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The Thirty-ninth Chapter
The elephants, raising their trunks high, were spraying water upwards, making the water look like a crystal rod, shining in the sky. (133)
Some elephants, their fatigue washed away by the water, were happily munching on lotus stalks, their satisfaction evident. (134)
Other elephants, with lotus stalks held in their tusks, looked as if their tusks had sprouted from the constant watering. (135)
One elephant, intoxicated with madness, mistook the lotus stalk he was holding aloft for a rope and offered it to his mahout, doubling it up. (136)
A timid elephant, pulling a lotus stalk stuck to his foot, mistook it for a chain and stood on the edge of the lake. (137)
Elephants, standing with lotuses raised in their trunks, looked as if they were offering oblations to the gods, remembering them. (138)
The elephants, their bodies washed by the lake waves, were adorned with the pollen of the dense lotuses, looking as if they had been bathed and decorated. (139)
The birds, abandoning the lake water surrounded by elephants, went to the shore of the lake. This is fitting for the weak. (140)
Some elephants, their bodies cleansed by entering the lake, were again making themselves dirty by kicking up dust. (141)
"We are Chandals by birth, and intoxicated by our own madness. Where can we find purity?" Thinking this, the elephants covered themselves in dust. (142)
Thus, the elephants, having enjoyed the beautiful lakes for a long time, and having calmed their inner heat with the water, went to the trees on the shore. They did not know that there was a definite bond in the world, which they could not escape. (143)