Long ago, Emperor Al-Zahir sent his minister, Rakeeb, to the Kingdom of Serindib with valuable gifts for its King. The King was delighted with the gifts. When Rakeeb left for his own country, the King also gave some expensive gifts for the Emperor.
Rakeeb’s caravan had only travelled for a few miles, when desert thieves attacked it. They captured the caravan and stole all the goods. They sold the people travelling with the caravan as slaves to another country. Rakeeb was sold to a rich ivory merchant.
When the merchant discovered that Rakeeb was skilled in archery, he sent him to the dense forest near by, saying, “A herd of elephants lives there. I want you to kill them, one by one, for me.”
The next day, Rakeeb succeeded in shooting one of them. The merchant was impressed. They went back to the forest, and the merchant said, “Rakeeb, dig a large hole and bury the elephant in it. It has to remain there till it decays and then we can take its ivory.”
Rakeeb continued to shoot elephants and bury them for two months. One morning, while Rakeeb was sitting on the tree waiting, a herd of elephants came up to his tree and trumpeted loudly. Rakeeb was frightened. One of them fastened its trunk around the tree and uprooted it. When Rakeeb fell down, the elephant picked him up with its trunk and placed him on its back. Rakeeb thought that his end had arrived because the elephants would avenge him for the death of the members of their family.
The elephants took Rakeeb to a small hill and went away after gently placing him on the ground. Rakeeb saw that the hill was covered with elephant-bones and ivory. He exclaimed, “Oh! This must be the elephant-graveyard. The elephants realised that I wanted their ivory. Since they did not want me to shoot them any more, they brought me here to take as much ivory as I wanted.”
Rakeeb hurried to the city and informed the merchant. They rushed to the elephant-graveyard. They collected more ivory than they could ever have in their lifetime.
The merchant loaded a caravan with ivory and sent Rakeeb back home. On reaching his country, Rakeeb narrated his adventures to Emperor Al-Zahir. The Emperor was so pleased that he ordered, “Let Rakeeb’s adventures be written in letters of gold and be deposited in the royal treasury.”
