The Elephant and the Fly
A fly, who lived in a palace, once said to one of the king's elephants, "Look! you do such hard work, yet you are confined in a shed, far from the palace; whereas I do nothing, yet I range over the whole palace and amuse myself where I like, even on the crowned head of the king."
"That is because you are such an insignificant thing," said the elephant.
The fly was abashed, and said, "Alas! it signifies nothing where a fly lives!"
An Indian Fable by Ramaswami Raju
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Once upon a time in a land far away, there lived an elephant by the name of Raja. Raja lived a majestic life as he was the royal prince's favorite elephant. Due to his position as the "favorite elephant," Raja lived a life of luxury and joy. Everyday, his meals would be served on the finest metal plates in the kingdom, he had his own barn on the royal grounds to sleep in, and the prince would make a visit at least once a day. However, when Raja wasn't eating, sleeping, or spending time with the young prince, he would get quite bored as none of the other elephants were friends with him. You see, the other elephants were jealous of the special treatment that Raja received. One day, a palace fly ventured out onto the royal grounds and happened upon Raja's barn. The fly was surprised to see the level of luxury the elephant lived in as he had seen the other animals on the royal grounds did not receive much special treatment.
He asked Raja, Oh, fine elephant, why do you live in such extravagance while the other animals get pushed around?
Raja replied, While it seems like an extravagant life, I myself live in misery as I have no friends to share my time with.
Astonished, the fly asked why Raja did not have any friends.
Raja responded, I have had the unfortunate blessing of being the prince's favorite elephant. But, my fellow elephants do not wish to speak to me because of the special treatment I receive.
Realizing that it was soon getting dark, the fly soon departed back to the palace. However, that night, he decided that he should become friends with Raja and connect him with the other elephants on the royal grounds. The next day, the fly visited the other elephants...
Oh friendly elephants, why do you ostracize my friend Raja? He has done no wrong.
To which the elephants replied, We do not ostracize him, we just thought he did not want our company.
The fly said, Oh but that is not the case. Raja longs to be friends with you all!
Joyfully, the fly flew over to Raja's barn to tell him the happy news. Raja was overjoyed and quickly walked (as fast as an elephant can walk) to the other elephants. Soon enough, all of the elephants became the best of friends and also became close friends with the fly.
An elephant on palace grounds (Wikipedia Commons)
Author's Note: The inspiration for my story came from Ramaswami Raju's fable The Elephant and the Fly. In his fable, a fly from a palace tells an elephant that it is constrained in life and does not have any freedom. However, the elephant then says that it lives a more valued life than that of the fly, demonstrating that while the elephant has a tougher life, his purpose is greater. When I read this story, I wanted to create one that had a friendship between the elephant and the fly. But, I also wanted a story that incorporated the royal undertone, while creating one in which the ending was happy for all parties.
This story was very well written, and its message and intentions (as stated in the author's note) was perfectly transmitted through the story. For instance, the story’s royal undertone was attributed to the author’s choice of diction, such as “extravagant” and “ostracize.” On a side note, Raja as a choice name for the first elephant is perfect! I love the name for reasons, such as it’s the name of Jasmine’s tiger in Aladdin and it’s meaning is attributed to royalty and rule.
ReplyDeleteI like your descriptions and details in the first paragraph of the story. The story is also well written and I can see the message convey through the story. The elephant may live in luxury, but the fly has much more freedom than the elephant. I thought it was heart-warming when the fly try to help the elephant finds friends as well!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this story! At first I was thinking ‘wow Raja is treated better than me’ but then when he thought he had no friends my heart broke! Elephants don’t deserve to be lonely! It made me happy that everything was just a misunderstanding and that they all came together at the end to be friends. I like how you made the fly and the elephants have conversations.
ReplyDeleteGreat job!
Oh poor, little Raja. I was curious about why you had named the elephant Raja, so I looked up what the meaning of the name was. According to Wikipedia, it is the title for a monarch or a princely ruler. What a perfect name for the elephant since it lived in luxury compared to all the other elephants. Your use of pathos was great for this story since I genuinely felt sad that the elephant had to live in sad luxury. I wonder what made this particular elephant so special to the royal prince, though? Was it his coloration perhaps (because I imagined a white elephant) or something that the prince saw in him? What if or what would have happened if you had made Raja a stuck-up elephant who had to learn a difficult lesson about friendship instead? I think it would be interesting to see since it would turn into a moral-like story but I really do like how you have set it up as is.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard that fable before so this made for an interesting read! I liked that you kept similar characters from the original fable but you changed the story to have a more positive and happy ending. Your story definitely shows that communication is key to good relationships. I'm glad you added in dialogue. Overall, great story!
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