The Elephant and the Sparrow
A pair of sparrows built a nest on the branch of a leafy tree and laid eggs. One scorching summer afternoon, a rogue elephant in a fit of rage rushed through the forest, broke the tree branch with his trunk, and crushed the sparrow's eggs into the dirt.
Weeping bitterly, the mother sparrow sought the counsel of her loyal friend, the Woodpecker bird. The Woodpecker said: "Grief alone will not avenge your children. We must enlist friends to defeat this tyrant."
The Woodpecker assembled an alliance of small creatures: a Fly, a Frog, and the Woodpecker himself. Together, they devised a brilliant coordinated strategy:
- First, the Fly buzzed a sweet, hypnotic melody into the elephant's ear until he closed his eyes in bliss.
- Second, the Woodpecker swooped down and pierced both of the elephant's eyes, blinding him.
- Third, as the blinded elephant groaned in agony and thirst, the Frog croaked loudly near a deep muddy precipice.
Believing that the frog's croaking signaled a refreshing water pond, the thirsty elephant rushed forward, fell over the cliff into the deep marshy ravine, and perished.