White Elephants
Siam has been called the "Land of the White Elephant,' and no account of the country would be complete which failed to take notice of these peculiar animals. The national flag is a white elephant on a scarlet ground; the mercantile flag is a white elephant on a blue ground; and on every temple and official building this wonderful creature is fashioned in stone, wood, and plaster.
In former days the King did not feel himself fully a king unless he possessed a white elephant, and he never hesitated about undertaking a war in order to obtain one of these rare animals. There is a story that Gautama was once a white elephant, and that his mother, in a dream, met him in heaven in that shape. Another legend says that now and again in the world's history a monarch appears who conquers and rules every nation under the sun. This monarch is known by certain signs, and by the possession of certain objects. Of seven particular things that he owns, a white elephant is one, and without a white elephant he could not become king of the world. Then many of the Siamese believe that the animal is inhabited by the soul of some great man of the past, or by that of someone yet unborn, who will in due time be a person of great distinction.
In former years no subject was allowed to keep a white elephant. If by chance he found one, he hastened to present it to the King. If he dared to try to keep it
