There is no animal on earth larger than the elephant. Endowed with incredible strength, he is distinguished by a gentle disposition, extremely honest and fair.
Elephants live in large clans, where the oldest leader reigns supreme. He determines the path and leads others. The most experienced elephant brings up the rear. Children receive special care and love. They get the most delicious roots and berries. If a river gets in the way, adult elephants enter the water and form a temporary dam with their powerful bodies, so that downstream there is a ford accessible to the baby elephants. Great lovers of water, elephants, however, cannot swim due to their excessive weight. They spend especially long periods of time splashing in ponds on full moon days, as if performing a mysterious ritual of worshiping the night luminary.
A sick elephant is treated with rubbing and medicinal herbs. Sometimes, having picked bunches of grass and flowers, elephants throw them high up, as if making a sacrifice to the sky and praying to it to heal their sick relative.
Elephants have no enemies except tusk hunters who go to any lengths for the sake of their coveted prey. Once in the ring, the elephants knock off their tusks with a strong blow to the tree trunks. Thus, they often manage to escape from encirclement and save the lives of the young. When an elephant falls into a trap cunningly set up by hunters, the entire clan, at the command of the leader, begins to fill the hole with earth, branches and logs until the unfortunate one gets out safely.
Good-natured giants do not remember evil and show care for people lost in the labyrinth of the jungle. Elephants lead them out of the thicket and show them the way to the village.
However, elephants also have their weaknesses. They cannot stand the squeal of pigs and are afraid of mice. As soon as even one gray mouse appears in the camp, the elephants go into a frenzy, rush randomly from side to side, crushing and sweeping away everything in their path and injuring each other. But, as always, after a storm there comes a calm, and again the giants peacefully nibble the grass or splash in the river.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru