folio 10v-11r): The Persians and Indians, carried in wooden towers on their backs, fight with javelins as from a wall. Elephants have a lively intelligence and a long memory; they move around in herds; they flee from a mouse; they mate back-to-back. The female is pregnant for two years, and gives birth no more than once, and not to several offspring but to one only. Elephants live for three hundred years. If an elephant wants to father sons, it goes to the East, near Paradise; there the tree called mandragora, the mandrake, grows. The elephant goes to it with his mate, who first takes fruit from the tree and gives it to her male. And she seduces him until he eats it; then she conceives at once in her womb. When the time comes for her to give birth, she goes out into a pool, until the water comes up to her udders. The male guards her while she is in labor, because elephants have an enemy - the dragon. If the elephant finds a snake, it kills it, trampling it until it is dead. The elephant strikes fear into bulls, yet fears the mouse. The elephant has this characteristic: if it falls down, it cannot rise. But it falls when it leans on a tree in order to sleep, for it has no joints in its knees. A hunter cuts part of the way through the tree, so that when the elephant leans against it, elephant and tree will fall together. As the elephant falls, it trumpets loudly; at once a big elephant goes to it but cannot lift it. Then they both trumpet and twelve elephants come, but they cannot lift the one who has fallen. Then they all trumpet, and immediately a little elephant comes and puts its trunk under the big one and lifts it up. The little elephant has this characteristic, that when some of its hair and bones have been burnt, nothing evil approaches, not even a dragon. The big elephant and its mate represent Adam and Eve. For when they were in the flesh pleasing to God, before their sin, they did not know how to mate and had no understanding of sin. But when the woman ate the fruit of the tree, that is to say, she gave her man the fruit of the mandrake, the tree of knowledge, then she became pregnant, and for that reason they left Paradise. For as long as they were in Paradise, Adam did not mate with Eve. ... Whatever elephants wrap their trunks around, they break; whatever they trample underfoot is crushed to death as if by the fall of a great ruin. They never fight over female elephants, for they know nothing of adultery. They possess the quality of mercy. If by chance they see a man wandering in the desert, they offer to lead him to familiar paths. Or if they encounter herds of cattle huddled together, they make their way carefully and peaceably lest their tusks kill any animal in their way.

Thomas of Cantimpré [circa 1200-1272 CE] (Liber de natura rerum, Quadrupeds 4.33): Elephants, as Jacobus says, are animals robust in strength and large in body. For they have a trunk, the largest of which are ten cubits, like large intestines, made of cartilaginous and hard flesh, which are called promuscids, and which they use instead of their hands for every action, says Aristotle. And the nose of an elephant is said to be strong and long; and no animal has this except the elephant. And this is the reason, says Ambrose: For since the elephant is the largest of all beasts, it cannot stoop down to graze. Of course, the neck is smaller than the size of the body requires, so that it too would not be a burden rather than a use. By means of the trunk the elephant takes food and returns it to its mouth, and through it it drinks and returns drink to its mouth, and no animal does this except the elephant itself. Liber rerum: however, it does not taste or discern the taste of food or drink itself. and this is understood by the fact that it sips the wine given to it and pours it back with its mouth, and thus, feeling the pleasantness of the wine on his palate, he congratulates the giver with a generous mouth. Jacobus: The elephants use this trunk in war, and with it they capture men opposing their sides. They are very warlike and daring, especially in battle if blood is shown. The Persians and Indians used to fight with them, carrying wooden towers with forty or fifty armed men on their backs. The blood of elephants, especially the male, stops the progress of rheumatism. An elephant, as Pliny says, has four teeth on the inside for chewing, beyond those which are prominent in males and are reflexed, but in females straight and inclined. An elephant's tongue is small in relation to its body. By the whiteness of his tusks shows its youth: one tusk is always in service, the other is reserved, lest it be damaged by too many blows, and be less vigorous, if he should fight. The