ELEPHANTS' TUSKS

Uncle Sam was a woodcutter. The spouses did not have even a child. Every day, Uncle Sam went out to cut firewood at mountain bases and sold it to get little income to support their living. Their income was just enough for their living.

One day, he went far away to cut firewood alone. Reaching a field near a hill, he saw a group of elephants seeking food. At that time, he saw an old elephant crying wildly alone far from the others.

He wondered, so he went closer to see the event. A pangolin was squeezing the elephant's tusks so tightly. The more the elephant struggled, the more tightly the pangolin squeezed; so the elephant cried so painfully

Note able to stand that anymore, Uncle Sam carried his knife and approached them. As soon as the pangolin saw the human, it rushed to escape away. The elephant was so pleased, so it told the man that "Thank you very much. If you hadn't helped me on time, I would indeed have been in trouble."

The elephant lowered its body down gently so that Uncle Sam could climb up to ride on its back, and then they went away happily. Many elephants acknowledged this good deed of Uncle Sam. It took them quite long time to arrive at the place where elephants lived.

The elephant used its trunk to excavate the ground quickly. Soon later, there appeared a lot of tusks in the ground. Uncle Sam asked the elephant that, "Why are there a lot of tusks like this?" "When we get old, our tusks are dislocated and then fall out. So we bury all the tusks here," replied the elephant.

After a while of conversation, the elephant picked up a pair of tusks, gave them to Uncle Sam, and said, "These are just little reward that I have~r you; please, take it for your any use." Then, Uncle Sam

returned home.

When arriving home, Uncle Sam showed the elephant tusks to his wife. When a passer-by saw and got interested in the tusks, he asked to buy the tusks from them. Because of their poor life, the spouses agreed to sell to the passer-by. Since then, they had some money to support their livir1g so they stopped going out to cut firewood, and instead changed their jobs as firewood cutters to farmers. In addition the spouses planted a lot of seedlings.

Mr. Pok, one of the neighbors, saw the improvement of Uncle Sam's family living conditions, so he asked, "Brother! Why do your living conditions improve so quickly?" Uncle Sam told Mr. Pok the entire story and advised Mr. Pok that, "Brother! I forbid you not to go there at all due to its danger because many elephants guard their tusks. Moreover, we should not go to destroy the rare things."

Because of his too deep greed and want, Mr. Pok secretly went out to find elephants' tusks alone. Not lone, he arrived at the elephants' place and encountered recent traces of excavated dirt. Note wasting time, he quickly began to excavate the ground and then took out a lot of tusks.

At that time, a group of elephants saw the man stealing their tusks, so they rushed out towards Mr. Pok and roar loudly all over the forest. The man panicked; moreover, he did not have enough time to escape. Mr. Pok was kicked by those elephants so hard that he could hardly walk back home. His body was ridden with bruises and in a critical condition. That greedy deed happened because Mr. Pok refused to listen to Uncle Sam's advice. Mr. Pok walked back home with so much difficulty. He not only did not get elephants' tusks but also was physically hurt.

About the elephants, they cried and complained, so they then brought their tusks to hide in a new place which was the safest place of all.

Learning the accident, Uncle Sam advised all the villagers not to go to the elephants' place because it was the elephants' peaceful place.

He added that, "We all should plant seedlings and not deforest any more because forests and woods are source of rain and habitat of all wildlife," Not wasting time, old and young people together sowed seeds and planted seedlings tirelessly as a model for next generations.

- The END -

Greed does not pay