One hot summer, the river in a forest dried up. The king of
a herd of elephants was worried. He set out with his herd in search of water.
They walked all day. By evening, one of the elephants spotted a blue patch in
the distance. “Water!” he cried. The entire herd looked up. “Water, we found
water!” they cried and ran towards it in excitement. In their eagerness, they
trampled everything in their way. But, there was a colony of mice that lived in
a burrow near the lake. Sadly, the burrows of these mice were crushed under the
feet of the huge elephants.
That night, the mice had a meeting. They knew that elephants
loved water and would come there every day. Something had to be done if they
had to survive. One of them had an idea.
“Why don’t we request the elephants to take another route?”
“We could give it a try”, said their leader.
The next day some of the mice went to the King Elephant.
“Please Sir,” they begged. “We have lived in this burrow for
generations. When your herd came charging yesterday, our home got destroyed.
Could you ask your herd to find another way to and from the lake?”
“But why should we?” cried the elephant. “This is our
forest. We have always walked wherever we pleased.”
“But Sir,” said the mice humbly. “We have always lived here
too. You won’t lose anything by changing your route. Please take pity on us and
save our lives. Perhaps, we can help you some day.”
The King Elephant saw a huge drop of tear roll down the
cheek of the poor mouse.
The elephant hesitated. It was so annoying to have to change
your way to suit some silly little mice. He did not think that these little
creatures could help his herd. But, he did feel sorry for them. He turned and
ordered his herd to take a different path. The mice were joyful.
Something quite unexpected happened very soon. As the
elephant herd walked through the forest one day, the ground under their feet
suddenly gave way and they all fell into a pit. It was a trap! The men who had
laid the traps wasted no time in capturing the elephants and tying them up with
thick ropes. The groans and cries of the elephants echoed throughout the
forest.
“Isn’t that our friend, the elephant?” squeaked the little
mice. “He seems to be in trouble.” The little mice ran and very soon found the
elephants in their miserable state.
“You are just the one who can help us,” said the King
Elephant. “Can you please free us before the trappers come?”
“Don’t worry,” said the mice. “It will be done.”
The leader of the mice called the entire colony and gave
them instructions.
“CHOMP CHOMP” the strong mice bit into the ropes that bound
the elephants.
“chomp chomp” went the papa mice.
“scrunch scrunch” went the mamma mice.
“crackle crackle” Grandpas and grandmas joined too.
“chew chew” these were
the baby mice.
And lo, behold! Just before dawn, the ropes fell away and
all the elephants were free!
The King Elephant was overjoyed. He lifted the little mice
gently with his trunk and placed them on his back. “Let me take you for a joy
ride,” he said. He was so happy with himself. By taking just a little extra
trouble to find another way, he had made wonderful friends for life.
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We thank Smt. Chandraprabha Casiker for writing this story
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We thank Smt. Chandraprabha Casiker for writing this story
