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The Elephant, Girly-face
There once was a very kind and gentle elephant named Girly-face. No one who lived in the village had ever known an elephant as caring as he was. Girly-face loved to spend his days helping out around the village. He entertained the children while their parents were away working in the fields. He carried heavy loads for the elders, pulled down fruits from high above, and helped transport goods across the strong river. The villagers loved Girly-face. They fed him sweet fruits, nuts, built him large shelters around the village, and made him soft blankets to lie in while he slept.
One night, Girly-face woke up to the whispers of strange voices around him. It was a group of five robbers and they were discussing their plans to loot as many homes as they could that night.
"Don't let anyone see your face. It's important that no one recognize us." One robber said.
Another one chimed in, "You must attack without a second thought. Don't stop to think even for a moment."
Girly-face felt his stomach sink. He had never heard such harsh words before, he didn't understand them well but he believed that he must learn these ways. The words sunk into his soul without his consent. His eyes fell and he lay down for a very sleepless night.
The next morning, one of Girly-face's keepers came to check on him and Girly-face reared up. He lifted the keeper up high with his trunk and slammed him into the ground, killing him. Everyone was astonished and very confused. How could this happen? They decided to keep Girly-face isolated away until they could figure out what was wrong. The king heard about what had happened and sent one of his wise men to learn more. The wise man thought for a long while and eventually asked if anyone with ill-intent had been around Girly-face lately. He thought that there must be some reason as to this odd behavior outside of Girly-face's control.
"There was a band of robbers that we caught just last night! They were discussing their plans by Girly-face's shelter when we overheard them." A villager said.
This supported the wise man's theory. He explained that Girly-face needed to be surrounded by goodness and conversations of good will. They king sent a group of the greatest men he knew. All night the men talked about kindness, respect, and caring for others.
The next morning Girly-face woke to all of the village children running up to him. His heart felt so full and he was very happy to see them. He rose to greet them and they all went together to the pond to play in the water together. All the villagers were so relieved to see that they had their Girly-face back. They also thought to themselves how important it is to surround yourself with goodness, for we are all easily influenced whether we realize it or not.
He lived out the rest of his years, happily with his village.
Author's Note:
I wrote my story about Girly-face the elephant which was one of the Jataka Stories. I really loved it because I think it has a special message about surrounding yourself with good people. It is very easy to become influenced by those around you. This can either be a good thing or a bad thing considering on the values shared by those around you. I think it was important to notice how little of a choice Girly-face had in this situation. I think this is how it is in real life. You don't notice how much of an influence these people are having on you until it's too late. I didn't change too much about this story. I did add a lot more background on Girly-face though because I think it made him even more lovable to hear about all the good deeds he does around the village for the people. I also added more about the thought processes of Girly-face, for instance how he wasn't happy when he was influenced by the robbers.
In the ancient version of this story as told by Buddha to his followers (Buddha Version) , the elephant Girly-face went around killing everyone in sight. This was very sad to imagine because of all the trust that the elephant had built with the village and all of it's people. In this version, a lot of emphasis was placed on how the elephant assumed that those speaking around him were meant as teachers. Anything that was said around him, he learned from. I really liked this stanza included in that story that summarizes everything really well:
"Through hearing first the burglars' wicked talk
Damsel-face ranged abroad to wound and kill;
Through hearing, later, wise men's lofty words
The noble elephant turned good once more."
The Elephant Girly-face