The Mice and the Elephants

The Mice and the Elephants

A long time ago in India, there was an ancient abandoned village. Empty are the old houses, streets, and shops. The windows were open. The stairs were broken. You can be sure that this will be a great place for rats to run around!

In fact, rats have lived happily in this area for hundreds of years, even before humans came to build villages and then left. But now is the best time for the rats. They dug tunnels through those beautiful old houses and buildings, creating great mazes. What fun times they had, with many dinner parties and festivals, weddings, and receptions.

And so time passed.

One day, a herd of elephants numbering thousands of animals stampeded through the village on their way to a large lake in the west.

All the elephants on parade thought about how wonderful it would be to jump into that lake for a cool swim. Little did they know that as they passed through the village, those huge elephant feet were stepping on the network of mazes and tunnels that the rats had created. What a mess the elephants left behind!

The mice quickly held a meeting.
“If the herd returns this way, our community will perish!” cried a mouse.

“We won’t stand a chance!” another person exclaimed.

There’s only one thing to do. A group of brave mice followed that elephant’s footprints all the way to the lake. There, they found the Elephant King. Bowing before the King, one mouse spoke up for the others and said: “King, not far from here is our mouse community. It’s in the deserted old village you pass through. Can you remember it?

“Of course I remember,” said the Elephant King. “We are elephants. But we didn’t know there was a rat community there.”

“How you can?” said this mouse.

“But your flock has destroyed many houses where we have lived for hundreds of years. If you come back the same way, that will definitely be the end of us! We are small, and you are big. We have to ask you, please. Don’t you find another way home? Maybe one day we rats can help you too.”

The Elephant King smiled. Imagine – how can tiny mice help an elephant?! But he felt sorry because his group had destroyed the mouse village without even knowing. He said: “You don’t need to worry. I will lead the herd home another way.”

It happened that a certain king nearby ordered his hunters to trap as many elephants as possible. Knowing that the elephants were coming from far away to jump into the large lake to swim, the king’s hunters built a water trap there. As soon as the Elephant King and his herd of elephants jumped into that lake, they were all caught in a trap.

Two days later, hunters pulled the Elephant King and his herd of elephants out of the lake with large ropes and tied the elephants to large trees in the forest.

When the hunters were gone, the Elephant King tried to think.

What can they do? All were tied to trees except one elephant. She was free because she did not jump into the lake.

The elephant king called her. He tells her that she must go back to the old deserted village and bring back the rats that live there.

When the mice learned of the trouble the Elephant King and his herd were in, they ran to the lake. Seeing the king and his flock tied up, they quickly ran to the rope and started chewing.

They chew and chew as fast as they can. Before long, the ropes were chewed to pieces, and the rats freed their large friends.

The elephants found their way to a new home, and the mouse community continued to live many years later.

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