Elephants on Parade Trivia Quiz

Answer: Second Punic War

It seems that my classmates do listen in class, so I asked one what the lesson was about. She replied:

"Rome and Carthage fought three wars over a period of more than 100 years from 264 B.C. to approximately 146 B.C. These wars, called the Punic Wars, ultimately cemented Rome's position as the dominant power in the region, and ended with Carthage's defeat. This lesson focused on the Second Punic War, in which the rival states battled over the Iberian Peninsula, specifically Saguntum. A young Carthaginian general - "

"Yeah, yeah," I interrupted, "But what was that about the elephants?"

"As I was saying," she repeated, "A young Carthaginian general named Hannibal led the first expedition to ever cross the Pyrenees and Alps. With all his troops, he made the grueling journey and attacked the Romans from the north."

"Just tell me about the galumphing heffalumps!"

"Several war elephants went with Hannibal as part of his expedition. They survived the extreme temperatures, fatigue, and fording of the river to do battle on the plains before Rome. Satisfied, now? Can I continue?"

"Fine," I grumbled. "Make it quick."

"Long story short, Hannibal was successful in Italy, but the Romans counterattacked by besieging Carthage. Hannibal returned to Africa, got defeated by Scipio, and Carthage had to make peace."

So much for those elephants. Apparently they died in Italy.

Answer: Iran

After class, I dashed over to one of my friends and asked, "What was class about, and how did elephants bulldoze their way in again?"

"This lesson was about the Islamic Republic of Iran, commonly known as Iran," she began. "Iran lies in Asia and borders the Caspian Sea and two gulfs, the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. The capital city is Tehran. The official language of Iran is Persian, as spoken by the country's population of - okay, stop giving me that look and I'll get to the point about elephants".

"Please do," I yawned. "You sound just like a Wikipedia article".

"The empire our teacher referred to is the Achaemenid Empire, and the capital city Persepolis. Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia, led an army into Persia. He and the Persian king Darius met several times, but the first recorded encounter between the Macedonian army and elephants took place at the Battle of Gaugamela. Of course, Alexander won, taking as captives the elephants. Later, he would integrate elephants into his regular army".

Answer: Toomai of the Elephants

I make a habit of not engaging in any of my classes, but I got interested in this story, so despite myself I listened to my teacher read "Toomai of the Elephants" aloud, then nodded along as two of the students debated over who was the main character.

"Little Toomai is clearly the main character. First, the title says it all: 'Toomai of the Elephants'. Second, he is the one honored at the end of the book, not Kala Nag or any of the other elephants. Third, much of the book is about him."

"Nonsense. The book details an elephant dance, not a Little Toomai dance. Little Toomai would be nobody if he hadn't happened to be the one on Kala Nag's back and witnessed the elephant dance. In fact the entire book would be pointless were it not for the elephants parading about in it."

"That's ridiculous!"

Okay, maybe the class isn't so interesting after all. I furtively pulled out my iPad and began to watch "Elephant Boy", a movie shot in 1937 and based on Little Toomai's story.

The incorrect answers are all short stories in "The Jungle Book".

Answer: Blindness

I absolutely detest writing essays, so I hunted up another student and persuaded him to help with my essay by agreeing to do his math homework. He gave me a rough draft and told me to dumb it down. Mildly insulted, I read the following:

"The parable of the 'Blind Men and the Elephant' springs from its roots in India. It most likely stemmed from Hindu teachings, and has also been integrated into several other religions. The tale has different versions, but they all share the same theme, that of a number of blind men exploring the physical features of an elephant, then debating over it. The discord comes from each man touching a different part of the elephant, and determining his own discernment of the animal by that one feature, which in the case of all the blind men, is completely erroneous.

In the West, the story is best known through John Godfrey Saxe's poetic version . His poem has his blind men arguing over an elephant. The first, approaching the elephant, strikes its solid body and refers to the animal as a wall. The second man grasps a tusk and calls the elephant a spear. The third blind man encounters the proboscis and is sure it is like a snake. The last three, by touching a leg, ear, and the tail, deem it similar to a tree, fan, and rope.

The poem ends with a moral, stating that like in the parable, theological debates feature ignorant men disputing over something they do not know or understand."

The rest of the essay carefully analyzes the different aspects of the poem such as its number of stanzas, lines, and alliteration, rhyme, and whatnot. I think I made a very good bargain, getting a lot for a few math problems.

Answer: Female

Having been forced into class, I decided I might as well listen. After all, I get a huge percentage of my credits from taking this class, so I suppose I really shouldn't fail it. It just is such a boring bother.

