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Rania
Mamoun
Once upon a time an elephant made a friendship with a man. One
day a heavy thunderstorm broke out, the elephant went to his friend, who had a
little hut at the edge of the forest, and said to him: "My dear good man,
will you please let me put my trunk inside your hut to keep it out of this
torrential rain?" The man, seeing what situation his friend was in,
replied: "My dear good elephant, my hut is very small, but there is room
for your trunk and myself. Please put your trunk in gently." The elephant
thanked his friend, saying: "You have done me a good deed and one day I
shall return your kindness." But what followed? As soon as the elephant
put his trunk inside the hut, slowly he pushed his head inside, and finally
flung the man out in the rain, and then lay down comfortably inside his
friend's hut, saying: "My dear good friend, your skin is harder than mine,
and as there is not enough room for both of us, you can afford to remain in the
rain while I am protecting my delicate skin from the hail storm."
The man, seeing what his friend had done to him, started to
grumble, the animals in the nearby forest heard the noise and came to see what
was the matter. All stood around listening to the heated argument between the
man and his friend the elephant. In this turmoil the lion came along roaring,
and said in a loud voice: "Don't you know that I am the King of the
jungle! How dare anyone disturb the peace of my kingdom?" On hearing this
the elephant, who was one of the high ministers in the jungle kingdom, replied
in a soothing voice, and said: "My Lord, there is no disturbance of the
peace in your kingdom. I have only been having a little discussion with my
friend here as to the possession of this little hut which your lordship sees me
occupying." The lion, who wanted to have "peace and tranquillity"
in his kingdom, replied in a noble voice, saying: "I command my ministers
to appoint a Commission of Enquiry to go thoroughly into this matter and report
accordingly." He then turned to the man and said: "You have done well
by establishing friendship with my people, especially with the elephant who is
one of my honourable ministers of state. Do not grumble any more, your hut is
not lost to you. Wait until the sitting of my Imperial Commission, and there
you will be given plenty of opportunity to state your case. I am sure that you
will be pleased with the findings of the Commission." The man was very
pleased by these sweet words from the King of the jungle, and innocently waited
for his opportunity, in the belief that naturally the hut would be returned to
him.
The elephant, obeying the command of his master, got busy with
other ministers to appoint the Commission of Enquiry. The following elders of
the jungle were appointed to sit in the Commission: (1) Mr. Rhinoceros; (2) Mr.
Buffalo; (3) Mr. Alligator; (4) The Rt. Hon. Mr. Fox to act as chairman; and
(5) Mr. Leopard to act as Secretary to the Commission. On seeing the personnel,
the man protested and asked if it was not necessary to include in this
Commission a member from his side. But he was told that it was impossible,
since no one from his side was well enough educated to understand the intricacy
of jungle law.
Further, that there was nothing to fear, for the members of the
Commission were all men of repute for their impartiality in justice, and as
they were gentlemen chosen by God to look after the interest of races less
adequately endowed with teeth and claws, he might rest assured that they would
investigate the matter with the greatest care and report impartially.
The Commission sat to take the evidence. The Rt. Hon. Mr.
Elephant was first called. He came along with a superior air, brushing his
tusks with a sapling which Mrs. Elephant had provided, and in an authoritative
voice said: "Gentlemen of the jungle, there is no need for me to waste
your valuable time in relating a story which I am sure you all know. I have
always regarded it as my duty to protect the interests of my friends, and this
appears to have caused the misunderstanding between myself and my friend here.
He invited me to save his hut from being blown away by a hurricane, As the
hurricane had gained access owing to the unoccupied space in the hut, I
considered it necessary, in my friend's own interests, to turn the undeveloped
space to a more economic use by sitting in it myself; a duty which any of you
would undoubtedly have performed with equal readiness in similar
circumstances."
After hearing the Rt. Hon. Mr. Elephant's conclusive evidence,
the Commission called Mr. Hyena and other elders of the jungle, who all
supported what Mr. Elephant had said. They then called the man, who began to
give his own account of the dispute. But the Commission cut him short, saying:
"My good man, please confine yourself to relevant issues. We have already
heard the circumstances from various unbiased sources; all we wish you to tell
us is whether the undeveloped space in your hut was occupied by anyone else
before Mr. Elephant assumed his position?" The man began to say: "No,
but -" But at this point the Commission declared that they had heard
sufficient evidence from both sides and retired to consider their decision.
After enjoying a delicious meal at the expense of the Rt. Hon. Mr. Elephant,
they reached their verdict, called the man, and declared as follows: "In
our opinion this dispute has arisen through a regrettable misunderstanding due
to the backwardness of your ideas. We consider that Mr. Elephant has fulfilled
his sacred duty of protecting your interests. As it is clearly for your good
that the space should be put to its most economic use, and as you yourself have
not yet reached the stage of expansion which would enable you to fill it, we
consider it necessary to arrange a compromise to suit both parties. Mr.
Elephant shall continue his occupation of your hut, but we give you permission
to look for a site where you can build another hut more suited to your needs,
and we will see that you are well protected."
The man, having no alternative, and fearing that his refusal
might expose him to the teeth and claws of members of the Commission, did as
they suggested. But no sooner had he built another hut than Mr. Rhinoceros
charged in with his horn lowered and ordered the man to quit. A Royal
Commission was again appointed to look into the matter, and the same finding
was given. This procedure was repeated until Mr. Buffalo, Mr. Leopard, Mr. Hyena
and the rest were all accommodated with new huts. Then the man decided that he
must adopt an effective method of protection, since Commissions of Enquiry did
not seem to be of any use to him. He sat down and said: "Ng'enda thi
ndeagaga motegi," which literally means, "there is nothing that
treads on the earth that cannot be trapped," or in other words, you can
fool people for a time, but not forever.
Early one morning, when the huts already occupied by the jungle lords were all beginning to decay and fall to pieces, he went out and built a bigger and better hut a little distance away. No sooner had Mr. Rhinoceros seen it than he came rushing in, only to find that Mr. Elephant was already inside, sound asleep. Mr. Leopard next came in at the window, Mr. Lion, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Buffalo entered the doors, while Mr. Hyena howled for a place in the shade and Mr. Alligator basked on the roof. Presently they all began disputing about their rights of penetration, and from disputing they came to fighting, and while they were embroiled together the man set the hut on fire and burnt it to the ground, jungle lords and all. Then he went home, saying "Peace is costly, but it's worth the expense," and lived happily ever after.
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