"The Stolen White Elephant" is a short story written by Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

 and published in 1882 by James R. Osgood

James R. Osgood

James R. Osgood was an American publisher probably best known for his partnership with Mark Twain and his involvement with the publishing company that would become Houghton Mifflin.-Life and work:...

. In this short story an Indian elephant, en route from India to Britain as a gift to the Queen, disappears in New Jersey. The local police department goes into high gear to solve the mystery but it all comes to a tragic end.

The main characters of the story include:

• Mark Twain, who functions as the initial speaker and author of the story.
• An elderly Indian gentleman who had at one time spoken to Twain during a train ride; he was once a member of his nation’s civil service and in charge of transporting the white elephant.
• Chief Inspector Blunt, a detective who is in charge of finding the lost elephant; he first receives the report of the elephant’s disappearance.
• “Hassan Ben Ali Ben Selim Abdallah Mohammed Moist Alhammal Jamsetjejeebhoy Dhuleep Sultan Ebu Bhudpoor” or “Jumbo”, the white elephant
• Alaric, a young worker at the detectives’ office.
• Captain Burns, another employee of the Detectives’ office; he is in charge of carrying out Inspector Blunt’s orders.
• The Queen of England plays a nonspeaking role.
• The Emperor of India plays a nonspeaking role.
• A number of other detectives, servants and civilians also play minor roles in the story.

External links

• 'The Stolen White Elephant' text on Project Gutenberg
• Recording of 'The Stolen White Elephant' on Internet Archive