White elephant

In today's English, a white elephant (white elephant) means something, which is very expensive to maintain and which no one benefits from. It all started in Siam (today's Thailand), where white elephants were so rare, that they were immediately offered to the king and entrusted to his protection. These elephants were worshiped and could not be forced to work for their own livelihood. And when some lord of a great family fell into disrespect to the king, the king gave him a white elephant to support him, and then waited, until donation for this purpose ruins the unfortunate one. He didn't have to wait too long.

P.T. Barnum bought a white elephant as an attraction for his circus. Just bringing the animal to New York cost him two hundred thousand dollars. So it was a white elephant as it is called.