“If the shrike did not eat the grasshoppers, then the grasshoppers would eat all the grass, and there would be none left for the deer…and the deer are food for the tiger. Life in the jungle is a giant spiderweb; if you touch one strand, it will vibrate at the other end. We cannot separate nature into good and bad, Rita. The gods do not will it so.”

“They say that somewhere in Africa the elephants have a secret grave where they go to lie down, unburden their wrinkled gray bodies, and soar away, light spirits at the end.”

“Elephants remember Wednesday as if it was only Tuesday.”

“Elephants love Wednesday, and so will you.”