The Elephant and the Sparrow

In ancient times, the elephant looked very different from how it does now: it had huge eyes, its ears stood upright on its head, and beautiful horns grew between them.

When humans appeared on Earth, the lion said to the elephant:
"Friend, there seem to be too many people everywhere! They’ll probably reach us soon and make us work for them! We need to move to new places!"
"I’m so huge, who would dare touch me?" the elephant replied arrogantly. "Why should I run away somewhere?"

He was so majestic and proud that he paid no attention to anyone around him.

One day, a sparrow came down to Earth to stroll with its chicks. At that moment, the elephant was passing by.
"Be careful! Don’t come any closer! My chicks are here!" the sparrow cried.

But the elephant, who didn’t even pay attention to humans, refused to listen to the sparrow.
"Why should I care about someone’s chicks? I need to pass, and I will!" he said haughtily.

Heavily lumbering forward, the elephant trampled the poor little sparrow chicks!
The sparrow cried out, his wife wept, but what could they do? They were too small to stand up to the elephant.

The sparrow flew to the crow for help. The crow cawed and rushed after the elephant. She caught up and began clawing at his eyes and pecking at him with her beak.

Meanwhile, the sparrow went to the flies for help. The largest flies also flew after the elephant, settled on his scratched eyes, and began biting him.

The elephant could no longer see. Stumbling as if blind, he ran through the forest.

He grew hot and thirsty and began searching for water.

Meanwhile, the sparrow sought help from the frogs. The frogs jumped out of the water and went to defend the sparrow.

The elephant charged ahead, not caring about the path. Blindly, he rushed toward what he thought was water on a mountain. The frogs saw this, hopped to the mountaintop, and began croaking. The elephant thought the water was nearby, ran toward the croaking, and tried to leap into the water, but instead, he hit a rock and tumbled down. He somersaulted three times—and broke both his horns. He somersaulted two more times—and crushed his long ears, which now looked like two fans glued to his head.

The elephant was lucky he didn’t die! And all the animals, watching him, said:
"On Earth, we are all equal. How can one be so proud and ignore others?!"

Since then, the elephant’s eyes have become small and narrow, his horns have disappeared, and his ears have flattened against his head. And the elephant became attentive and cautious. When he walks along a path or grazes in a field, he always looks out so as not to crush even the tiniest worm.

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The Elephant and the Sparrow

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