Elephants like peanuts and as it turns out they also like ice cream, that’s not something Disney taught you. Ben and Jerry were the youngest of the elephants that participated in circus shows. After each one the ring master would walk them to their cages, pat them on the trunk, hand them a handful of peanuts, and say “great job tonight boys, let’s do it again tomorrow.”

“I’ve been eating peanuts every night for 10 years now and I’m tired of it,” said Jerry to Ben after the ring master had wandered back to his quarters for the evening.
“C’mon Jerry, at least he gives us treats. Those peanuts are better than the usual junk we get for breakfast and dinner,” Ben replied.
“I guess you’re right, but I wouldn’t mind something different…” Jerry said as he dozed off for the evening.

During the day Ben and Jerry sit in their cages while children and families walk by, stopping to stare at the gigantic, trunked creatures that they would see perform every evening. Most of the children walked up to the bars of the cage, and one little boy with sticky hands and a cotton candy covered face reached out to the trunks of the elephants.

“What do you think it wants?” Asked Jerry, turning towards Ben.
“I don’t know, but it keeps reaching for you,” Ben replied.

The child’s eyes and arms were following Jerry’s every movement of his trunk, hoping for the opportunity to grab it. The boy had never seen an animal with such a long nose before, he was fascinated by how the elephants picked up their food and brought it to their wide open mouths. He giggled whenever he watched how they squirted water into their mouths to quench their thirst.

The child returned the next day only this time with a hot dog on a stick. He poked it through the bars of the cage, hoping an elephant would reach for it. Peering into the cage with excitement in his eyes, maybe now they would pay attention to him.

“Oh look, it’s back again” said Jerry casually.
“What’s that it’s holding? Some sort of food?” Commented Ben. “I wonder what it is,” he said as he began getting up to explore.
“Ben, don’t get too close, you don’t know what it’ll do” said Jerry unconvincingly.

As the little boy stuck the skewered hot dog through the bars he watched as the elephant sniffed it with its long trunk, watched its reaction as the already wrinkled face became more contorted and the whole animal returned to its spot in the back of the cage.

“That smelled like sweaty feet. Why would it think we wanted that?” Huffed Ben.
“I told you that thing isn’t even worth our attention” retorted Jerry.

Although discouraged, the boy was determined to touch an elephant. Walking away from the cage with a frown, he knew that he still had more time before he could no longer come to the circus. He would be sure to get their attention soon.

The child came by the cage every day, each time with different food to offer the elephants; funnel cake, cotton candy, and popcorn. Nothing was interesting to them, each encounter ended with a snort as the elephant turned away from the child. He was ready to give up, it was almost time for him and his family to return to the city.

Just a few days before leaving the child came by the cage, his face covered in chocolate ice cream and a cone in his hand, he walked up to the cage as he always does, looking curiously at the elephants. He hadn’t planned to offer the elephants his ice cream. But before he knew it, they were poking their trunks through the bars to inspect the cone of half-melted ice cream.

“I wonder what it brought us today… I hope it brings something good soon,” Ben said as he walked slowly to inspect the cone in the child’s hands. “Jerry! You have to come sniff this. Careful, it’s sticky,” he exclaimed.
“Calm down Ben, what is all this excitement,” Jerry grunted as he tried to stand on his big feet from lying down. “Oh! That does smell good, have you tasted it yet Ben?” he exclaimed.
“Yes, yes! It’s wonderfully sweet, but creamy like milk,” Ben responded.
“It’s also cold like ice, what is this amazing concoction?” asked Jerry.
“It’s ice cream!” squealed Ben.

The child was ecstatic when he found something the elephants liked. Trembling with excitement as he ran back to his parents to ask them for more ice cream. Taking advantage of his toddler years, he convinced his parents that he needed ice cream every afternoon at the circus. He brought the elephants all he could get, but never the same flavor.

