One day, an elephant and an ant met in the middle of the woods. The elephant was very big and strong but notoriously grumpy, whilst the ant was small but hardworking. The two also has very different view of others: the elephant likes to look down on others, whilst the ant likes to live and work with others.
As with every time they met, the elephant started to bully and tease the ant. It uses its strength to trample on the ant and its colony, and even spray water using its trunk. The shocked ants started to cry because of this.
“Hey! What is wrong with you? Why do you keep bothering us?” cried out the ant.
“Stop crying or I will destroy you all!” replied the elephant.
Hearing this, the ants stop crying. The elephant then decided to leave them be for the day and stomp away from the ant and its colony.
However, the ants are on their last straw.
“We should beat it back!” said the ant.
“But it’s so big and strong. We’ll be crushed if we confront him!” replied another ant.
“We should talk with them first before doing anything rash!” said another ant.
“No, don’t you remember how they trample us when we tried to talk kindly with them before?” said the ant. “Don’t worry, I have a safe plan to do this.”
The next day, when the ant and its colony went out again to look for food, they spied the elephant coming their way. Stealthily, so as to not attract its attention, the ant led its colony up the elephant’s enormous body and into its ears. One there, they simultaneously bit down on the elephant’s inner ear.
“Ahhh… It hurts!” cried out the elephant. “Stop it! Stop it!!!”
No matter what the elephant did though, it cannot get the ants out of its ears. The elephant started to feel tired.
“Stop it!! What do you want?!” asked the elephant.
“It hurts, right? Now you know how we feel every time you trample on us!” replied the ant. “We will stop if you promise not to bother us anymore!”
“Alright, alright, I promise, just stop it!” said the elephant in pain.
“Alright then,” said the ant, leading its colony out of the elephant’s ears. “Just remember that we can always do this again if you don’t show any repentance!”
“Yes, I promise I won’t bother anyone ever again,” said the relieved and tired elephant. “I’m sorry.”
“Good. Now scram!” said the ant.
The elephant then stood up and left the ant’s territory. Ever since, it has never deliberately bother any other animals in the wood. The elephant has learned its lesson. All creatures then live happily ever after in harmony.
Halo!
This time’s story is about an elephant and an ant. This story is more of a very short fable passed down through word-of-mouth rather than a written down legend, so there might be some different versions. Most actually said that the ants entered and bit the inner side of the elephant’s trunk, rather than only the ears. I use the ears in this version because I remember this fable as the one which made me afraid of anything going near my ears, including ants, mosquitoes, and even stray hair TxT.
Anyway, so this story contains some moral messages, including how one should on be too confident and deliberately bother others, and how size does not determine your worth. Another message is that you reap what you sow. This is true for the elephant, who was bitten because it refused to stop bothering the ants. Though, now that I think about it, I get the feeling that the elephant is actually lonely, though, and bothered the ant as a way to get attention and gain friends. For one, it is strange that the elephant is alone, whereas commonly elephants also lives in large groups. It’s kinda like a kindergartener who pulls the hair of the girl he likes to get her attention but got hated instead.
Uniquely, this story differs from one of Indonesia’s most prized principles, which is discussion to resolve any problem. Here, it is clear that discussion has been tried and failed, which makes the ants choose to fight back with what powers they have, which are their bites and their number. If you have ever been unfortunate enough to be bit by an ant, especially the red ones, you would know that it is quite painful; imagine being bitten by hundreds of them at once!
This story also inspired a traditional game in Indonesia which can be played with only a hand and at least one partner (who also has at least one complete hand). Players need to tuck in their middle and ring fingers, such so that the thumb, pointer, and pinkie fingers are up in the air. These fingers represent the actors: thumb is the elephant, pointer finger is human, and pinkie finger is the ant. Then, play it like a rock-paper-scissors. The pattern is that the elephant (thumb) can defeat human (pointer) but not the ant (pinkie) or fellow elephant (thumb), human (pointer) can defeat the ant (pinkie) but not the elephant (thumb) or fellow human (pointer), and the ant (pinkie) can defeat the elephant (thumb) but not the human (pointer) or fellow ant (pinkie). The one with the last standing finger wins. Different from rock-paper-scissors which rely quite a lot on luck, this game relies more on how far you can think and predict your opponents’ move. You can say it’s more like a simplified tic-tac-toe or chess. The more the merrier though, and this game can be played by more than two players at the same time.
Anyway, here are some new words for you to learn:
Elephant = Gajah
Ant = Semut
Woods (as in forest) = Hutan
Ear = Telinga
Trunk (an elephant’s) = Belalai
Stop it = Hentikan or Berhenti
That’s all for today’s story.
See you next time~
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