The Sparrow's Revenge on the Elephant
Panchatantra Stories · 1 min read
A rogue elephant, crashing through the forest in a destructive rage, trampled a sparrow's nest without even noticing, killing all her unhatched eggs. The grieving sparrow, small and seemingly powerless against a creature so enormous, vowed revenge and sought out three friends: a woodpecker, a fly, and a frog, each offering a different, unlikely skill to the cause.
The fly, buzzing persistently in the elephant's ears, distracted and irritated him for hours. The woodpecker, taking advantage of his distraction, pecked mercilessly at his eyes until the great animal, in agony and half-blind, stumbled about desperately. The frog, positioned near a deep, hidden pit, croaked loudly from its edge, luring the disoriented, blinded elephant toward the sound in hopes of finding water to soothe his pain.
The elephant, following the frog's call, stumbled directly into the hidden pit and, too large and injured to climb back out, met his end there — brought down entirely by creatures individually far too small to have threatened him alone, but who together, through patient teamwork, accomplished exactly what the grieving sparrow had sworn to do.
Moral of the story
Creatures individually too small to threaten a great power can, through patient teamwork, still bring it down entirely.