POST SCRIPTS

it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot. There was a large thorn deeply embedded in the bottom of the foot.

As carefully and as gently as he could he removed the thorn and the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man and, with a rather stern look on its face, stared at him. For a good ten minutes the man stood frozen - thinking of not hing else but being trampled.

Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.

For years after, the man remembered the elephant and the events of that day.

One day the man was walking through the zoo with his son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to where they were standing at the rail. It stared at him and the man couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant.

After a while it trumpeted loudly; then it continued to stare at him. The man summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.

Suddenly the elephant trumpeted again... wrapped its trunk around one of the man's legs and swung him wildly back and forth along the railing, tearing off his clothes before he flung the man back across the fence, all bruised and bloody...

uh, probably wasn't the same elephant.

(Wait a sec...I think I have the moral of this story now, it was a Ronald Reagan quote...does this fit "Trust but verify?" )