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Beer Drinking Elephants Wish For Draco Tavern
On October 26th, wild elephants in Assam state in India drank rice beer kept in drums - plantation workers make it. The drunk elephants then went on a rampage.
Elephants in Assam state, as elsewhere, have pretty much had it with humanity. Habitat destruction, encroachment on corridors of movement, poaching - this is a species on the edge. But rather than trampling people who don't understand, they should be drinking at the kind of place that cheerfully serves everyone regardless of species.
A place like the Draco Tavern.
The Draco Tavern is a fictional bar created by science fiction author Larry Niven. In the not-so-distant future of the novel, humanity is joined by a number of other intelligent species. At spaceports on Earth, these aliens sometimes go in search of refreshment. They find it at a rather unusual bar that really does have a little something for everyone. For example, the Chirpsithra, an alien species the individuals of which cannot be told apart because they are all the result of bioengineered perfection, favors a low voltage refreshment called sparkers.
(Sober elephants enjoy water)
I'm pretty sure that a herd of rice-beer drinking elephants would find a sympathetic ear at the Draco Tavern. If they're polite, of course. Niven wrote a set of short stories about the Draco Tavern that are favorites of mine - you'll find them in a collection called Niven's Laws. Read the story at Beer-swilling elephants terrorize Indian villages.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 11/15/2004)
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