writing of the book which contains the reports of the ancients tells that the elephant was captured in this way: Two young virgins go naked into the desert, where the elephants live; one of them carries an urn, the other a sword. When the elephants hear them singing in a loud voice, they run quickly. Recognizing the innocence of virgin flesh by natural instinct, they venerate the chastity in them with the sweetness of love, and lick their breasts, and is delighted with their breasts, and wonderfully surrenders himself into slumber. [A similar story is told of the unicorn] The girl holding the sword pierces the elephant's belly, so the rushing blood pours out, and the other girl receives it in an urn. This is dyed purple with royal blood, and signifies the blood shed from the side of Christ, which is poured out by one assembly of young women, while the other church receives it in an urn or chalice. The latter is judged impious, but by this the pious are redeemed. There is another way of hunting elephants according to Aristotle: Men hunt wild elephants with domestic elephants in the lower deserts of India. When they have found them, they command the domestic elephants to pursue them and to beat the wild ones, until they obey and, exhausted, rest by standing. Then the hunters go up to the wild elephants and strike them and prick them with instruments which are likened to skins, and move them to this end, so that they fear men. And their fore-feet are bound, until they are tame. But they are more docile than all animals, and among all wild animals there is no domestic animal so obedient to men. There is another way of taming an elephant. As the Glossa says, when an elephant is first caught by a hunter, it is beaten by him and afflicted with many blows. Therefore, when the hunter is beating the elephant, another one who wants to keep him obedient goes and frees him from the hands of the one who is beating him. The elephant sees that the man is liberating him, and becomes tame in his hands, and loving him and always recognizing him as its deliverer, it obeys him. Solinus: when elephants want to drink, they flock to rivers. Taking care of each other and walking in unison, they applaud each other with the movements they can, as if greeting each other. The first born leads the train, the next in age compels the followers from behind. They let the smaller ones cross the river first, because the larger ones entering the channel will makes it deeper with depressions. Between these and the dragons there was a division, and discord. The serpents hide in the high reeds, on which the elephants are wont to march in groups, and the latter, having passed by the former, approach the latter, in order that they may attack those who have gone before. At first the dragons tie the elephant's feet with knots, but it unties the knots as if by hand. Then the dragons attack the eyes or the nose, because these places are not protected. The dragons are so great, as Pliny says, that they take all the blood of elephants by drinking it. But the elephants, being exhausted, dry up and wither. As the Experimentator says, sometimes the elephant also attacks a snake found on the road and tramples it underfoot until it kills it. The elephant is also very formidable to wild bulls; and no wonder, because it persecutes them very much. In the Mauritanian forests, as Pliny says, there is a great river whose name is Amilo. To this stream elephants descend at the new moon, and there they solemnly purify themselves with water. As Pliny says, they do not return to their herd until they are washed with living waters. They never fight over females: for they know no adulteries. It is said that unless she feeds on the fruit of the mandrake, a female cannot conceive. A female enters a deep pool to give birth; for if the child fell to the ground, it would not be able to rise. They keep their children on islands because of the dragons who lie in wait for them. Even in the very waters when a female gives birth, the male is her guardian. Aristotle: In the copulation of elephants, the female bends down and the male rides on top of her, and this in the spring. After a female gives birth, she rests for three years. After a female has been impregnated, she is completely untouched by the male and carries the fetus in the womb for two years. The child itself at birth is equal to a calf of three months. Solinus said an elephant gives birth once. But in fact elephants give birth five or three times in a year. His virgin member is like a horse's, but small and not suitable for his body. And his testicles are not visible outside, but are inside, near the kidneys; therefore it is a quick intercourse. A female