The Mice and the Elephants

Long ago, in an ancient and ruined city, there lived a large colony of mice. The city was once prosperous, but now only broken houses and silence remained. The mice lived there very happily because they had plenty of space and old food stores to eat. The king of this colony was a very wise and kind mouse. Once during the summer, all the water sources in the nearby forest dried up. A large herd of elephants was very thirsty. Their king, Gajraj, knew that beyond this ruined city, there was a large and clean lake. This massive herd of elephants began to rush through the city towards the lake. Elephants are very large and heavy. As they ran through the ruined city, thousands of mice were crushed under their feet. There was a panic in the mouse colony. The mouse king thought that if these elephants came this way every day, their entire race would be destroyed. So, he bravely decided to meet the king of the elephants. Mooshakraj went to Gajraj and said, 'Your Majesty, we live in this city. Many of my subjects have been killed because of your herd. Could you please change your route? If you save our lives, we might be of help to you sometime in the future.' Gajraj initially laughed, wondering how these tiny mice could ever help such large elephants. However, he showed mercy and agreed to change his path. A few days later, the king's hunters set nets in the forest to catch the elephants. Gajraj and his herd got trapped in those strong nets. The elephants tried very hard but could not break the nets. In distress, Gajraj remembered the mouse king. He trumpeted loudly to call the mice for help. The mouse king arrived there with thousands of his soldiers. They nibbled through all the nets with their sharp teeth in a short time. The elephants were freed! Gajraj realized his mistake. He thanked the mice, and from that day on, elephants and mice became the best of friends.