Posted by on Mar 28, 2008 in Carolyn, FICTION, New | 0 comments

Once upon a time, there was a most magnificent elephant.  This elephant was the strongest animal in the land.   Its wisdom was beyond the wisdom of any of the other creatures that lived near it, although it did not condescend to any of those other creatures.  It knew, of course, that somewhere in them also was the same wisdom, which the elephant itself relied on.

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Atop this elephant usually peacefully coexisting and usually loving this coexistence, there lived the tiniest of fleas. The elephant and the flea were the best of friends and the closest of companions.  You see, life had given them the perfect situation. They lived so closely together and knew and loved each other so well, that if either of them had need of anything, the other was automatically there.

Now, as the elephant moved powerfully and gracefully across the plain, a most peculiar thing started to happen to the tiny flea. He started to slide, but his descent was so slow that he did not even notice until he was tightly wedged in one of the deep creases of his friend’s neck.? The fold in which the flea became wedged was hot, sweaty, smelly, and dark.

The flea became very dissatisfied and began to complain in a high, squeaky, really quite irritating little voice. “Dear friend, we are not moving,” he said. “Dear friend, we are not moving at all!  And if we do not move, we will not be warm and safe by nightfall. Dear friend, are you listening?  It is growing darker and damper by the second! Dear friend, I tell you that we are standing stuck fast in some terrible swampy place, and you must be growing stupid and deaf as surely as we are stuck!”

“Dear friend, indeed.” the flea muttered to himself,  “To leave me here like this, on a hot and damp night. I can see that this elephant has lost his intelligence, probably his eyesight, and surely his hearing, or he would be listening to me!”

For a long time, the patient elephant calmly ignored his tiny flea companion.  This was not out of spite, but rather, because the elephant knew that the little flea tended toward confusion. Finally, the elephant calmly replied, “Flea, listen to me. If you will crawl up a bit higher and look around you will see that it is only midday. The sun is warming us gently. Our way is clear and we are moving strongly and surely toward our next destination. This land has an abundance of food and water and all of the things that we have need of, and? if only you will heed my suggestion. It really is only your position and insight, that needs to change.”

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