The Elephant and the Tailor is a classic story many parents and grandparents love narrating to young children. It is both interesting and teaches children a very important lesson. Stories are an interesting way to impart important lessons to young children. The hidden message or moral of the stories can change the way a child thinks.
Choosing the right story to tell children is very important. What you tell the children and the morals they learn from the stories play an important role in shaping their thinking and characteristics. Some classic stories are here to stay for their important lesson and The Elephant and the Tailor is one such story.
In This Article
- Origin and History of the Story
- Characters in The Elephant And The Tailor Story
- The Tailor and The Elephant Story For Kids in English
- Story Summary
- Moral of The Elephant and The Tailor Story
- How Can the Moral of the Story be Applied in Kid’s Real Life?
Origin and History of the Story
The Elephant and the Tailor is one of Panchatantra’s famous stories for children. Panchatantra has many stories that revolve around humans and animals and this one is a favorite among young audiences.
Characters in The Elephant And The Tailor Story
The main characters in this story are-
- Elephant – A gentle animal who befriends a human due to his kindness
- Tailor – A nice man who is friendly with the elephant until he makes one wrong move
The Elephant and The Tailor Story For Kids in English
The story of the elephant and the tailor goes like this –
Once there was an elephant who was a part of the local temple. He was gentle, kind, and loved by all villagers and temple goers. The elephant greeted and blessed the devotees visiting the temple.
Every evening, after its day of greeting and blessing the devotees in the temple, the elephant goes to the local pond for a bath. On his way, he crosses a tailor shop. The tailor feeds the elephant a few bananas every evening when it passes his shop.
This soon became a routine for both the elephant and the tailor. The elephant would eat the bananas and raise his trunk to thank the tailor and carry on to the pond for its bath.
One day, the tailor was in a bad mood due to an argument with a customer. He forgot to keep some bananas ready for his elephant friend. In the evening, as per routine, the elephant put its trunk out asking for its bananas, as it crossed the tailor shop. The tailor, who was angry and busy, asked the elephant to go away and not disturb him.
The elephant, however, being an animal, did not understand why the tailor was shooing him away and kept putting his trunk out asking for bananas. In a fit of anger, the tailor takes a needle, pricks the elephant in its trunk, and hurts it very badly. The elephant is shocked and goes away crying in pain.
As the elephant goes to the pond and has a bath, it keeps thinking about how the tailor had pricked its trunk with a needle. Angry with the tailor, the elephant fills up its trunk with muddy water from the pond. As it crosses the tailor shop, the elephant sprays muddy water all over the tailor shop. The water dirties the tailor and all the clothes in his shop.
The tailor realizes his mistake and apologizes to the elephant with folded hands, but the elephant ignores him and keeps walking. The customers fight with the tailor over their new clothes, which are now dirty and damaged. They blame him for the elephant’s reaction and he feels embarrassed for his actions.
Story Summary
An elephant befriends a human and they become thick friends very fast. Bonding over bananas, what will happen when one of them has a bad day? The tailor makes a bad decision in a moment of anger and spoils a good friendship forever and also pays the price for his wrong deed.
Moral of The Elephant and The Tailor Story
The moral of the story is that we have to face the consequences of our actions. If we hurt someone, they are bound to react negatively. We cannot hurt someone just because we have the chance to do so.
How Can the Moral of the Story be Applied in Kid’s Real Life?
Children are bound to fight with their friends and peers regularly. This story tells them they should never hurt or break someone’s trust even if they are having a bad day. By the time they realize their mistake, it could be too late. Even if they apologize, the other person may never forget or forgive their bad deed.
We all have our share of good days and bad days. How we treat others around us on our bad days defines our character. No matter how angry you are, it can not be an excuse to ill-treat or hurt somebody. When you treat others with kindness, they will treat you kindly. When you ill-treat others, they may also react similarly.
Read Also: Top 5 Short Mahabharata Stories For Kids in English
