Expertly Trained Elephants

Here it is Friday again, and I don't have any short story ready for you. I have been doing a ton of writing, but none on my book this week. I had an assignment for my "Teaching Writing" course I am doing, so I thought I would post that. No one will probably be interested in reading it, but as hardly anyone comments anyway, I wouldn't know if my posts even get read.:) (hint, hint) Seeing that the assignment was to be about elephants, I didn't have much choice when I wrote. However, I did manage to get all six dress-ups in as well as all six sentence openers and even managed to get at least two triples.:) If the paragraph seems a little over done, it is because I used everything instead on only some.:) And now with no more delay, here it is.

Expertly Trained Elephants
by Rebekah

Domesticated elephants can learn anything they are taught. Before an elephant can learn however, he must first be caught and domesticated. Humans might dig pits to catch them, or use fire, guns or loud frightening noises to drive the wild elephants into an enclosure. Training them to fight in human wars can be traced back to olden times when Hannibal overwhelmed and terrified the Europeans with his superbly trained elephant cavalry. Although elephants were taught to help batter forts in war, they also helped build them in peace. Asiatic elephants were used for transportation because of their great strength. Their great Herculean strength equals fifty horses. They are used in logging as well. Skillful men cut. Mighty elephants haul. Faithfully all contribute. Over the years, domesticated elephants who were wisely, expertly and cleverly trained for many different tasks have clearly leaned them well.


Now, you have either read the above short paragraph and thought "Surely she could do better than that," or you just skipped it thinking, "I don't what to read about elephants." But then, probably no one is even reading this. I feel as though I am rambling on to myself. I do like talking to myself, but not as well as I like talking to others.:) But be that as it may, I do have a question for you, just in case you do decide to read this.
How many "new" books do you think I have read since April 1994? By "new" books I mean books that I had never read before, be they old or new. Believe it or not, I have kept a list of each "new" book I have read since April 1994. Of course this list does not include all the books I read and re-read once, twice, five or ten times, nor does it include all the books I have skimmed but not read all the way though. Take a guess. I'll tell you the answer some other time.:)