I took the precaution of recording the class on my computer, so on the way home I listened to class again.

"Class, what are elephants? First, let us define elephants through scientific classification. Elephants belong to the kingdom Animalia, which as you all know means they are animals. Being vertebrates, they are further classified as part of the phylum Chordata. Next - "

I clicked fast forward. Love that function!

"- elephant behavior. Female elephants are led by the eldest female elephant, who leads the herd of her female children and their calves. Other elephants, generally young elephants, may then join the herd. Such a herd is known as a matriarchal herd due to the leadership of the female elephant, or matriarch. When the bull calves grow up, they leave the herd. They then roam alone or sometimes form bachelor herds with a few other male elephants. The females and calves remain in the herd. When the matriarch dies, her eldest daughter assumes leadership."

I woke with a start as we turned down my street. I'd fallen asleep listening to class.

Answer: Water for Elephants

When the film ended, I made the mistake of asking my sister what film she had been watching. As I should have known, I had to suffer through her swooning over Robert Pattinson first. Then, I got an earache from the earfuls of information she stuffed into my head.

The gist of what she said was that they were watching "Water for Elephants", a romance/drama film based on a novel by Sarah Gruen. The novel had been written for NaNoWriMo. Francis Lawrence directed the film, which starred Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. The film follows Jacob Jankowski as he relives his youth. After a tragic accident, he hops on a train carrying a circus. He is hired on as the circus' veterinarian by August, the trainer. (SPOILERS) He and August's wife Marlena have an affair. The circus gets a new animal, an elephant named Rosie. During a big showdown, Rosie kills August. Jacob and Marlena marry and live happily ever after until she dies.

Answer: Dumbo

In annoyance, I picked up the plush toy and threw it out of my door. Instantly, there was a cry and my little brother dashed after it all the way down the stairs. Puffing, he came back up and yelled, "Don't you dare touch my Dumbo! He's my good little Dumbo, what are you being mean to him for?"

"Why was he in my bedroom?" I retorted. "And he's just a stuffed animal, what's the big deal?"

"Just a stuffed animal!" He repeated angrily, then using the most grown up voice he could assume, he began lecturing me on his elephant, as if I needed more lectures. "Dumbo is a dear little circus elephant. He was brought to his mother, Mrs. Jumbo, by a stork. His best friend is Timothy, a mouse. Also me. I'm his best friend and you can't hurt him! Also, when he got drunk and saw pink elephants parading in front of his eyes, he found he could fly with his enormous ears. So if you're always mean to him like the other elephants, he'll get back at you, you'll see. And you'll be sorry. And Disney will make another film about him with you as the villain who cries at the end. Just you wait!"

He stomped off. I watched him go, thinking, "I wish the stork would come back and take you back to wherever your precious Dumbo came from".

Answer: An apparent, yet unspoken, fact

Over dinner, I loudly complained to my parents about that insult. To my chagrin, they burst out laughing and dismissively told me to consult a dictionary. I went to my room and took down the dictionary, which had been used so little it had collected a fair amount of dust.

Flipping to the correct page, I read that the idiom "elephant in the room" refers to a fact, usually problematic or embarrassing, that may be thought about a lot, but never spoken of. The use of an elephant refers to the fact that an elephant is so huge it would be very conspicuous in a room. Therefore, people could not miss an elephant, so not discussing it is avoiding a substantial issue.

Later, my dad explained that they had been talking about a business matter, in particular their sleazy - at least, I think that's the word he used - clients.

Answer: Hathi

Halfway through the book, I realized that I really didn't want to read it, but did want to know more about Hathi, the bull elephant in "The Second Jungle Book". So, I texted my friend, asking her for a summary.

She called me back, and briefly explained that Hathi is the leader of the elephants in Mowgli's world. The Hindi word for "elephant" is "hathi", hence his name. Hathi has trampled up two villages. He is very patient and wise. He has featured in Disney adaptations of the book.

Finally a brief answer! I'm glad at least one of my friends knows me well enough.

Answer: Oliphaunt

An Oliphaunt is a beast native to Harad. It appears in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Oliphaunt is the name the hobbits gave, but in Gondor an Oliphaunt is known as a Mumak, plural Mumakil. The poem quoted above was recited by Sam Gamgee, a hobbit who had always wanted to see one. He finally got to in "The Two Towers".

Bother, that really sounded like one of my long-winded acquaintances. I'm probably getting tired, so I'm sounding very boring.