elephant has two breasts - like a woman - under the armpits; and the reason why she does not have many is because she gives birth to only one offspring; and the reason why they are in the place of the underarms, because in these the breasts are the first place. The male elephant also has teats like this one, but do not water them, but the size indicates that they are nobler. mice they fear and flee, because they are troubled by their stench; they also refuse their fodder if it is touched by a mouse. And, as Ambrose says, I wonder no less at the mouse, because it is terrible to the elephant, than at the elephant because it is tall and spectacularly glorious; and it is really strange that the elephant, which is a formidable to bulls and horses is afraid of the mouse. Solinus says that palm trees are the favorite food of elephants. If an elephant accidentally devours a chameleon, he is infected with poison, but he is cured by eating oleaster. The back is the hardest, the belly is softer. There is no hairiness of the bristles. By means of the smoke which is produced from the groin and hair of elephants, every poisoned animal is driven away. They live for three hundred years. They are very intolerant of the cold. Jacobus: The ivory which is made from their bones is cold and white. For an ivory cloth is not burnt by the fire placed upon it, but the fire is extinguished by the natural coolness of the ivory. Aristotle: The elephant sits a little on its knees, but still does not bend its hind legs, rather its hind legs are completely stiff, its legs and forelegs standing erect, and thus it reclines on the right or left side on a tree. Ambrose: It bends its heel slightly, the rest of the feet are stiff from top to bottom. When they want to sleep or rest, they lean against trees, and sometimes, as Ambrose says, the trees are weakened and bent by so much of the elephant's body that they are broken, and an elephant that has sheltered itself in them falls. But those who are more experienced in perils rely on such trees which can never fall. The other elephants usually run to the fallen one's cries, and when they cannot bend down and raise their partner, they groan together and cry as if they sympathize with the sufferer. But the little elephants, supposing themselves to be as strong as they are (with their tusks), sometimes raise him, and thus he is delivered from the hands of the hunters. Now this is the reason why those who fall cannot rise: they have solid bones without joints; whence the legs and trunks cannot bend. In youth, however, they can bend. Its bones are very large. But its flesh is very small in comparison with the body. They have legs almost equal in thickness like a log from the bottom of the foot to the belly. Liber rerum: Now this is the reason why those who fall cannot rise: they have solid bones without joints; whence the legs and shins cannot bend. In youth, however, they can bend. As the Experimentator says, it bends its hind legs like a man. Their feet are round like an apple, but they have hidden toes, which are not fixed, and for this reason they have no claws at all. When an elephant walks, due to the weight of its body and the power of its strength, it presses its feet to the ground so deeply that it is dangerous for other animals such as horses and bulls to walk behind it. The left foot is lighter for movement in an elephant than the right; and this against every kind of animal beyond man. Aristotle: And it should be noted that its intestines are arranged and formed unlike all the animals of the earth. For they have a villous intestine wrapped in their belly, which if you saw and did not disentangle with your hand, you would think that it had ten stomachs. They have no other stomach. Its liver is four times larger than that of an ox, and the remainder of its intestines likewise, except for the spleen, which is small in relation to the body. But sometimes an elephant becomes infirm with swelling, and because of this it cannot then expel urine or dung. And if the elephant eats earth, it will die. There are, however, some elephants who are accustomed to eat earth and do not die from it; and in this it may be seen how much a habit is worth, which seems to be as if second nature. Now the elephant has pain in the joints, and against this it is helped by drinking cold water and grass dipped in honey. The wind does much harm to the elephants, and through this they contract infirmities. But when the elephant is sore on the scapulas, the flesh of the pig roasted and placed on top of it takes care of it. Some elephants can drink oil, some cannot. But among those who drink oil, if there is iron in the belly, it will be taken out from the drink of