Baby Elephant with Tiny Ears

Marina Horte
Translated from Russian by Irene W. Galaktionova


There was once a baby Elephant who had very small ears. All the other elephants, young and old, had big floppy ears. And his were tiny little things.
Every time Baby Elephant looked at his reflection in the water, he felt embarrassed.
“Cheer up,” Daddy Elephant would say. “Big ears don’t make an elephant!”
“It’s okay,” his friends would tell him. “Small ears are nothing to worry about! You shouldn’t get so upset about it.”
But Baby Elephant was upset, anyway.
One day he came to the river and saw Monkey. Monkey was crying, shedding bitter tears in the water.
“Why are you crying?” Baby Elephant asked.
“My ears are too big,” Monkey replied. “Everybody’s making fun of me.”
“But why?” Baby Elephant exclaimed. “Big ears are so pretty! I’d have given anything to have my ears big!”
“Really?” Monkey asked in surprise.
“I assure you,” Baby Elephant replied.
“Oh,” Monkey said. “What a shame we can’t swap them. I could have given you my big ears. And you could have given me your small ones.”
Baby Elephant took a long look at Monkey. “I don’t think so,” he said. “In that case, your ears would get even bigger. And mine would be even smaller.”
“What a predicament,” Monkey said.
And they had a good laugh about it.
“Well, I need to be going,” Monkey said.
“Me too,” said Baby Elephant.
And they parted ways, each very pleased with the size of their own ears.