Kala Nag, which means Black Snake (Кала Наг, что значит Черный Змей), had served the Indian Government in every way that an elephant could serve it for forty-seven years (прослужил Индийскому Правительству всеми способами, доступными слону, сорок семь лет; to serve – служить в доме; служить в армии; way – путь, дорога; способ), and as he was fully twenty years old when he was caught (и, так как ему было полных двадцать лет, когда его поймали; to catch), that makes him nearly seventy (это делает его = следовательно, теперь ему /было/ почти семьдесят) – a ripe age for an elephant (зрелый возраст для слона). He remembered pushing, with a big leather pad on his forehead (он помнил, как толкал, с большой кожаной подушкой на лбу), at a gun stuck in deep mud (орудие, застрявшее в глубокой грязи; to stick – втыкать, вкалывать; завязнуть, застрять), and that was before the Afghan War of 1842 (это было до Афганской войны 1842 года), and he had not then come to his full strength (и он не вошел тогда еще в полную силу).
Kala Nag, which means Black Snake, had served the Indian Government in every way that an elephant could serve it for forty-seven years, and as he was fully twenty years old when he was caught, that makes him nearly seventy – a ripe age for an elephant. He remembered pushing, with a big leather pad on his forehead, at a gun stuck in deep mud, and that was before the Afghan War of 1842, and he had not then come to his full strength.