oil. By nature elephants drink wine with pleasure. But when they cannot drink, it is a sign that they are weak; and then they must be given medicine by which they can be cleansed. But that medicine must be given to them diluted with oil, and they will be cured. When an elephant roars, it roars through its mouth without a nose, and its roar is with much breath. Sometimes, however, it happens that it shouts from the side of its nose; but then its shouting is not horrible, but sweet as a flute. An elephant grows up for forty years, and then it feels the cold and the winter and the cold wind. This animal is very riverine, since in India, where they are born, they always live on rivers. When it wants to swim in the water, it immerses himself in the water up to the tip, that is, the beak which is called the trunk, because its tip is above the face of the water, and he breathes through it. And it cannot last long in swimming because of the excessive weight of its body. - [Badke translation/paraphrase]

Albertus Magnus [ca. 1200-1280 CE] (De animalibus, Book 22, 37): The elephant uses its appendage, or trunk, in place of a hand, to do battle, garner food and perform sundry tasks. When making sounds, sometimes it opens its mouth and gives vent to a terrifying roar; other times it trumpets through its trunk, producing a more melodious tone, similar to blowing through the hollow of a large reed. The story goes: the elephant fears the mouse and detests the grunting of pigs, to the extent of avoiding both of these animals; it is also said to be a natural enemy of the wild ox. Some writers assert there are large-bodied dragons which grapple with elephants and, after besting them, drink their blood to cool and moderate the raging heat of their own bodies. In my estimation this is merely a fabulous tale. ... So great is their strength they can bear the weight of twelve men mounted in a wooden turret on their back. Some of the larger specimens of elephants are said to be capable of carrying forty men. In point of fact, they are divided into two genera, the nobler of which attains a prodigious size. Their legs are massive and uniform in diameter from top to bottom, much like the columns of a building. Though each foot is divided into multiple digits, nature has conjoined the toes to give added strength for weight-bearing. For the same reason, they are believed to have no flexible joints above their knees; more likely, these joints are stiff rather than freely movable, but to the superficial observer appear to have no fulcrum points of flexure. In actuality, if the elephant had no such flexibility, it would be unable to walk with a coordinated gait. Elephant meat is cold, dry and distasteful. However, a person may be cured of a chronic cough by sipping a broth made from elephant meat, water, salt and fennel seeds. When a decoction of elephant meat, marinated and cooked with vinegar and fennel seeds, is given to a pregnant woman, it will cause her to expel the contents of her uterus. A quarter of an ounce of dried elephant bile instilled into the nostrils is said to help prevent epileptic seizures. An end-cut of elephant liver, boiled in water and leaves of the citron tree, is beneficial for treating pains in the liver. When a person is infested with lice, he should smear his body with fresh elephant manure and leave it on until it dries; the pediculi will not tolerate the presence of the manure and will abandon his body with dispatch. It is claimed elephant lard rubbed on the scalp will cure a headache. According to another claim, an ounce of pulverized elephant bone mixed in the steepings of ten ounces of wild mountain mint is a salutary drink for anyone who has made first contact with leprosy. If a house or living area is plagued by mosquitoes, fumigation by burning dried elephant dung will cause the insects to flee. - [Scanlan]

Guillaume le Clerc [ca. 1210 CE] (Bestiaire, Chapter 37): We ought not to hold the story / Of the elephant to ridicule. / It is the biggest beast there is / And can carry the biggest loads. / It is full wise and understanding. / In battle it is very useful; / There it plays a great part. / The Indians and the Persians / When they engage in great combats / Are wont to load great towers on it / Of worked wood well embattled. / When they come into a great fight / There mount up the archers, / The squires and the knights, / For to shoot at their enemies. / The female I am told / Carries two years when pregnant, / Then gives birth and not before; / Nor will she ever—know this— / Give birth more than once / And then she will have but one calf. / She fears so much a dragon, / That in a pond she goes to calve / For to keep her young from death; / And