Word: elsas
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...years ago George Adamson shot a lioness in self-defense. In Born Free, a bestseller of 1960, Author Adamson related how she adopted one of the orphaned cubs, named her Elsa, and raised her in the Adamson house at Isiolo, Kenya. When Elsa reached her full growth, Joy Adamson decided that Elsa should be set free, laboriously taught the house-trained animal to behave like a lioness. Almost beyond question, Joy Adamson was the first human being ever to teach a lion to track down and kill an antelope...
Roar from Father. Living Free follows Elsa and her human den mother from the lioness' mating, at the beginning of September 1959, through the birth of three cubs 108 days later. The Adamsons established a camp in the game reserve where Elsa had been turned loose, and kept a herd of goats to be doled out when the pregnant lioness could not hunt for herself (Joy Adamson is sentimental about all kinds of animals, but she is a realist, and pet lions do not eat canned cat food). Elsa's life in the bush did not affect...
Author Adamson showed her own astonishing trust; after the cubs were born she tried to follow Elsa to her lair, and relates matter-of-factly that "Elsa walked over to me and knocked me over in a friendly way, but it was very obvious that she was expressing annoyance at finding us so close." The author's serenity at such moments is so complete that it is hard to remember that the clout came from one of the world's deadliest beasts, made even more dangerous by motherhood...
...took a royal pratfall as the bull charged. No press cameras were permitted, but Princess Grace dutifully filmed her husband's moment of truth. "You should see what a terrible stare these beasts give you when you get close to them," confided Rainier breathlessly. At one dinner Elsa got one up on Hedda by taking over the piano to play Cole Porter tunes, accompanied by Rainier on drums. Then Ari bellowed the theme song (in Greek) from the movie Never on Sunday, while La Callas rattled the maracas but declined requests for an aria...
Revenge for Hedda. Next day, Hedda got her revenge when a reporter asked if she had launched more movie stars than Elsa. Snapped Hedda: "The only thing Elsa knows how to launch are boats." The big party reached its climax with a dinner for 125 cosmopolites, at which island dancers and singers performed for the guests and Hedda announced grandly that she would try to land them Hollywood contracts...