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Elephants and Rabbits
The Elephants came in search of water and trampled on the Rabbits homes. How can the Rabbits survive the tirade of big Elephants?
Long long ago in a lush green jungle, there lived a big group of elephants. The elephants lived happily beside a beautiful river, and never left their little paradise.
Sadly the river started drying up in the Summer as there were no rains.
Some of the elephants met the King of the elephants, and said, “Your Majesty! We do not have enough water. Some of our little ones are on the verge of death. We must find some other place which has abundance of water.”
After thinking a while, the elephant King said, “I remember a place where there is a very big lake. It must still be full of water. Let us go there.”
Next morning they started to march through the Jungle. After traveling for five days and five nights, the elephants finally reached the place. There was indeed a big lake, full of water. When the elephants saw the clear blue lake, they celebrated by jumping into the water without a care in the world. “Yohoooooooooo!! Water.. precious Water!” they screamed.
Sadly, they did-not notice many small holes in the soft earth around the lake. These were homes of a group of rabbits!
When the elephants jumped around in joy, most of the rabbit holes were destroyed. Many rabbits were unfortunately trampled by the elephants. But the rabbits could do nothing, as the elephants were playing around and did-not hear their cry for help. They had to run away from their homes.
When the elephants left after a while, the rabbits that had run away in fear returned. They assembled in sorrow, “Oh dear! The elephants will come here every day as there is no water anywhere else. We must think of something, or more of us will get trampled tomorrow. What can we do against the mighty elephants? We must leave this place to survive.”
One of the rabbits disagreed, “Friends! This is our ancestral home. If we can frighten the elephants off, they will not return. I can think of a way to frighten them away. We may be small, but we are capable of executing my plan.”
As planned, in the evening the wise-rabbit sat on a hillock which was on the path of the elephants. After a while the King of the elephants came with the rest of his herd. The rabbit shouted, “Oh Mighty Elephants! This lake belongs to the Moon-God and you are trespassing. I am white like the moonlight.. I am the messenger of the Moon God!”
The King of the elephants was taken aback. But he would not dare to enrage any God either. He asked what message the rabbit had for him.
The rabbit said, “The Moon God prohibits you to enter the lake. He has sent me to inform you that he forbids you from entering his lake. Yesterday, many rabbits were trampled due to your visit. The rabbits live under the protection of the Moon God, and he is very angry with you. If you wish to survive, you should not enter the lake again.”
The elephant King kept quiet for some time, and then said, “If that is so. Tell me where your Moon-God is, and I will go away with my herd, once we have asked for his forgiveness.”
It was already night, so the hare said, “The Moon God has come down to his lake to console the families of the rabbits who got trampled yesterday. If you want to meet him, come with me!”
The wise-rabbit led the King of the elephants to the bank of the lake from where the reflection of the Moon could be seen in the water. The rabbit said, “He is very sad today, please bow to him silently and leave. You must not disturb his meditation. Otherwise, he will be furious.”
The King of the elephant was wonder-struck on seeing the moon in the water. It was new for him as the elephants lived near the river where they could-not see clear reflection of the moon. He believed the rabbit, and left as soon as he bowed respectfully. The wise-rabbit told the Elephant King of another waterhole closer to their village. The elephants started to the new waterhole, happy not to have been cursed by the Moon God!
Speak up! It makes things happen for the better!
(This Tale has been edited to adapt to the taste of early readers)