the male keeps watch outside / To guard and defend them both. / The writing says of the elephants / That they live quite two hundred years. / In India and in Africa is their abode; / In these countries they used to be born, / In Africa they are born no more, / But in India they still remain. / When the male will beget young / By his companion and mate / To the east together they go / To a mountain hard by paradise / There where the mandrake grows, / Of which we shall make mention later. / The female of the elephant / Goes to the plant at once, / She eats of the plant first, / And the male without ado / Eats of it too when he sees that, / For the female beguiles him. / When both have eaten of it / And have played and frolicked / And come together to their business / As beasts should do, / The female at once conceives, / And the calf which she gets / She bears two years, as I have told you. / Near her time she is in great fear / Of the dragon which spies on them. / In a pond very deep she goes / To give birth because of the dragon, / That he may not steal away her calf; / For if she had it out of the water / The dragon would devour it. / Of the elephant I dare tell you: / Good is the skin, good are the bones, / And who would burn them in fire, / Know that the smell would drive away / All serpents which might be near / And which had venom in them. / No venom may dwell there / Where man burns the bones. / Of the bones they make precious ivory, / Which they fashion in many a way. / The elephant has a very big body; / When it comes to a rich meadow, / Out of its mouth issues a pipe / With which it feeds itself in the pasture, / Else it would not reach its food / Without kneeling down so low. / And if it were on its knees, / Indeed it could not get up by itself. - [Druce translation]

Bartholomaeus Anglicus [13th century CE] (Liber de proprietatibus rerum, Book18.42-44): [Book 18.42] The Elephant is called Elephas, and Elephantus also, and hath that name of Elphio in Gréeke, that is to saye, an hill, and that for great quantitie of his body: but the Indies call him Barro, & therefore his voyce is called Barritus, and his téeth are called Ehur, and his snowte and wroote is called Promuscis, or Proboscis, for therewith he bringeth his meate to his mouth, as Isido[re] sayth, libro. 12. and sayeth, that this Beast is sharpe in wrath and in battayle. Uppon these beasts the Medes and Perses used to fight in towers of trée, and threwe & shot out darts, as it were out of towers and Castles. These beasts have wit and minde passing other beastes, and goe in feare in their manner going, and voyd & flye the mouse, and doe the déede of generation backward: and the female foleth in water or in wood, and leaveth hir foale where she foaleth, because of dragons that be enemies to them, and spanneth them and slaieth them: she goeth with foale two yeares, and gendereth not but once, & he lyveth thrée hundred yeare, as Isid. saith li. 12. And lib. 8. ca. 1. Pli[ny] saith, that among beasts ye Elephant is most of vertue: so ye upeth among men is so great redines sound. For as he telleth, in ye new Moone they come together in great companies, and bath and wash them in a river, & come so together in the new of ye Moone, & lot each to other, & turne so againe to their owne places, & they make the young go before in the turning againe, & kéepeth them busily, & teach them to do in the same wise: and when they be sicke, they gather good hearbs, and ere they use the hearbs, they heave up the head and looke up towarde heaven, & pray for help of God in a certaine Religion: and they be good of wit, & learne well, & are easie to teach, insomuch yt they be taught to know ye king, & to worship him, and busieth to do him reverence, & to bend ye knées in worship of him. Also ca. 5. it is said, that if Elephants sée a man comming against them that is out of the way in wildernes, for that they wold not afray him, they will draw themselves somewhat out of the way, & then they stint, & passe little & little before him, and teach him the way, & if a dragon come against him, they fight with ye dragon, & defend ye man, & put them forth to defend the man strongly & mightely, and doe so namely when they have young foales: for they dred yt the man séeketh their foales, & therfore they purpose first to deliver them of ye man, yt they may more safely féed their young, & keep them ye more warely. Also li. 8. ca. 6. Alway they goe together, & the eldest leadeth ye company, & the next in age helpeth in the doing. When they shal passe over a river or a water, they send ye young before, lest ye foord were let by coming of ye more Elephants, & so they might not passe conveniently. Also among them is a