Long long ago in a certain forest lived many creatures. Three of them, an elephant, a monkey and a jackal, had found their abode under a large banyan tree.
Well, they lived peacefully for many years, but one day they quarrelled over a trivial issue. The elephant had been away from the abode for three days at a stretch and when he was back, he expected the monkey and the jackal to greet him. but they did not show the slightest gesture of greeting.
“You should have respect for seniority,” observed the elephant. He sounded pretty grave.
“You are no senior to us! You are only larger than we, that is all. If we are to show respect to size, we should bow to this banyan tree all the time! This is bigger than any of us,” said the monkey.
“This banyan tree was no higher than my leg when I first came here,” observed the elephant.
“Is that so? I used to sit on the ground and pluck tender leaves from its top!” claimed the monkey.
“So what? It was a sport for me to jump over it every time I passed this way,” said the jackal.
“Hm!” said the elephant. “The problem is, we cannot decide who is the senior-most among us. | was toying with the
idea of making the senior-most resident the leader over the other two so that there was order or discipline in our living.”
Suddenly they heard a titter overhead. It was a bird perched on a branch of the banyan tree that laughed.
“Why did you laugh?” asked the elephant.
“I laughed when | remembered that it was I who was one day flying by, holding a tiny banyan berry in my beak. The berry fell down here. Out of that, in the course of time, sprouted a plant that has grown up to this stature, giving you shelter,” said the bird.
The three creatures under the tree stood amazed. Then said the elephant, “Good. Why not then you become our leader?”
The bird flapped its wings and, about to take off, said, “How do I care for your petty quarrels? Why should I preside over your foolish disputes and vanities? I must fly from horizon to horizon, marvelling at the sunrise and the sunset and the rainbow. Where do I have time for you?”
The bird flew away. The three creatures hung their heads in shame.
“It is because you demanded respect from me that we quarrelled!” said the jackal.
“Tut, tut!” said the monkey. “Don’t begin yet another quarrel!”
