Toomai is the name of the elephant keeper’s son in Rudyard Kipling’s story “Toomai of the Elephants.”
The boy is known as Little Toomai and is the child of a working mahout in British India. He has grown up around elephants and understands them unusually well. The story follows his determination to prove that he belongs among experienced elephant handlers.
A central episode involves Little Toomai witnessing elephants dancing at night, an event older handlers believe no human has seen. The story’s title uses his name, while “Little Toomai” distinguishes him from his father. Kala Nag is the elephant associated with the family, not the boy.
“Toomai of the Elephants” was included in Kipling’s 1894 collection The Jungle Book. It is separate from the Mowgli cycle and from the later film adaptations that focus on Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera, and Shere Khan.