A Girl And Her Elephant by Zoey Gong Book Tour and Giveaway :)
A
Girl and Her Elephant
The
Animal Companions Series #1
by
Zoey Gong
Genre:
YA Adventure
All
of the elephants wept as one of their own lay dying in childbirth.
But Kanita, the daughter of the royal elephant trainer, refused to
give up. With her own hands, she helped bring the baby elephant,
Safi, into the world, beginning a lifelong friendship between a girl
and her elephant.
But
many of the villagers worried about the curse of the white elephant
with the red birthmark across her face.
Raised
in the mountains of northern Siam, Kanita’s idyllic life is
shattered when she is ordered to marry a much older man and leave her
beloved yet cursed elephant behind. But Kanita’s stubborn nature
refuses to bow to her parents’ wishes.
Kanita
and Safi flee their village with the goal of redeeming Safi from her
cursed reputation and cementing their bond, vowing to never be
separated.
But
the jungle is more dangerous than Kanita or Safi could have
imagined.
From
new author Zoey Gong, follow Kanita and Safi through the jungles of
ancient Siam in a story of friendship, hope, and redemption.
A
Girl and her Elephant is the first book in the Animal Companion
series, but each book is a stand-alone novel with new characters and
adventures.
**Only
.99 cents!**
The cries of the elephant could be
heard throughout the jungle.
Kanita could no longer ignore the
elephant’s suffering. Even though her father—the king’s
mahout—had warned her to stay away, she had to see what was
happening for herself. She snuck out of her bedroom window and ran
through the village to the royal stables where the white elephant was
in heavy labor. Even though it was late at night,
the stables and yard were lit with torches, and mahouts were running
here and there, trying to calm the rest of the elephant herd. But
they seemed incapable of being consoled, and each one trumpeted in
distress. “Bring
more hot water!” Kanita heard her father call to one of his men.
“And my kris. I will have to cut the baby loose.” Her father had asked for his
dagger! The poor elephant, Kanita thought. If the
elephant—one of the sacred white elephants—died, the king would
be displeased. She moved a bale of hay to a stable window and climbed
on top of it to get a better view. On the floor of the stables was
the large white elephant. She was straining to birth her calf into
the world and tears seeped from her eyes. She looked at Kanita, and Kanita’s
heart froze in her chest. It was as though she could hear the
elephant begging her for help. The elephant’s wet eyes found
Kanita’s, and she raised her trunk toward her. Kanita jumped down from the hay
bale and ran into the stables. She had to do something to help. As
she entered the building, she saw her father walk behind the elephant
with his kris. “Por!
No!” Kanita cried as she ran to him, pulling on his arm. “You’ll
kill her.” “Kanita!”
he said sternly. “I told you to stay in the house with your mother.
Get out of here.” “No,
I can help,” she said. She went to the elephant and looked at where
the baby was supposed to come out. The area was red and swollen, but
she thought she could see a trunk trying to wiggle out. She had never helped birth a baby
elephant before. As a girl, she was forbidden from becoming a mahout.
But she had helped her mother bring a woman’s baby into the world
just a few days before. It didn’t look so different to her. She
just needed to reach inside and pull the baby out. And with her small
hands and arms, she thought she was just the right size to do it.
She slid her hands inside the
mother elephant. “Be
careful,” her father cautioned. “Can you feel the calf’s legs?” She wasn’t sure what she was
feeling. It was like nothing in the world she had touched before. She
closed her eyes and let her hands do the seeing for her. She felt it. The trunk. She could
feel the length of it and the ridges up to the baby elephant’s
face. She felt the trunk wrap around her arm. “I
feel its face!” Kanita cried.
