- Grey as a mouse,
- Big as a house,
- Nose like a snake,
- I make the earth shake,
- As I tramp through the grass;
- Trees crack as I pass.
- With horns in my mouth
- I walk in the South,
- Flapping big ears.
- Beyond count of years
- I stump round and round,
- Never lie on the ground,
- Not even to die.
- Oliphaunt am I,
- Biggest of all,
- Huge, old, and tall.
- If ever you’d met me
- You wouldn’t forget me.
- If you never do,
- You won’t think I’m true;
- But old Oliphaunt am I,
- And I never lie.
- J.R.R. Tolkien
This is an actual photograph of an unusually large herd of elephants (800) moving through Chad toward the Tinga.