strange shamefastnes: for if one of them be overcome, he yt is overcome, flyeth the voice of ye victor, & they doe ye déedes of generation in privy places, when ye male is five yeres old, & the females x. yere, & that but in two yeare, as he telleth: & in these two yeare, but onely five daies, & seldome the sixt day, as he saith: and be full perillous in time of generation, and namely the wilde Elephants, for they throw downe houses and stables of the Indians, and therefore the Indians hide that season their tame female Elephats. And Elephants bée best in chivalrie when they be tame: for they beare towers of tree, and throw down scaffolds, and overturne men of armes, and that is wonderful, for they dread not men of armes ranged in battayle, and dread and flye the voyce of the least sounde of a Swine. Also cap. 40. with forhead and snowte he throweth down high palmes, and eateth the fruite thereof. Also betwéene Elephants and Dragons is perpetuall wrath and strife: For that one hath enuie at that other, for great might and strength, and for quantitie of body, and the Dragon loveth to drinke the Elephauntes bloude, to coole his burning heate, for that bloud is most colde, as it is sayde before in the same Booke, wher he intreateth of the Dragon. Looke there. [Book 18.43] Aristotle lib. 1. and Avicen[na] meane, that the Elephants nose is long, and strong with bolning, and harde as an horne: and he useth his nose in stéed of an hand, and thereby he taketh meate & drinke, and putteth it in his mouth, and so the Elephant hath two pappes in the breast, and strong tuskes in the mouth, and his tongue is full lyttle in comparison to his bodye, and is seene within: & is but seldome séene without, but when he lycketh his lyppes after meate and drinke, and in him is found but one gut folden and wrapped in manye manner wise: and that gut is in him in stéede of stomacke, and therafter is but one other by the which his dirte passeth out, and hath a great lyver, foure times so greate as the lyver of an Oxe, and hath a lytle mylte & splene in comparison to his body, and that is as Avicen[na] sayeth, for in him Melancholia that humor passeth in to nourishing. Also li. 7. Arist[otle] saith, that when he is gendred, teeth be gendered in him. With his snowte and nose hée wrooteth up trees, and breatheth therewith when he swimmeth, and casteth out water: and that harde snowte Calceus is made of hard gristles. And when the Elephant sitteth, he bendeth his feet: and may not bend foure at once, for hevinesse and waight of the body: but hee leaneth to the right side or to the lefte side, and sléepeth standing, and he bendeth the hinder legs right as a man. Also libro. 5. the male gendereth at the fifthe yeare, and the female at the tenth, and unto fortie yeares, and resteth after that she hath foaled thrée yeares, & after that she hath conceived, she toucheth not the male, and gorth with fole in hir wombe, two yeares: and when the foale is foaled, it is lyke to a Calfe of two or thrée months olde. Also lib. 6. the Elephaunt hath sicknesse that commeth of ventositie and of winde, and by that sicknesse, he may not pisse nor shite. And if he eateth earth he dyeth, but if he be used therto, but somtime he swalloweth stones: and hath also ache in the joyntes, and there-against helpeth drink of colde water, and grasse and hearbs plunged in honie, for these two things letteth fluxe of the womb: and when the ache is so sore, that he may not sléep, his sholders must be balmed with oyle and hot water, and thereby he is holpe: and the same dothSwines flesh rosted, laied and bound to the shoulders that aketh. And if he hath yron in his bodye, Oyle is given him to drinke, and the yron is drawen oute by drinking of Oyle: and if he may not drinke Oyle, medicines are sodden in Oyle, and given him to eate. Also libro. 8. he saith, that the male is more of body and more bolde and hardie then the female, but the male is tamed by beating, & when he is beaten he is obedient while the hunter sitteth upon him, and when the hunter lighteth downe, his fore feete bée bound untill he be tame. And in the same booke in littera F. it followeth, that he is more able to be tamed, & more obedient then all other wilde beastes, and hath more wit, and feeleth colde in winter, and colde winde, and is a beast that useth much waters and rivers, & dwelleth beside rivers, and wadeth in water unto the chinne, and swimmeth: but he may not dure long in swimming for hevinesse of the bodye. And Elephauntes bée without Gall, as Aristotle sayeth libro. 