‘An Elephant and a Monkey’ is a well known moral story of the Sanskrit Text ‘Panchatantra’ written by Vishnu Sharma.
Once upon a time, there lived a monkey and an elephant in a dense forest. The elephant was very powerful. He used to uproot big trees in one stroke. The monkey was very thin, but he was very agile and fast. Throughout the day the monkey used to jump on the trees of the forest.
Both the monkey and the elephant were very proud of their own qualities. Both of them considered themselves better than each other. For this reason, there was always an argument between the two.
An owl also lived in the same forest. He often saw the movements of the both. He was troubled by the fight between these two. One day that owl said to both of them, ‘The way you both fight, no decision is going to be made by this. Both of you can easily decide through a competition who is more powerful among you.’
Both of them liked the owl thing. The two again asked together, ‘What has to be done in this competition?’
The owl said, ‘On crossing this forest, another forest comes. Where there is a very old tree, on which a golden fruit is planted. The one who brings that golden fruit of the two of you first, will be the winner of this competition and will be called the most powerful in the real sense.
On listening to the owl, both of them, without thinking anything, went towards another forest. The monkey started showing its agility. He would reach from one tree to another in a single jump. At the same time, the elephant started running fast and uprooted everything that came in the way with its strong trunk.
In no time the elephant and the monkey came out of that forest. A river used to flow from this forest to the middle of the other forest. Only after crossing it, one could be reached in another forest.
The monkey again showed his agility and quickly jumped into the river, but the wave of the water was very strong, so the monkey started flowing in the river. Seeing the monkey flowing in the river, the elephant immediately grabbed it with its trunk and threw it out of the water.
The monkey was quite surprised to see this behaviour of the elephant. He politely thanked the elephant for saving his life and, accepting his defeat, asked the elephant to travel ahead.
Hearing this talk of the monkey, the elephant said, ‘I can cross the river. You also cross it by sitting on my back.’
The monkey agreed to the elephant and sat on the elephant’s back. In this way both of them crossed the river and reached another jungle. Then together both of them also discovered the tree with the fruit attached to the gold.
First of all the elephant tried to bring down the tree with its trunk, but the tree was very strong. The tree was not uprooted by the elephant.
Then the elephant said in despair, ‘I cannot pluck this fruit now.’
The monkey said, ‘Come on, I will also try it once.’
The monkey hurriedly started walking on the tree and reached the branch where the gold flower was planted. He plucked that fruit and got down under the tree.
After this, both of them returned to their forest after crossing the river and gave the golden fruit to the owl.
After getting the fruit, as soon as the owl spoke the name of the winner for this competition, the monkey and the elephant together stopped his talk.
Both of them said together, ‘Owl Dada, now we don’t need to know the name of the winner. Together we have completed this competition. We have come to understand that everyone’s quality is different and special in itself. We have also decided that from now on we will never even argue on this matter and will live in this forest like friends.
The owl was very happy to hear the monkey and the elephant. He said to both of them, ‘I wanted to make you understand that everyone is different from each other. Different qualities and strengths are what make us capable of helping each other. Also everyone has their own weaknesses, so it is best to stick with each other.
From that day both the elephant and the monkey became friends and they started living happily in the forest.
Moral of the story ‘An Elephant and a Monkey’
We should respect each other’s qualities and strengths and live in harmony with each other.
Note: This story is a translation of a moral story from a famous Sanskrit Moral Story Text ‘Panchatantra’ by Vishnu Sharma. Some facts have been verified with Wikipedia.
