The Elephants and the Mice

There was once a great herd of elephants who lived near the ruins of an old, old town. And in the dust and tumbled stones of that ruined town there lived a busy little village of mice.

Now, the elephants meant no harm at all. But they were enormous, and when the whole herd came tramping through on the way to their water, their great feet crushed the little mouse-burrows flat, and many mice were hurt, and many homes were lost.

So the king of the mice gathered up his courage, which is a great deal of courage for a mouse, and squeaked up at the king of the elephants. “Great king,” he called, “you are so tall you do not even notice us. But your feet are destroying our whole village. Please, I beg you, lead your herd along a different path. Do that, and who knows, perhaps one day we little mice may be able to help you in return.”

The elephant king almost laughed at the thought of a mouse ever helping an elephant. But he was a kind king, and he saw no reason to do harm where he could just as easily do none. “Of course,” he said gently. “We will go the long way round.” And from that day on, the elephants did.

Not long after, some hunters came to the forest. They dug deep pits and spread strong rope nets, and one dark night the whole elephant herd blundered straight into the traps. The more the elephants pulled and heaved, the tighter the ropes held them. By morning the mighty herd was caught fast, every single one, and could not move so much as a step.

The elephant king remembered the little mouse, and sent a bird flying to carry word.

And the mice came. Hundreds and hundreds of them, pouring out across the forest floor like a grey tide. They swarmed over the ropes and the nets, and they set their small sharp teeth to work, gnawing and nibbling, all through the day, until rope by rope and knot by knot the whole great herd was chewed free.

The elephant king lowered his huge head down to the tiny king of the mice. “I once believed you were far too small to ever help me,” he said. “I have never in all my life been so glad to be wrong.”