[395] "Suppose, Aggivessana, a head-anointed khattiya king were to address an elephant woodsman: 'Come, good elephant woodsman, mount the king's elephant, enter the elephant forest, and when you have spotted a forest elephant, bind it by the neck to the king's elephant.' 'Yes, sire,' the elephant woodsman replied to the head-anointed khattiya king; and having mounted the king's elephant and entered the elephant forest, having spotted a forest elephant, he binds it by the neck to the king's elephant. Then the king's elephant leads it out into the open. To that extent, Aggivessana, the forest elephant has come out into the open; for it is to this, Aggivessana, that forest elephants are attached — namely, the elephant forest. Then the elephant woodsman informs the head-anointed khattiya king: 'Sire, your forest elephant has come out into the open.' Then the head-anointed khattiya king addresses an elephant tamer: 'Come, good elephant tamer, tame the forest elephant — for the subduing of its forest habits, for the subduing of its forest memories and intentions, for the subduing of its forest distress, weariness, and fever, for making it delight in the village precincts, and for instilling in it habits agreeable to human beings.' 'Yes, sire,' the elephant tamer replied to the head-anointed khattiya king; and having planted a great post in the earth, he binds the forest elephant to it by the neck — for the subduing of its forest habits, for the subduing of its forest memories and intentions, for the subduing of its forest distress, weariness, and fever, for making it delight in the village precincts, and for instilling in it habits agreeable to human beings.
Then the elephant tamer addresses it with such words as are faultless, pleasing to the ear, affectionate, going to the heart, urbane, dear to many people, agreeable to many people. And when, Aggivessana, the forest elephant, being addressed by the elephant tamer with such words as are faultless, pleasing to the ear, affectionate, going to the heart, urbane, dear to many people, agreeable to many people, listens willingly, lends an ear, and applies its mind to understanding, then the elephant tamer furnishes it further with grass, fodder, and water. When, Aggivessana, the forest elephant accepts the elephant tamer's grass, fodder, and water, it occurs to the elephant tamer: 'Now the forest elephant will live!' Then the elephant tamer sets it a further task: 'Take up, good sir! Put down, good sir!' When, Aggivessana, the king's elephant does as it is told and carries out the elephant tamer's instruction in taking up and putting down, the elephant tamer sets it a further task: 'Go forward, good sir! Go back, good sir!' When, Aggivessana, the king's elephant does as it is told and carries out the elephant tamer's instruction in going forward and going back, the elephant tamer sets it a further task: 'Rise up, good sir! Lie down, good sir!' When, Aggivessana, the king's elephant does as it is told and carries out the elephant tamer's instruction in rising up and lying down, the elephant tamer sets it the further task called imperturbability (āneñja): he binds a great plank to its trunk; a man with a lance in hand sits upon its neck; men with lances in hand stand surrounding it on all sides; and the elephant tamer himself, taking a long lance-pole, stands in front. While it is being made to perform the task of imperturbability, it moves neither its fore feet nor its hind feet; it moves neither the fore part of its body nor the hind part of its body; it does not move its head, does not move its ears, does not move its tusks, does not move its tail, does not move its trunk. That king's elephant becomes one who endures blows of spears, blows of swords, blows of arrows, and blows from enemies, and the resounding din of drums, kettledrums, conches, and tom-toms; with all crookedness and defect struck down, its dross purged away, it is reckoned worthy of a king, fit for a king's use, counted as a very limb of the king."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.