“Keep
going,” her father said. She pushed further into the
elephant, all the way to her shoulders. She slid her hands down the
side of the baby elephant and gripped it under its front leg. “I
have it!” she said. “I have the leg!” She tried to pull it out,
but she was not strong enough. “Help me!” she cried. Her father wrapped his arms around
her waist and pulled. “Don’t let go!” he ordered. She could feel her hands start to
slip, but she refused to release her grip. The baby elephant’s
trunk wrapped even more tightly around her arm. She started to feel
the baby elephant’s mass give way. “It’s
coming!” she yelled, and the mother elephant trumpeted again,
forcing the baby out. Kanita and her father fell
backward as the baby elephant plopped out of her mother on top of
them covered in birthing goo. The baby struggled, still partially
trapped in her amniotic sack. Kanita’s father used his kris to cut
the sack away. The baby elephant took her first
full gasp of air, and Kanita wrapped her arms around the baby, a baby
that was probably ten times the weight of eight-year-old Kanita. A
baby girl elephant. “You
did it,” her father said, patting her on the back. Kanita breathed a sigh of relief,
happy to have saved the baby elephant and her mother. But then the mother elephant
trumpeted again and let out a horrifying moan. Blood and other fluids
poured out of the mother elephant, soaking the stable floor. “Oh
no!” Kanita cried as she stood, her chong
kraben drenched
with blood. Her feet slipped on the floor as she made her way to the
mother elephant’s face.
The mother elephant groaned as
Kanita stroked her face. “I’m
so sorry,” Kanita said. “I’ll take care of her. I promise.” The mother elephant sighed one
last time, her eyes focusing softly on Kanita as though she
understood before closing them forever. Kanita stood back and then
kneeled, kowtowing to the white elephant, thanking her for her
service to the king and honoring her as his representative. All of
the mahouts in the stables—including Kanita’s father—did the
same, as was proper. The rest of the elephants in the king’s
stables—white and gray—let out a mournful trumpet, as though they
all suffered from the loss of one of their own. Kanita was the first to raise her
head, as her thoughts were now with the baby elephant left behind.
The baby elephant was sitting up, its eyes wide, apparently confused
about what was going on. Kanita raised the baby’s trunk and coaxed
her to follow. She led her to her mother so she could nurse. Even
though the mother was dead, the milk she made in preparation for her
baby should still be good for the baby’s first drink. As the men discussed what to do
next with the deceased royal elephant—they would have to inform the
king and then hold a royal procession for her. Kanita grabbed a bucket of water
and started washing the baby. As she did so, she was greeted with an
incredible sight. “Por!”
she called to her father. “Look!” Her father and some of the other
mahouts came to see what she was excited about. “Well,
I’ll be…” her father trailed off as he sunk to his knees. The baby—like her mother—was a
white elephant. Once again, everyone in the
stables—including Kanita—prostrated themselves before an
auspicious elephant. “Is
this the first time a white elephant has been born in captivity?”
Kanita asked after they all were standing again. “King
Sakda is truly a blessed monarch,” her father said. “Hey,
boss,” one of the mahouts said, calling her father to him. He went
to him, and the two talked quietly for a moment, frowning at the baby
elephant. “What
is it?” Kanita asked. She went to her father’s side and realized
what they were looking at. The baby elephant had a long red
birthmark down one side of her face. On her pale pink skin—white
elephants were not really white, but only a pale gray or pink in
color—the mark showed dramatically. “It’s
nothing,” Kanita said, remembering that her friend Boonsri had a
red birthmark on her back. “She’s still a white elephant. We will
still honor her.” “It’s
a bad omen elephant, boss,” the other mahout mumbled. “Don’t
say that!” Kanita yelled.
“Enough,”
her father said firmly. “I will send an urgent message to the king,
telling him what happened and about the new white elephant. In all
his wisdom, he will know what to do.” “We
should take good care of her,” Kanita said. “The king will want
to know his auspicious elephant is well cared for.” Kanita went over to the little
elephant, who had now finished drinking her mother’s milk, and led
her to a clean area of the stables. She finished washing and drying
the elephant and laid her on a fresh bed of straw. “Don’t
worry,” Kanita said as she laid down with the elephant, wrapping
her arms around her. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Safi,
my sweet little friend.” But in her heart, she worried
about the mahout calling the baby elephant a “bad omen.”
ZOEY GONG was born and raised in rural Hunan Province, China. She has been studying English and working as a translator since she was sixteen years old. Now in her early twenties, Zoey loves traveling and eating noodles for every meal. She lives in Shenzhen with her cat, Jello, and dreams of one day disappointing her parents by being a Leftover Woman (剩女).
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