The Elephant

Once in the Suburban forest of India, a mother had just given birth to a
beautiful elephant whose skin was as smooth as silk and silver like the moon
above. So much so, she was named Nila which meant moon in Tamil.

Nila was a good elephant she would do her best to help others and make a
difference. Unfortunately, Nila was the only one of her kind like that, all the
other elephants would stamp and hurt other animals and this was something
Nila couldn’t take. Not long after her mom died Nila packed her things and set
off to find a new home. After about 2 hours of walking, Nila found a nice
resting spot somewhere in the Gir Forest near Gujarat. “Finally, a little peace
& quiet.” sighed Nila.

Not for long though as soon as she sat down she heard something screaming
and crying, Nila immediately ran over to see what’s going on. When she
arrived at the scene she saw a monkey trembling on the floor “What’s going
on what happened little monkey!” gasped Nila
“My brothers all tease me and hit me just because I’m small and weak and it
hurts so much” cried the devastated monkey. Nila turned over to the brothers
and scolded them “He’s your little brother you should be taking care of him
and making him stronger. You are all unwise to treat him like this!” The
brothers talked with each other and swore to never hurt one another again.
This was just one of the problems Nila solved over the years she helped
almost every animal in the jungle and in the end even the lion couldn’t help
but step down and grant her the leader of the Gir forest.

A few weeks after that Nila was walking around the forest when she saw a
man wandering around looking frightened and as soon as he saw Nela he
thought “Oh no elephant today will be the last day of my life okay calm down
Arush just walk the other direction” The man walked a few stepped and turned
around to see that Nila had followed him. “ Hmm,” the man thought “Why
aren’t you running over me and killing me?”
“I am not those type of elephants I’m a good person and I lead this forests.
Are you lost? Can I do anything to help you?”

“Yes please I was trying to go to a village in Gujarat for 2 days now and I’ve
lost my way could you help me out?”
“Sure come rest at my cave for a while.” Nela arrived at her cave carrying the
man on her back.

“Here have some of these fruits I just got it fresh from those trees,” said Nela
handing him the variety of fruits with her trunk. “Wow these fruits are just
scrumptious you must let me take some back to the village for my family, oh
you must!”
“Of course, this forest has enough fruits as it is no point in being greed.”
chuckled Nila with a smile on her face “I never got to know your name by the
way mines is Nila. What's yours?”
“Mines is Ashman Singh (ush-men sing) call me Ashman.” He told the
elephant. “Well Ashman!, we better get some sleep you must be exhausted,”
said Nela.
“I sure am!” Ashman told her yawning aloud.

At dawn, Ashman and Nela woke up and prepared to leave towards the city of
Gujarat. Nila placed Ashman on her back and set off to the village. As they
were walking they enjoyed the chirping of the birds, the humming of the bees,
and the sun rising with its fiery orange colors.

Once the village was in sight Nila placed Ashman down on the soft green
grass on the hill above the village. “I mustn't go any further, so you carry own I
assume you know the path by now. Oh and I almost forgot your fruits here
you go!” said Nela
“Of course, thanks for your help I hope we meet again soon! Bye Nela”
“So do I, goodbye my friend.”

A few days later Ashman was chatting with a man who sold statues made out
of elephant tusks. “What fine statues these are my friend you must be making
a lot of money.” said Ashman “ Well actually that’s not the case, I would be
making a lot of money if I was making the statues from original elephant tusk
and they are twice as more expensive!” cried the statue maker

The next day Ashman went over to Nila’s cave and asked her if he could cut a
part of her tusks as it was his only way to make money as he was poor.”Of
course, you can, anything for a friend.” Ashman took Nela’s tusks and sold it
all to the statue maker who gave him 3 sacks of gold coins enough for him to
last 6 months. Ashman bought all sorts of things but soon enough he ran out
of his money.

Ashman’s greed took over him and he decides to take away all of the
elephants' tusks and so that’s what he did. “Nila, are you there” shouted
Ashman. “ Yes I’m coming friend is there anything you need,” said Nela softly.
“Yes, once again I’ve become poor and request to take the last of your tusks,”
said Ashman innocently. Nila bent down allowing him to take the tusks from
her but instead of cutting it he yanked her tusks off and ran away leaving her
crying and bleeding in pain.

While Ashman ran away the ground set on fire and began to crack. Ashman
fell down and that’s when God said: “She gave you everything and you
betrayed her by ripping the tusk off her, who do you think you are, I will not
allow such a man like you to live amongst us!!!” Ashman burned till he died,
while Nila healed and moved on with her positive and peaceful life as the
leader of the Gir forest.

Moral of the story: What goes around comes around

Never be greedy