The King's Gift by françawën

The King's Gift in Minas Anor

Minas Anor is the capital and residence of the King. They know all about the King and his gifts. 

During the reign of King Elessar, the great menagerie of the Kings in Minas Anor held many exotic beasts of wonder from all corners of the realm and beyond. Giraffes and Cheetahs from the great steppes of Khand in the East were there as were Rhinos and Lions from Harad; a great Oxen of Araw with horns as wide as the height of a man grazed on the meadows of the Pellenor in those days, a pair of Great White Bears from Forodwaith lived in the menangerie even. Yet none of them as impressive, nor any more exotic, than the Great Oliphaunt. The Beast had no name that made it to the books of lore, but it was known in the City of Gondor only as "the King's Gift". It was, so claim the people of the Citadel, the only survivor of the Great Beasts of the Army from Harad that Elessar, the Grey Company and the Host of the Dead defeated at the crossings of Poros. They say it was not the least, yet one of the many gifts to Gondor made by King Elessar.

Of the Great Oliphaunt many stories are told at the Tower of the Sun. A gigantic beast it had been. It allowed no armed adults near itself; it was known to have disarmed Guards of the Tower who had strayed within the reach of its great trunk, ripping their swordbelts right off, grabbing that with its trunk and throwing the weapons far out over the walls. It'd sweep of their feet such foolish daredevils who wagered they could approach and touch it. Noone is sure how it sensed such things; a gentle giant it was to most. And it was much more than that to the children of the White City.

Its memory is cherished to this day amongst the children of the citadel. It is said to have loved children beyond measure. It played with them, tickled them gently with its trunk till they would drop the apples they had brought knowing how much it delighted in those, and occasionally it would grab a kid with its trunk, careful as if handling an egg, and lift it onto one of its huge tusks for a short ride. Little carved toy Oliphants became very popular in the early years of the Fourth Age, so it is said. And children of Gondor turned into berserkers if their parents tried to "keep them safe" from the Oliphaunt when the family visited the menangerie.

Did I say it allowed no grown-ups near itself? That is strictly speaking not true. King Elessar loved the animal, and the Oliphaunt loved him back, so they say in Minas Anor. Of anyone in Gondor other than the children, only Elessar could touch it, play with it and feed it those apples it loved so much. And solely Elessar did the Oliphaunt suffer to ride him. The King would step forward to the animal, which lowered its tusk to the ground so the King could mount and climb to its neck; the Oliphaunt would carry him all along the Rhammas Echor trumpeting and caressing Elessar with its trunk. Sometimes, at the King's gesture and call, it'd lift a child up to ride with the King.

They say in Minas Anor that the King always made sure that ambassadors of Umbar and the Harad were introduced to the Oliphaunt, and it is said these visitors always treated the animal with great reverence. There is a claim some make that a young prince of the Harad who accompanied the court of their King on the embassy of F.A. 40 was one of those the Oliphaunt allowed to ride with Elessar, to the great astonishment - and immense pleasure - of the entire court of Harad.

The Great Oliphaunt lived the long life of its kind; it might have become a little slower, a little easier to tire from the children's infinite desire for play, as it aged, yet it remained gentle all its life in Gondor. Well - until the end, that is.

They say that on the day the Great King gave back the gift, and just as he told Queen Arwen that there is more than memory beyond the circles of the world, that the Great Oliphaunt became distressed. It began trumpeting wildly, and then stampeded through the enclosure. Nothing and noone could calm it. It ran madly across the fields of Pelennor, broke straight through the stone wall of the Rhammas Echor. It is said, this night after Elessar gave back the Gift, to have run all the way to Pelargir, then pacing up and down the old battlefield, sadly trumpeting, sniffing the ground with its trunk in search of something or someone long gone from there, over and over again. And, so goes the story in Minas Anor, that just before the Sun rose on the battlefield of Poros the morning after Elessar's passing, the Great Oliphaunt, in sadness and mourning, sounded a final loud sad note and laid down its life. It'd given back Yavanna's gift. Wheresoever Elessar went, the Oliphaunt was seeking him even in the saddest of hours - so they say in the White City.