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The Adventures of Miles. by June Crawford Hello, My name is Miles. I live in Africa and I am an elephant. I want to share my story with you. Some people think that Africa is a dark, scary and dangerous place, because they have heard stories about wild animals roaming freely and attacking people. While Africa can be brutally hostile, it does, however, have a compassionate and loving side. Let me start my story by telling you about my family. My father is a massive bull elephant, and he is king of the herd. His name is Lazar. He has always protected us from danger, and from harmful poachers who capture and kill wild animals for profit. I never understood why poachers harm innocent animals. My mother told me one day I would understand about dangerous poachers. All I knew was that my mother and father would protect me from harm. My mother’s name was Zara. She was such a beautiful and loving mother elephant. Always blowing her trumpet in happiness was something I would never forget. Sometimes she would chase me and spray me with water from her trunk. My most precious memories were the nighttime stories about her adventures as a young elephant. Life was good. Sadly one-morning poachers killed my father. There was a lot of sadness amongst the herd of elephants. In my mother’s sadness, she pulled me up against her. She looked down at me and said, “ Miles, do not be angry, but hope that one day we all walk this earth in peace and harmony.” At that time I did not understand the true meaning of what my mother had said. I would, however, soon remember these words in true wisdom. As time went by I could see my mothers grief was taking its toll. She was becoming weak and frail. One day with sad eyes, she said, “ Miles I have something to share with you.” “I am getting older and will not be around for much longer.” “Always remember what I taught you.” “ Be strong, courteous to others, respectful, and never bully animals smaller than yourself.” “Most important of all love everyone as you would want to be loved yourself.” Tears came to her eyes, as she touched me with her trunk. “I just love you so much Miles and I know your life’s journey is going to be a wonderful experience.” Shortly, thereafter, my mother passed away. For the first time in my life I felt so alone, yet I felt her spirit with me. I knew she would not want me to be sad and I felt it was time to seek my life’s journey. So one morning I told the rest of the herd of elephants that I was leaving to explore the world, and that maybe one day we would rejoice in seeing each other again. Several days passed when suddenly I heard laughter. I hid behind a tree and there in the distance were children playing. My mother warned me about humans and to be very cautious of them. Suddenly one of the little boys threw a ball that landed right by my foot. Before I could hide the little boy came running, as he reached for the ball he stared at me with big eyes and screamed with fright. “ Do not be afraid,” I said, “ I am not here to harm you.” “ I would love to be your friend.” He stood there not uttering a word…suddenly…” You speak he said.” I just smiled. He shouted to his friends, “ come look what I found, a talking elephant.” “ My Name is Miles.” Will you all be my friend? They all gave such wide grins. The little boy told me his name was Mfuta, and the other children are my friends. Mfuta’s family welcomed me to there home. I slept in a barn that was so comfortable and in return I asked to help with the chores. I would carry heavy buckets of water from the river to their house, and sometimes I would carry huge logs so they could chop it up for fire. They were so grateful for my help. We also had fun time; I would carry them on my back and spray them with water. I could feel my mothers love around me when I saw the joy and laughter in the kids when I sprayed them with water. One day Mfuta came running towards me and was so distraught. He said, “ Hurry Miles, we have to hide you.” “My uncle is coming for a visit and he is a poacher.” He will kill you! Suddenly it brought back a dreadful flash in my mind of my father’s cruel death. Even though I knew a poacher killed my father I still could not understand why! Mfuta then told me that the poachers kill the elephants for their tusks because they are precious in ivory. People pay a lot of money for the ivory he said. So I fled and hid in the hills. I felt so alone and thought of my mother, tears came to my eyes. Mfuta was such a wonderful friend, he would sneak off and bring me food and check on me to see if I was okay. “ One day I could hear Mfuta screaming and there was such panic in his voice.” I knew something was wrong. I did not care about the danger and ran to see what was wrong. Down at the river the children were playing and Mfuta’s cousin who could not swim ventured into the river, she panicked and was drowning. Mfuta could swim but was not strong enough to save her. I jumped into the river and lifted her up with my trunk and brought her to safety. Just then Mfuta ‘s father and uncle came running to see what all the chaos was about. Mfuta crying told his father and uncle what had happened and that I had saved his daughters life. The uncle turned around and came up to me and said, “ Because you put your life in danger I could have killed you.” But, you saved my daughter. I make this promise to you today that I will never harm another elephant or any other defenseless animal again. That day I knew that I had changed; I had grown up over night and knew that my journey had just begun; it was time to say goodbye to Mfuta and his family. Mfuta said he had a present for me and presented me with the most beautiful colorful blanket. He said, “ Miles this should keep you warm at night and when you get lonely just think of me.” I curled my trunk around Mfuta and pulled him up against me. I shall miss you so much but one day we shall reunite again. Early the next morning I knew it was going to be a beautiful sunny day. I turned around and took one last glance and knew that this was the beginning of a new tomorrow, my adventure, with a bounce in my walk I began to blow my trumpet.