14. but they be accidentallye cruell and fierce when they bée too soone angred, or if they be wine dronken, to make them sharpe to fight in battaile. Also li. 18. Aristo[tle] saith, that no beast lyveth so long as the Elephant, and that his complection is lyke to the ayre that he dwelleth in: and so it néedeth that she goe with foale two yeares, for greatnesse of the foale, that may not be perfectly, and complete shapen in lesse time. [Book 18.44] Of Elephants Solinus speaketh and sayth, that he kéepeth the course and order of the starres: and Elephants in wexing of the Moone goe to Rivers, and when they are besprong with lycour, they salute and welcome the rising of the Sunne with certaine movings, as they may, and then they tourne againe into woodes and landes. Their youthe is knowen by whitenesse of téethe, of the which téeth, that one is alway working, and that other is spared, least hée shoulde wexe dull with continuall smiting and rubbing: but when they are pursued with hunters, then they smite both togethers, and breake them, that they be no longer pursued, when ye téeth be appayred and defiled: for they know, that theyr téethe, are the cause of theyr perill. They gender seldome, and then they wash themselves ofte in running water, and tourne not againe to the flock, before the washing and bathing. They fight never for females, nor knowe not spouse breache: and if they fight in any case, they be sull busie to helpe them that are hurte and wounded in the middle among them, and defend them more than themselves. And when they be taken, they are made tame and mild with Barley: and a cave or ditche is made under the earth, as it were a pitfall in the Elephaunts waye, and unwares he falleth therein, and then one of the hunters commeth to him, and beateth and smiteth him, and pricketh him full sore: and then another hunter commeth and smiteth the first hunter, and doth him away, and defendeth the Elephaunt, and giveth him Barley to eate: and when he hath eaten thrice or foure times, then he loveth him that defended him, and is afterwarde milde and obedient to him. And if it happeneth, that he swalloweth a Worme that is called Camelion, he taketh and eateth of wilde Olyve Tree, and is so holpe agaynst the venimme. His wombe is softe, and his ridge is harde: and therefore when he fighteth with the Unicorne, he putteth foorth the backe against him, least he sticke him with his horne in the softe bellye. He hath lyttle hayre, and no bristelles, and large eares, long and thinne, and hanging downewarde. And hée réeseth and smiteth therewith full sore, when he is wrath against the Dragon that hée hateth full sore: and no wonder. For the Dragon desireth to drinke his bloud when he may. And the dragon assaileth him never, but when the Elephant is full of drinke, that he may take the more plenty of the weary Elephants bloud, when he is full of moisture within, Huc usque Soli[nus] that setteth many other propertyes, the which Plinius rehearseth before. - [Batman]

Slavic Physiologus [15th - 16th century]: There is a beast named elephant, a very large one. He possesses a great strength. Both his eating and drinking are more wondrous than those of other animals. All beasts honour him for his strength. He has no joints in his bones and cannot bend them. His leg bones are of one piece. He goes to the female and stands. When they come together, the female animal finds an herb [called mandragora] and tastes it and is aroused. And she comes to the male, dancing, and she moves; and he, having tasted the herb, gets aroused and so he pairs with her. When the day to give birth approaches, she comes near great water and measures the water to reach her belly. Then she delivers the calf. If she delivers on the ground, she cannot get up, as she has no knees. And when she delivers in the water, she embraces the calf with her trunk and swims in the water; she supports him and holds him under his belly with her tail and breastfeeds him. And when [the calf] stands on the ground, he walks away with his parents. When the elephant needs a rest, he comes to a stooping tree and has a rest. How does the hunter catch him? The hunter comes earlier and finds the tree where he rests. And he cuts under it, and [the elephant] leans on it and collapses together with the tree. And the hunter comes and finds him. ... The way he leaned and fell, he will not be able to rise. And the hunter comes and catches him. Had the hunter not done so, he would never have caught the elephant. And if the hunter does not come on time, [the elephant] shouts and a great elephant hears him and comes to raise him up. But he cannot, so they both shout. Four elephants came to raise him and could not. All shouted and twelve elephants came and could not raise him. And they all shouted and a small elephant came who raised him.- [Stoykova, English translation by Mladenova and Stoykov]