The Elephant and the Animals

The animals in Happy Valley were sad. They were all troubled that some creatures were unkind to the others. The strong, kind Elephant was their leader, so the animals ran to him and told him all.

The Elephant wanted to know which animals were bad. So, he called the animals for a meeting and told them to stop their bad habits. Being lazy, cruel, selfish or jealous would spoil the happiness of the whole forest.

All the gentle animals like the Dog, Camel, Sheep, Dove, Ant and Bee, listened carefully to the Elephant’s words. They nodded in agreement. However, animals like the Tiger, Wolf, Snake, Wasp, Hornet, Fly, Grasshopper and Ape became very angry with the Elephant’s words. These animals were cruel and mean to the weaker animals. They grumbled and murmured loudly.

The Elephant trumpeted for silence.

Then he continued, “I gave my advice to everyone here, but only some of you were happy to hear me!” He explained that those who agreed with his advice were the good animals, but the ones who were angry with his words were the real troublemakers!

Good advice hurts those who do wrong things.