Fairy Tales From Many Lands
Copyright© 2024 by Katharine Pyle
How the Elephant and the Whale Were Tricked
From Louisiana Creole Tales
ONE time the rabbit and the ground hog went out to walk together. The rabbit wore his blue coat with brass buttons, for it was a fine day, and cocked his hat gayly over one eye, but the ground hog was content with his old fur overcoat, and galoshes to keep his feet dry.
They walked along until at last they came to the seashore, and there they saw the elephant standing and talking to the whale. “Look!” said the ground hog; “that is a wonderful sight, for I reckon those are the two biggest animals in all the world.”
“Let’s go close and hear what they’re talking about,” said the rabbit.
“No, no,” answered the ground hog. “They might not like it, and if I’m going to be impolite I’d rather be impolite to animals that are more my own size.”
However, the rabbit was determined to know what two such big beasts talked to each other about, so he stole up close to them unnoticed, and hid back of a clump of grass to listen.
“Of all the beasts that walk the earth not one is as great as I am,” boasted the elephant. “The ground trembles at my tread; the trees shake and the other animals are afraid and hide lest I should be angry with them.”
“True, brother,” answered the whale. “On the other hand, there is not a fish in the sea that compares to me in size. I swallow hundreds at one gulp, and when I lash the waters with my tail it is like a storm.”
“And that is true, too,” answered the elephant. “Brother, how would it be if we proclaimed ourselves kings of the earth and sea, and made all of the other fish and animals our subjects?”
“That would be a fine scheme,” the whale agreed, “and then we would make them pay us tribute.”
The elephant was pleased with that idea, too. “Good! good!” he trumpeted. “That is what we will do.”
So the two beasts talked together, each one praising himself and the other, and saying how great they were.
The rabbit listened until he could bear it no longer, and then he stole back to the ground hog, his whiskers trembling with rage.
“Well, what were they talking about?” asked the ground hog.
“All their talk was of how great and powerful they were,” answered the rabbit, “and they say they will declare themselves kings and make us pay tribute. But I will show them a thing or two before that.”
“What will you show them?” asked the other.
“I have thought of a trick to play upon them, and it is a trick that will make them feel so silly they will forget all about making kings of themselves.”
The ground hog begged and entreated the rabbit not to think of such a thing. The whale and the elephant were too big and powerful for a little rabbit to try to play a trick upon them, and if he did, they would surely punish him. But the rabbit would not listen to him, and at last the ground hog rose and buttoned up his overcoat. “Well, I’m not going to get myself into trouble,” he said. “I’m going home, I am, to look through the closets and get some tribute ready for them.” So home he ambled, and did not mind one bit when the rabbit called after him that he was a coward.
But the rabbit made haste to the house of a neighbor to borrow a coil of rope he knew of, for that was the first thing he needed for his trick.
He got the rope and came back and hid in some bushes by the roadside. Presently he saw the elephant come swinging up the road. He had finished his talk with the whale and was now on his way home. He looked very pleased with himself, and was smiling and idly breaking off the little trees with his trunk as he came.
The rabbit sprang out of the bushes with the coil of rope over his arm, and ran toward the elephant, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Help, help!”
The elephant stopped and looked at him with surprise. “What is the matter, Rabbit?” he asked.
“My cow! My cow has fallen into the quicksands down by the sea, and no one can get her out. Oh, dear good kind Master Elephant, if you would but help me! You are so great and strong and wonderful that it would be nothing at all for you to pull her out.”
The elephant was very much pleased with these compliments to his strength. “Yes, I will help you,” he said good-naturedly. “I am indeed very great and powerful. Come! Show me where she is.”
“No need of that,” answered the sly rabbit. “Do you stand here and hold this end of the rope, and I will run and tie the other end around her horns. When all is ready I will beat a drum. As soon as you hear that begin to pull and you will have her out in a twinkling.”
The elephant agreed to do this; he took hold of the end of the rope and stood there, waiting and thinking how strong he was, and how the animals were obliged to come to him when they needed help.
Meanwhile the rabbit ran down to the seashore with the other end of the rope. The whale was still there resting on the sand-bar, and thinking how great and powerful he was.
“Help! help!” cried the rabbit as soon as he was near enough for the whale to hear him.
The great creature turned, and looked at him lazily. “What is the matter, Rabbit?” he asked.
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