The Mouse And The Elephant

There once was an elephant that lived in the circus. He lived with a lot
of other elephants. They worked hard but had a lot of fun too. One day the
elephant overheard some mice picking on a little mouse. The big mice were
telling the little mouse that he was too little to play with them. They
also told him that he was never going to grow up and be big. The little
mouse ran away crying. The elephant didn't want to see the mouse cry. He
followed the mouse and found him hiding behind a small box.

The elephant said, "Hey little fella, what's wrong," even though he
already knew why the mouse was crying.

The mouse looked up and replied, "All of my friends say that I'm too
little to do anything." The little mouse was still crying.

The elephant wanted to make the little mouse feel better, but he didn't
know how. He said, "It doesn't sound like they are very good friends if
they are making fun of you."

The mouse went on to say, "They say that I'm not big enough to do
anything. That I'm always going to be little, and that no one will ever
want to play with me."

It hurt the elephant's feelings to see the little mouse in so much pain.
The elephant said, "You're not too little to be my friend," with a smile.

The little mouse looked up at the elephant and asked, "You would really
be friends with me? Even though I'm so little."

The elephant said, "Your size has nothing to do with how big your heart
is. I do have an idea that would help the other mice look at you in a new
light though." The elephant told the little mouse his plan and they agreed
that it was a good idea.

The next morning when the mice came out they were making fun of the
little mouse again. The little mouse said, "I'm tired of all of you making
fun of me all the time. I'll show you how big I am." Then he stormed off
towards his new elephant friend. This was all part of the elephant's plan.
Little mouse went up to the elephant and squeaked as loud as he could.

The elephant knew what the mouse was going to do and he played his part
perfectly. The elephant looked down at the little mouse and he too screamed
as loud as he could. When the elephant screamed all of the other elephants
screamed too. The elephant had told the other elephants about the little
mouse and how he was going to help his new little friend. The other
elephants were more then happy to play along to help the little mouse. All
of the elephants ran away from the little mouse. When all of the elephants
started running it scared the other circus animals. Before the mice knew it
the entire circus was in an uproar.

The little mouse went back over to the bigger mice and said, "I caused
all of that commotion because I am a big mouse and I can do big things."
The other mice just stood with their mouths open watching the chaos. After
things calmed down the little mouse went and thanked his new big elephant
friend for helping him. He had proved that he could do big things even
though he was so little. The mouse and the elephant became best friends
after that.

So if you ever see an elephant that's scared of a mouse, it's just doing
the mouse a favor. They are actually friends.

Told on Dec. 30, 2010