GHANAIAN FOLKTALE SERIES - 24/01/2020 - THE ELEPHANT AND HIS TAIL
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Once upon a time, all the animals lived peacefully together in a single thick forest. They understood, tolerated each other's differences and lived together in harmony. Then one day they decided to elect a king. Together, they decided to enstool rabbit due to his smartness and sharp thinking abilities but this did not sit well with elephant who thought the through should be his. He therefore became frustrated and left to build his own kingdom elsewhere.
After setting up his new place, he still planned to attack the properties of the other animals as sign of retaliation. He therefore destroyed the houses of lion and tiger, the farms of other animals and several other properties belonging to the other animals. They were all dumbfounded by elephants sudden rage and violence and did not know exactly what to do. So a meeting was held at the king's palace and a unanimous decision was made to kill the elephant.
In their first attempt, they went to their weapons arsenal and took all the gathered all the weapons they had stashed. They then went to elephant's kingdom and attacked him whiles he was asleep. Several shots were fired none of which managed to pierce elephant's thick outer skin. They then reloaded and attempted to try again but elephant charged and started running towards them in rage. He almost killed some of them had they not run away immediately.
One day, the elephant visited the pond to fetch some water. As thirsty as he was, he didn't bother to scrutinize the water before fetching. Little did he know that even the aquatic animals were out hunting for him too. As he put his long trunk in the pond, crab entered it and immediately started very hard. He kept biting till the large elephant fell down dead. To prove his actions, he promptly cut off the tail of the elephant and kept it.
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Soon after the crab left, Ananse (the spider) came across the cold dead body of the elephant. As you rightly guessed, he immediately took to his dubious ways and wanted to steal the moment for himself. He therefore told the entire community to gather by the pond to see what he had done. Upon hearing this, crab was furious and went to report the matter to the king. The king then called a meeting to decide who had actually killed elephant.
When they were asked to present their case, Ananse went first with his account of events leading to elephant's death. He said that he saw elephant by the pond and went for his gun. He then shot elephant multiple times before he died. The crab also told his side of the story. He narrated how elephant came to fetch some water and he took the opportunity to bite hard in his trunk till he died. Both were believable stories so the king asked for an undeniable form of physical evidence that would prove their case beyond reasonable doubt since a hunter usually cuts part of the body of their hunted animal to prove their ownership.
Ananse (the spider) was asked to produce evidence which he had none. When it was the turn of crab, he provided the tail of elephant which proved he truly killed him and was praised within the entire community for his bravery. As for Ananse, he was hooted right at the palace and was sanctioned to hard labor for his dubious ways. From that moment, he avoided the public eye and stayed hidden in disgrace.
MORAL LESSONS
Tolerate the views of others: Elephant did not have to like the decision of the other animals who made rabbit the king of the jungle, he just needed to tolerate their opinion in order for them to continue to live harmoniously.
Be content with what you have: Life is simpler when you don't have much expectation but continue to work hard for what you want. Once you start wishing for a particular items or positions, you might get disappointed just like elephant did.
Do not take credit for other people's work: People's efforts and hard work are usually rewarded either by payment or with praises. It is wrong for your to take credit for their work and you will definitely suffer the consequences in the long run just like Ananse did.
Always have something to prove ownership of your belongings: The world is filled with so many people who want to steal the work/belongings of other people. The best thing is to always have some form of identification to prove ownership just like crab did.
Thank you for your attention.