“I wonder what the little man will bring for us today, Jerry,” Ben said as he looked through the bars of the cage awaiting the child. “I liked the chocolate one he brought yesterday, but the green one with chunks in it was really good too.”
“No, no Ben, the pink colored one was the best, or the one with chewy chunks of dough,” Responded Jerry.

One day the child stopped bringing ice cream, his parents hadn’t told him when they would be leaving. The little child never got the chance to say goodbye, he cried the whole train ride home. Ben and Jerry didn’t know what to think, they missed their little ice cream man.

“Ben, when do you think the little ice cream man will come again?” complained Jerry.
“I don’t know, I hope he comes soon. Those peanuts aren’t enough anymore” said Ben.
“I need the ice cream.” Said Jerry.

It was about one week after the last time Ben and Jerry had had their ice cream fix and that evening at their show, while they were juggling with each other as a part of the clown act, Jerry spotted something out of the corner of his eye. A small girl with pig tails holding a dripping ice cream cone. He couldn’t contain himself. With the thought of the cold, creamy, chocolate sensation on his mind, he began leaping, as well as elephants can leap, towards the audience.

Ben saw this happening and all he could seem to get out was “Save some for me!”

The girl didn’t know what to think, she sat there terrified as the floppy, four ton circus animal lunged toward her. Fortunately, Jerry didn’t need to step outside the ring in the middle of tent. He extended his trunk and gently grabbed the cone, as not to crush it, from the girl. She began to cry, but Jerry didn’t care as he turned away, satisfied with the ice cream cone in his mouth.

This had all happened so quickly that the ring master didn’t know how to react. The audience was laughing and cheering, but you could see the anger in the ring master’s eyes, along with the anger in Ben’s. He had been ice cream deprived too.

The rest of the show continued on as normal. But after the show the ring master was particularly harsh with Jerry as he returned him to his cage. Rather than his usual encouragement and peanuts, the ring master said nothing and locked the cage and went to his quarters.

“Do you think he is mad?” Asked Jerry.
“What do you think? Of course he is mad, you almost cost us the entire show.” Said Ben.
“What do you think he will do to us?”
“Us? You mean you. I didn’t do anything wrong.” Ben said defensively.
“You would have done the same thing in that situation,” Jerry said. “You love ice cream as much as I do!”
“Not if it means that the master hates us.” Grumbled Ben.

Both elephants turned away from the other, not saying another word before drifting to sleep.

The ring master continued to stop saying anything to the two elephants after shows. No peanuts. Just locking their cage and walking away. He was thinking. He wanted to observe the elephants for a few shows. Something had changed.

At the next couple of performances he noticed Jerry seemed distracted, always scanning the audience with his eyes looking for something. He remembered Jerry had terrified a little girl. He began observing the children, they always had some sort of treat; cotton candy, funnel cake, ice cream. Is this what Jerry had been after?

That evening after the show the ring master walked the elephants back, as he always does, but this time he thought he would perform a little experiment. He presented the elephants with three choices; cotton candy, funnel cake and ice cream. Sure enough, both the elephants lunged toward the ice cream.

As they gobbled the cold, creamy treat down, making a mess of it on their trunks and around their mouths the ring master knew what the elephants had been craving. He saw their eyes light up as they were relieved of their ice cream deprived depression.

“Is that what I think it is?” Asked Jerry, jumping up from his bed of straw, causing the whole cage to shake.
“ICE CREAM!” Squealed Ben.
“So much better than peanuts,” mumbled Jerry with a full mouth.
“I guess I should thank you” said Ben, licking the last trace of ice cream off his face.
“Don’t thank me, thank the little ice cream man,” said Jerry.

As the ring master walked away satisfied he mumbled to himself, “Well I’ll be darned, elephants do like ice cream.”

He continued bringing the ice cream to the elephants each evening, observing better performance in shows with an improved morale and satisfaction with the nightly treats. They never once dropped a juggling baton or lost their balance on the ball they performed on. Ben and Jerry love their ice cream.