Children enjoy listening to stories at any time of the day. These stories transport them to a whole new world of fantasy. Children love to hear stories from their parents, grandparents, teachers, and siblings. Story time can also serve as a time for the child and parents to bond. These stories help children express their feelings more effectively and teach them a lot of lessons at a young age. The Elephant and The Ant’s story is about the might and pride of an elephant and how a tiny ant shatters it. What the small ant did to cause the elephant to become restless is something to look forward to. Read the article to know more about this tale.
Origin And History Of ‘The Elephant And The Ant’ Story
The “Elephant and The Ant” is a classic bedtime story written centuries ago and passed down from generation to generation. It is believed to be inspired by one of Aesop’s fables: “The Dove and The Ant” story. It has been children’s favourite, and is part of many story books.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!
Story Type: ‘The Elephant And The Ant’
The story of “The Elephant and The Ant” is short, and the kids will love to listen to it as a bedtime story.
Story Characters
The “The Elephant and The Ant” story has two characters, as mentioned in the title: The elephant and the ant.
- The elephant: The elephant was vast and mighty, was very proud of his strength and believed no one could ever harm him.
- The ant: The ant was tiny and a hard worker. However, despite his small size, he taught the big elephant a lesson about never underestimating others based on their physical appearance.
The Story Of The Elephant And The Ant For Children
Once upon a time, in a faraway jungle, lived a huge elephant. He was bigger than all the animals in the jungle, hence was very proud of his strength. He troubled and bullied the other animals, and no one said anything to him as they were all afraid of his size.
In the same jungle lived a family of ants. They were a hard-working family who was always busy doing their work. During the day, they gathered food, and at night, they enjoyed their meal.
One day, as the ants were searching for food, they saw the mighty elephant. He was playing near the pool with water.
As soon as the big mean elephant saw the ant family, he splashed water on them with his trunk.
All the ants were shocked; seeing them like that, the elephant started laughing.
“What do you think you are doing?” shouted a tiny ant angrily. “We have never harmed you, then why did you do this to us? Is it fun for you to bully others?”
“Oh, be quiet, you tiny ant!” said the elephant, “Who do you think you are to talk back to me like that? One more word, and I’ll walk over all of you in no time”.
The little ant had no choice but to stay quiet. All of them left for their home quietly.
After coming home, all the family members told the tiny ant not to pick a fight with the elephant and let the matter slide.
“The elephant is huge and mean, and he can crush us in no time. It’s better not to pick a fight with him and live peacefully”, said the eldest member of the ant family.
After careful thought, the tiny ant said, “Okay. I’ll see what is to be done”, and left.
Later that night, when the elephant was sleeping, the tiny ant quietly sneaked out of his house and made his way to the elephant.
Seeing the elephant sound asleep, the tiny ant thought, “Enough of your bullying, elephant! Now see what I do.:
Thinking this, the ant entered the elephant’s trunk and started biting it, and he bit it with all his force.
“Ouch! Ouch! That hurts!” shrieked the elephant and woke up.
“What is this pain? What is biting me?” shouted the elephant restlessly.
The elephant tried everything but could not do anything to get the ant out of his trunk. Such a huge elephant could do nothing to the tiny ant.
“Please stop! I cannot bear this pain anymore. Please stop biting me”, pleaded the elephant.
The ant stopped biting him and said, “Well, I guess now you know how others feel when you hurt and bully them?”
“Yes. I know,” cried the elephant. “I was unaware of the pain I caused them, but now I know. Please forgive me and come out of my trunk.”
“I will come out but only on one condition”, said the tiny ant. “Promise me that you will never bully or make fun of others again.”
“I won’t, I promise”, said the elephant.
As soon as the ant heard this, he slid out of the elephant’s trunk.
The elephant heaved a huge sigh of relief.
“I am very sorry,” apologised the elephant. “I had no idea how bad I have made others feel and how much I have troubled them. Now that I know, I promise never to be the same again.”
From that day onwards, the mighty elephant never troubled anyone again. He became friends with all the animals in the jungle and lived peacefully.
Story Summary
Given below is a summary of the story “The Elephant and The Ant”:
Once upon a time, in a jungle, lived a mighty elephant. He was immensely proud of the fact that he was big and that no one could harm him. As a result, he used to bully all of the jungle’s creatures. A family of ants was passing by one day. When the elephant saw them, he threw water on them with his trunk. When a small ant questioned him about what he was doing, he told him to be quiet and threatened to walk over his entire family!
Later that night, the ant crept into the elephant’s trunk and started biting him. He bit it till the elephant became restless and began screaming in pain. When the elephant pleaded, the ant came out of his trunk on one condition that he would not bully others. The elephant promised never to bully anyone else again. This is how the little ant taught the giant elephant the essential life lesson, i.e., never underestimate others, including yourself.
Moral Of The Story
The moral of the story is “Never underestimate anyone, including yourself.”
In the given story, the elephant made fun of the other animals and bullied them because he underestimated them and thought that no one could harm him because of his gigantic size. However, he was proved wrong by a tiny little ant. Also, if the tiny ant had listened to his family members and underestimated himself, he would have never been able to teach the elephant a lesson.
How Can Children Apply The Moral In Their Real Life?
This short story teaches us lots of valuable lessons about life, and the children can apply them in real life in many ways:
- We should always teach the kids to be kind and compassionate towards others. We never know what the other person might be going through, and the least we can do for them is to be kind.
- We should always believe in ourselves. We should always think that we are capable of doing anything and everything and not let others’ negative opinions define or affect us.
- We should also never be overconfident about our strength, size, or status and bully others for their small size. We never know when the tables might just turn.
Story with pictures is not only fun but also allows the kids to imagine scenarios given in the tale. They keep the children hooked to the tale, and they also remain inquisitive about what is going to happen next. Read this elephant and the ant story to your kid as a bedtime story and watch them gain a valuable lesson!
