There was an elephant living in the forest who was extremely proud of his huge size. He usually caused problems for other animals and mocked them. One day, while he was walking in the forest, he saw a parrot sitting on a tree. The elephant said to him: “What is this? Didn’t you see me coming? I am the strongest animal in the forest. You must bow before me.”
The parrot said to him: “Never, I can’t.” The elephant said to him: “You refuse, you fool? Then I will teach you to respect me.” The parrot refused to bow to the elephant. The elephant uprooted the entire tree and began shaking it, and the parrot couldn’t sit on it and flew away. The elephant said: “Go away. Did you see now what I can do?” Then he said: “You are all weak before me.” The arrogant elephant walked away and went to the river as usual to drink water. Beside the river, there was an ant living in a small ant hill.
The ant was accustomed to gathering food for her home every day, and the elephant was accustomed to bothering her. Today was no different. While the elephant was drinking water, he saw the ant on her way. He said to her: “Oh little one, who is this food for?” The ant said to him: “This food is for my home. The rain will start, and I must gather food.”
The elephant drew water from the river with his huge trunk, then sprayed it over the ant. The water spoiled her food, and the ant was completely soaked. Then the ant said to him: “Oh elephant, laugh as much as you want. I will teach you a lesson someday.” The elephant said: “You have frightened me, oh little ant. Stay away from here. I can crush you with my foot. Go away.” The ant became angry at the elephant and his extreme arrogance and decided to teach him a lesson as soon as possible.
The ant said to herself: “I must do something. He bothers everyone.” The next day, while she was on her way to gather food and saw the elephant sleeping, she got an idea. She quietly went beside the elephant, sneaked inside his trunk, and began biting him from inside the trunk. She continued doing this until the elephant woke up, mocking the pain until he cried from the pain and said: “Who’s inside? Get out of here!” The ant heard him screaming, but she continued biting. The elephant’s pain increased, and he cried loudly. The ant heard the elephant crying, came out of the trunk, and the elephant was astonished when he saw the ant. He feared she would bite him again to the point that he collapsed and began apologizing to her.
The elephant said to her: “Forgive me, please.” The elephant realized his mistake and left the place. He didn’t try to bother anyone again. The ant said: “Did you see now? Your size doesn’t matter. Don’t boast about your strength, but use it to help others.”
Translated from the story: Elephant and Ant Story