Monday 15 April 2019

Indonesia Folktale - The Ant and The Elephant

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Edited by I Wayan Sudiarta, M.Pd.


Once upon a time there lived an elephant, the elephant lived in a forest. He was a very big elephant and he was proud of his size.

He made lots of trouble for other animals in the forest.

He chased a rabbit around until it fell down.


One day he walked through the forest.

He saw a parrot sat on a tree.

"Ha..ha..ha.. what are you doing there? Didn't you see me passing through? I am the most powerful animal in the forest. You must bow down to me!" said the Elephant

"What ? Why I should bow down to you?" Replied the parrot.

"You don't know who you are talking you? I will teach you how to respect me!"  said the elephant.   The parrot wouldn't bow down to the elephant.

The elephant was so angry,  he picked up the whole tree and began to shake it. "Now can you see what can I do? All of you are so weak compared to me."

The elephant proudly walked away and went to the river to drink water.

Just beside the river, there lived some ants in a small ant hill. Everyday the ants would collect food.


Everyday the elephant would bother the ants. When the elephant was drinking water, he saw an ant, "Hey.. you tiny ant! Where are you taking that food?"

"I have to take this food home but it will start raining soon. I have a problem as I have to stay here   to prepare and collect more food."

"Ha..ha..ha.. I see", said the elephant. Then the elephant drew water into his big trunk and sprayed it onto the ant and her food.

"Ouch...!!!" The ant was completely wet and all the food was spoiled.

"Ha..ha..ha.. ", the elephant laughed.

"Hey elephant! I will teach you a lesson one day!" said the ant.

"Oh, I am so scared! A tiny ant wants to teach me a lesson. Go away...I will crush you under my feet. Go back to your tiny house!" shouted the elephant.

The tiny ant was very angry at the big elephant. He thought, "I will have to do something to the elephant. He can't keep troubling everyone like that."

The next day, as the ant went out to collect more food, she saw the elephant sleeping. She immediately came up with a plan. She quietly creeped up beside him and slipped inside his trunk. Once inside, she began to bite him. She kept biting the elephant until he woke up and started scream in pain.

"Ouchhhh! My trunk hurts so bad, who is inside my trunk? Get out of my trunk, it hurts so much."  The elephant thought he was dying and he began to cry.


The elephant was shocked that a tiny ant could hurt him. He was so afraid that the ant would bite him again and so, finally he began to apologize.

"Please forgive me! I will never trouble you again!" promised the elephant.

The elephant understood his mistake. He went away and he never troubled anybody again.



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