The Elephant and The Rope
In a small town, lived a little boy with his parents. He was an avid animal lover, particularly of elephants. He would spend all his free time watching elephants on TV and computer. However, he never had a chance to see an elephant in real.
One fine day, the little boy’s father told him that they would be visiting the boy’s uncle during vacation and over there he will get a chance to see elephants in real. The little boy’s excitement had no limits and eagerly waited for the vacation.
Finally, the day the little boy so longingly waited for arrived and they left to his uncle’s village. After a day’s journey, they arrived at their Uncle’s place at night. The little boy was so excited that it was difficult for him to wait until the next morning.
Anyway, early morning the little boy asked his uncle to take him to the elephants. And finally, the little boy was thrilled to see his favorite animal face to face for the first time.
After spending some time observing the elephants, he was surprised to see that the elephants were tied to a frail fence. It was a thin rope, not even a chain and there was no cage or any kind of shelter where the elephants lived. Instead, there were simple sheds without any doors. He knew that the elephant could break away the rope any time. But for some reason, it did not.
The boy saw the mahout standing nearby and asked: “why is this elephant which can so easily break away from the rope not even making an attempt to do so? “. The mahout replied “this elephant was brought here when it was a baby calf. At that time this rope was enough to hold it. As the elephant grew up, we inculcated the fear and belief within it that this thin rope is too strong to break and so this elephant doesn’t even make an attempt to break free. That’s why we still continue to tie this elephant with the same thin rope even after it has grown so magnificent and strong.”
The boy couldn’t believe how such a powerful animal was conditioned to believe that it couldn’t break free from a tiny thin rope.
However, the boy was delighted as his long-time desire to see elephants in real was fulfilled.
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