Chapters 5 and 6 Summary

The people of Baltese become obsessed with the elephant. It's all that they ever talk about. They always manage to find a way to bring the elephant into their lives and their conversations. One vendor creates a pastry they name an elephant ear. Another vendor sells plaster from the caved in roof of the opera house. The fortune tellers are all busy predicting that the appearance of the elephant is a sign that the universe is changing.

Count and Countess Quintet are talking about how the appearance of the elephant is ruining the social season. The count says if his wife feels this is so that she should possess what everyone wants, which is the elephant. The countess buys the elephant from the opera house owner and the chief of police ushers the elephant through a specially built door the countess...