The splendor of endless rich gifts had long since palled upon the effete Emperor when India sent him an elephant; delighted and fascinated with its massiveness, he orders his best scholars to devise a means to weigh the beast. In this Chinese folk-tale, it is a small boy of low rank who comes up with the clever solution. The author draws precise images and creates mood, never losing a natural and amused tone. The illustrations are less skillful--wall-paper Orientalia with a pointless variation between cool and warm color tones (the same object is a different color on consecutive pages). A promising gift poorly wrapped.