Elephant and Tortoise

Elephant and Tortoise

Once, in a broad warm land where the grass quickly turned green after rain, there lived a great Elephant.

He was strong, heavy, and very proud that he was afraid of almost nothing.

One day clouds gathered over the plain, and Rain came.

Drops tapped on the leaves, gave drink to the dry earth, and filled little hollows with water. The animals rejoiced.

But Elephant lifted his trunk and said, “I do not much need your help. I am big. I can find water without you.”

Rain was surprised.

“Really?”

“Certainly,” said Elephant. “I can take care of myself.”

Rain said nothing. It simply moved on beyond the distant hills.

One day passed. Then another. Then several more.

The sun shone hotter and hotter. Puddles disappeared. Streams became thin. The grass turned yellow.

Elephant walked from one place to another, but found less and less water.

At first he grumbled, “It is nothing serious.”

Then he said, “Tomorrow I will surely find more.”

But at last he understood that even the largest animal finds it hard to argue with heat.

Vulture sat in a high branch.

“Do you know how to call Rain?” Elephant asked.

Vulture spread his wings.

“I can see the land from far away, but I cannot command the clouds.”

Then Elephant turned to Crow.

Crow was small but attentive. She knew when the wind changed direction, where clouds gathered, and when the air smelled of dampness.

“Help me,” Elephant asked, no longer so proudly.

Crow flew high, circled above the plain, and called in her loud voice.

Soon the wind brought dark clouds.

Rain began to fall.

The animals rejoiced and held their faces up to the drops, while Elephant stood silently and drank from a great puddle.

But the heat returned quickly. Water dried again in the shallow places, and at last only one large lagoon remained in all the country.

Elephant looked at it and decided, “I found this water. Therefore it is mine.”

Tortoise was sitting by the shore.

“Tortoise,” said Elephant, “guard the lagoon while I go to look for food. Do not let anyone drink.”

Tortoise lifted her head in surprise.

“No one?”

“No one,” repeated Elephant, and he walked away.

Soon Giraffe came to the water.

“Good day, Tortoise. I am terribly thirsty.”

Tortoise sighed.

“Elephant says the water is his.”

Giraffe walked away.

Then Zebra came.

“May I have only a few sips?”

“Elephant has forbidden it,” said Tortoise.

After Zebra came antelopes, Jackal, and other animals. All were thirsty, and each time Tortoise felt more uncomfortable.

She looked at the full lagoon and thought, “Can water belong to only one when everyone feels thirst?”

At last Lion came to the shore.

“Why is no one drinking?” he asked.

Tortoise repeated Elephant’s words.

Lion looked for a long time at the water, then at the animals waiting nearby.

“Elephant is large,” he said. “But the lagoon is larger than one Elephant. And thirst does not ask who is strongest.”

Tortoise thought.

Then she slowly nodded.

“Drink. But do it carefully. Do not muddy the water, and leave enough for everyone.”

The animals came to the lagoon one at a time. No one pushed. Giraffe drank from one side, Zebra from the other, and the little antelopes waited their turn. Even Jackal behaved politely that day.

When Elephant returned, he saw the tracks around the water at once.

“Who drank from my lagoon?” he thundered.

Tortoise did not hide in her shell.

“Everyone who needed water.”

“But I told you to guard it for me!”

“I guarded the water,” Tortoise said calmly. “That is why I did not let it become a reason for quarrelling.”

Elephant grew angry.

“You are so small, and you argue with me?”

Tortoise raised her eyes.

“I am small. But even a small creature knows that rain does not fall for only one animal.”

Everyone fell silent.

Elephant looked at the dry grass, the tired animals, Crow who had helped bring Rain back, and finally the lagoon.

He remembered how recently he had boasted that he could do without Rain.

“Perhaps I have decided again that I can do everything alone,” he said quietly.

Tortoise smiled.

“Even the great sometimes need a reminder.”

Elephant drew up water with his trunk and drank. Then he moved aside, making room for the smaller animals.

“Very well,” he said. “Let everyone drink. But let us protect the lagoon together.”

From then on, they made a simple rule beside the water: everyone could drink, but no one should waste water or drive others away.

And whenever clouds appeared over the plain again, Elephant no longer said that he did not need Rain.

He raised his trunk to the sky and said, “Welcome. Now I know that even the greatest creature does not live all by itself.”

And Tortoise sat by the shore and smiled quietly.

For sometimes the most important thought is spoken not by the one with the loudest voice.

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