Mahout

“He wishes to be paid in baubles”, scoffed Baxter from atop the swaying pachyderm.

“What use are trinkets to a mahout?” I retorted. "Mahouts are simple folk, clad in modest robes. They possess only their ankusha – that barbed hook with which they drive their beasts."


But then I glanced upon him. He was festooned in brooches, pins and decorative fobs of every hue. From his curlicue sandals to his bejeweled turban he was resplendent. His proud eyes proclaimed his nobility and his waxed pointy beard betrayed his Cathar linage.

Later I would learn that he was of the “Rewghawan” tradition of mahoutery – those whose influence derives from their love and study of elephant lore.

At once I began rummaging in my burlap gunnysack for a gewgaw that would compliment his ornate brocade.

From “Five Hundred Nights in Tantarabim” by Dobson