Once upon a time there lived a siskin. She made a nest on a tree branch and brought out the children.
One day an elephant came to this tree and began to scratch itself. The tree shook violently, the siskin's nest collapsed, her crying children fell to the ground and were broken. The siskin cried for a long time from her inconsolable grief.
After some time, she again built a nest on the branch of this tree and brought out the children. And again the elephant came and began to scratch himself against the tree. The tree shook violently, the siskin's nest collapsed, her crying children fell to the ground and were broken.
The siskin could no longer bear such grief and shouted loudly to the elephant:
- O merciless elephant, you destroyed my nest, killed my children! Now I will take revenge on you!
The elephant raised his trunk and, laughing, said:
“Hey, little girl, you’re so small that you don’t have the right to talk like that to someone as big as me!” Go do whatever you can!
The siskin, with eyes full of tears and a broken heart, flew to her friend, the smart raven.
The raven saw the crying siskin and asked:
- What’s wrong with you, why are you crying?
“Oh, smart raven, help me!” said the siskin. “An elephant came to my tree, destroyed my house, killed my children!” What should I do if I can't handle it?
“Yes, the elephant did something bad,” said the smart raven. “He needs to be punished!” I have a friend, let's go to him and consult.
The raven's friend was a bee. The raven and the siskin came to her and told her about what had happened.
The bee also condemned the elephant’s action and began to think about how to punish him,
“I have a friend, let’s go and consult her,” suggested the bee. The bee's friend was a frog, to which they all went together.
The four of them consulted and came to one decision: the bee will call many other bees and they will all fly to the elephant.
A bee, familiar to the crow, flew up to the elephant, climbed into his ear and began to sting him. The elephant could not stand the pain, fell on its side and began to rub its ear on the ground.
At this time, the rest of the bees flew up to the elephant and began to sting him, they stuck their stings into the thin skin around his eyes.
The elephant's eyelids were so swollen that he could no longer see and lay motionless on the ground. The elephant's inflamed body was burning. He began to be tormented by unbearable thirst.
At this time, the frog and his friends headed to the edge of the cliff, and they all began to croak furiously there. The elephant thought: “Where there are frogs, there is water” - and walked towards the croaking frogs.
So the elephant approached the very edge of the cliff and almost fell into the abyss, but he was stopped by the words of a smart raven, who flew over the elephant’s head and croaked:
“Hey, elephant, step back, otherwise you will fall into the abyss!” Hearing these words, the frightened elephant immediately retreated back.
At this time, to the left of the elephant, the frogs croaked again: “Kwa-kwa”...: “Ah, the water is over there!” - said the elephant and again went to the croaking of the frogs. But as soon as he again raised his leg over the cliff, the raven again circled above his head and croaked:
- Hey, elephant, step back, otherwise you will fall into the abyss!..
The elephant stepped back. So several times the frogs brought the thirsty elephant to the very edge of the cliff, and the smart raven warned him of the danger.
But the swelling in the elephant’s eyes began to subside, and when he approached the edge of the cliff for the last time, one of his eyelids opened slightly. The elephant himself saw that he was standing in front of a deep abyss. He retreated back in mortal fear.
Just at that moment a siskin flew up to the elephant and shouted:
- Hey, arrogant elephant, you destroyed my house, killed my children! You thought little creatures couldn't punish you! But now you are convinced that if small creatures unite, they can defeat such a large animal like you!..
“I understand,” the elephant hastened to agree with her, backing away. “I give you my word that I will no longer offend the little ones.”
From then on, the elephant became very kind.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru