Why the Elephant Has Such Big Ears

A tale from the days when animals settled their quarrels beneath the trees

Long, long ago, when animals could talk and the trees could answer them, Elephant had very small ears. They were no bigger than two little leaves, and they sat on either side of his enormous head.

But Elephant did not mind. He was the strongest animal in the forest, and he was terribly proud of it. He could pull down a branch without climbing a tree. He could carry a fallen log across a river. When he stamped his foot, even the lions looked up.

So when the animals needed someone to settle their quarrels, they chose Elephant.

Every morning, Elephant sat beneath the great baobab tree, and the animals came to tell him their troubles.

One day, Hare came hopping into the clearing.

"Great Elephant," he said, "Hyena has taken all the carrots from my garden, and..."

"Then plant some more!" Elephant interrupted.

"But I..."

"NEXT!"

Hare went away without his carrots.

The next morning, Frog came to complain.

"Great Elephant, Crocodile has been sleeping across the river path, and none of us can get past him."

"Then jump over him!" Elephant answered.

"But Crocodile is much too..."

"NEXT!"

Frog went away without finishing his complaint.

And so it continued.

Whenever an animal began to speak, Elephant raised his trunk and shouted, "I KNOW! I KNOW!" He liked the sound of his own voice so much that he scarcely heard anybody else's.

Now, beneath the roots of the great baobab tree lived a colony of ants.

One morning, the ants awoke to a terrible disaster. Elephant had sat down upon their storehouse.

Their grains were scattered. Their tunnels were crushed. Their winter food lay buried under a mountain of grey elephant. The ants pushed and pulled, but Elephant was far too heavy to move.

At last, the smallest ant was sent to speak to him. She climbed his enormous foot, marched up his leg, and stood upon his knee.

"Great Elephant!" she called. "You are sitting on our home!"

Elephant did not hear her. She climbed higher.

"Great Elephant! Please move!"

Elephant scratched his stomach. She climbed all the way up his trunk and stood upon the tip.

"ELEPHANT!"

"WHAT?" Elephant roared. The little ant nearly fell off.

"You are sitting on our home!" she shouted.

Elephant began to laugh.

"HA! HA! HA! A little ant has come to order me about!"

"I am not ordering you," said Ant. "I am asking you to move."

"Move? For an ANT?"

And Elephant laughed so loudly that the branches trembled and the birds flew out of the tree. High above them, the old baobab stirred.

For hundreds of years, the tree had stood in that clearing. It had heard every quarrel, every promise, and every foolish word spoken beneath its branches. And now, it had heard enough.

"ELEPHANT," said the tree.

Elephant stopped laughing.

He looked left.

He looked right.

"Who said that?"

"I did," said the baobab.

Elephant stared up into its branches.

"Trees cannot talk!"

"Once," said the baobab, "you said ants could not complain. Yesterday, you said frogs could not argue. Tell me, Elephant, is there anyone in this forest you believe worth listening to?"

"Of course!" said Elephant. "I listen to everybody!"

The baobab shook its branches and a leaf fell upon Elephant's head.

"Then what did Hare come to tell you last week?"

"Er..."

Another leaf fell.

"And what did Frog say yesterday?"

"Well..."

"And what is Ant asking you to do?"

Elephant looked at the tiny ant upon his trunk.

"She wants me to give her something, I think."

"NO!" cried Ant. "I WANT YOU TO GET OFF MY HOUSE!"

Elephant blinked.

"Oh."

The baobab sighed, and all its leaves rustled.

"Elephant, you have two ears, but you use neither. Perhaps you need bigger ones."

And with that, the tree shook itself. Down came a hundred leaves. They whirled about Elephant's head, brushing against his little ears. And as they brushed, his ears began to grow.

First they grew as wide as a mouse.

Then as wide as a rabbit.

Then as wide as a goat.

"STOP!" Elephant cried.

But the leaves kept falling.

His ears grew wider and wider until they hung from his head like two enormous fans. Elephant shook his head.

FLAP! FLAP! FLAP!

The wind from his ears blew Ant clean off his trunk and into a patch of soft grass.

"Oh dear!" said Elephant.

He tried to fold his ears away, but they were much too large.

"What am I to do with these?" he complained.

"Listen," said the baobab.

Elephant stood very still. At first he heard the wind moving through the grass. Then he heard a woodpecker tapping upon a distant tree.

He heard bees humming, frogs croaking, and water running over stones. And then, very faintly, he heard the ants beneath him.

"Our food is ruined!"

"Our tunnels are broken!"

"Will somebody PLEASE move this elephant?"

Elephant lifted himself at once.

"I am sorry," he said.

And because the ants had lost their winter food, he spent the whole afternoon gathering seeds and berries for them.

It was difficult work. His trunk was far too big to pick up a single grain of millet, and whenever he sneezed, the little piles scattered everywhere.

But Ant showed him how to gather the food upon large leaves, and by sunset the ants had enough to fill their storehouse again.

From that day onward, Elephant became a much better judge. He listened to Hare. He listened to Frog. He even listened to Mosquito, although Mosquito had a very long complaint about the way everyone kept trying to squash him.

And that is why elephants have such enormous ears to this very day.

But if you ever see an elephant flapping his ears, do not think he is only trying to cool himself. Perhaps there is a little ant somewhere beneath his feet, shouting,

"EXCUSE ME! YOU ARE STANDING ON MY HOUSE AGAIN!"