Indian folk tales offer a wealth of wisdom and imagination. Millions of Indians know these stories and regard them with huge affection. This is one of our favorites. Love the moral... Once upon a time a village was devastated by a earthquake. The village was in a total ruin. The villagers abandoned their houses and settled in a nearby village. Finding the place devoid of residents, the mice began to live in the ruined houses. Soon their number grew into thousands and millions.
There was also a big lake next to the ruined village. A herd of elephants used to visit the lake for drinking water. The herd had no other way but to pass through the ruins of the village to reach the lake. While on their way, the elephants trampled hundreds of mice daily under their heavy feet. This made all the mice very sad.
In order to find a solution to this problem, the mice held a meeting. It was decided that a request should be made to the king of elephants. The king of mice met the king of elephants and said to him, "Your Majesty, we live in the ruins of the village, but every time your herd crosses the village, thousands of my subjects get trampled under the massive feet of your herd. Kindly change your route. If you do so, we promise to help you in the hour of your need."
Hearing this the king of elephants laughed. "You rats are so tiny to be of any help to giants like us. But in any case, we will help you by changing our route to reach the lake and to make you more safe." The king of mice thanked the king elephant and returned home.
After sometime, the king of a nearby kingdom thought of increasing the number of elephants in his army. He ordered his soldiers to catch more elephants for this purpose. The king's soldiers saw this herd and put a strong net around the elephants. The elephants got trapped. They struggled to free themselves, but in vain.
Suddenly, the king of elephants recalled the promise of the king of mice, who had earlier talked about helping the elephants when needed. So he trumpeted loudly to call the king of mice. The king of mice hearing the voice of the king of elephants rushed along with his followers to rescue the herd. There he found the elephants trapped in a thick net.
The mice set themselves to the task. They bit off the net at thousands of spots making it loose. The elephants broke the loose net and freed themselves. They thanked the mice for their great help and extended their hands of friendship to them forever.
MORAL - Sometimes a weak looking person may prove stronger than the others.
Photo credit: Sylvia King
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