A narrator describes buying an Asiatic elephant named Ulysses and setting about an ambitious program of training, consulting an experienced handler and employing a mahout while personally cultivating the animal’s confidence. He teaches Ulysses household tasks and a growing English vocabulary, observing remarkable intelligence and devotion. As lessons progress, the elephant’s capacities and pride create tensions between natural instinct and human expectation, culminating in an unexpected calamity for which the narrator accepts responsibility. The account examines the rewards and risks of attempting to civilize a powerful animal and the moral consequences of that experiment.