Ella the Elephant by Kurt Wiese, 1931.

Ella is a happy baby elephant in India.  Her mother takes good care of her, and she enjoys moving with the herd.  However, Ella’s carefree life with her mother ends abruptly when the herd is captured by humans!

Because Ella is small, she is able to escape when the other elephants can’t, but she finds herself alone and frightened in the jungle.  She doesn’t know what has happened to her mother, and she is in danger from predators in the jungle.

Other jungle animals help her, warning her of dangers and helping her to find out where her mother is.  She knows to look out for crocodiles in the river, and a peacock and some monkeys warn her about the presence of the tiger.  A kind water buffalo looks after her at night, using its size to intimidate and keep away the tiger.  The parrots help her to find the village where her mother is being held.  Eventually, she reunites with her mother in the human village after she is captured a second time.

I found this book at an antique store and included it here because I’d never seen it before, but I have mixed feelings about it.  The part about other animals helping little Ella is fun, but it’s somewhat disappointing that the story ends with both Ella and her mother in captivity.  The story ends with Ella’s reunion with her mother, and we don’t know exactly what happens to them after that. It appears that Ella and her mother will both be treated well by the humans who now have them, and they are relieved to see each other.  Still, to have them now living in captivity seems anti-climactic.