A fable from the Panchatantra, retold for children in our own words. The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian collection of animal stories traditionally attributed to the scholar Vishnu Sharma. This story comes from Book 1: The loss of friends.
A pair of sparrows built a cosy nest on a low branch of a tree and laid their eggs. One hot afternoon a bad-tempered elephant came to rest in the shade.
Feeling cross, the elephant shook the tree with his trunk. The branch broke, and the sparrows’ nest and eggs fell to the ground. The sparrows were heartbroken.
A woodpecker, a fly and a frog heard them crying. “We are all small,” said the woodpecker, “but if we work together, we can teach that elephant to be kinder.” And they made a plan.
At midday, the fly buzzed a sleepy tune in the elephant’s ear until his eyes closed. Then the woodpecker tapped on his head, rat-a-tat-tat, so he could not tell which way he was going.
Thirsty and muddled, the elephant heard the frog croaking beside a muddy pit. “Water must be there,” he thought, and he stumbled in. He was stuck in the mud until morning.
When the elephant finally climbed out, tired and muddy, he had learned his lesson. From then on he walked gently past the tree, and the sparrows built a new nest in peace.
The moral of the story
Small friends working together can stand up to someone big and unkind.
Talk about it
- How did each of the four small friends help?
- Was it fair for the elephant to break the nest?
- How can friends stand up to unkindness together?
Tips for reading aloud
- Use a different voice for each animal.
- Pause before the turning point and ask, “What do you think happens next?”
- Open the picture book and press Read to me to hear it read aloud, with the pages turning by themselves.
More fables: the Panchatantra bookshelf.
