Chapter 1: chapter 1

When Elephants Had WingsOnce upon a time elephants could fly. The animals were carriers of divine beings in the heavens and often transported gods and goddesses from the skies to the Earth and back. Lord Indra and his crew were particularly fond of using elephants for this purpose. Elephants back then had two sets of long wings to get this job done. But once the oceans and the rivers and the sun and the moon emerged and human beings started living on Earth, the gods and goddesses reduced their trips. The elephants often found themselves at a loose end without work and loitering about between the two worlds.Sometimes these heavy creatures flew down from the heavens and rested on the roofs of people’s houses, causing them to crash. Sometimes they would sit on trees and shake them vigorously to trouble them and people. Sometimes, when they were super bored in the quiet afternoons or silent nights, they would scare people with their loud trumpeting. Sometimes they would spend the day at a lake, fill their trunks with muddy water, fly into the air and shower sludge on all the unsuspecting humans walking on Earth. Sometimes they would just flap their long, heavy wings fast and create tornado-like gusts in the heavens and on Earth. Needless to say, the gods as well as the humans were very annoyed with the childish antics of the elephants.The chief of men approached Lord Indra and said, ‘O lord, these elephants are creating a nuisance. They are constantly troubling us with their loud trumpeting, dirty habits and destructive behaviour. It is causing a lot of harm to our life and property. We humbly request you to find a solution.’Lord Indra agreed to help the humans out. He had already got similar complaints from the divine assembly of gods. He discussed the issue with his team of gods, and it was decided to put an end to this nonsense once and for all.One fine day, Lord Indra invited all the elephants to the heavens for a delicious feast. The feast had all sorts of delectable food: savouries, pulaos, curries, sweets. The elephants binged to their heart’s content and found themselves too full to move.The gods had expected this. Lord Indra encouraged the elephants to take a relaxing nap before they went home. The gods waited for the elephants to fall asleep. Then they quietly crept up to them and cut off their long wings so that the elephants could never fly again.The gods hastily gave away one set of two wings to the peacock, who got them dyed in shiny hues of cobalt blue and vivid green so that he could show them off. The other set of wings was given to the banana tree, who made leaves out of the feathers and arranged them on her head like a crown.When the elephants woke from their deep slumber, they found themselves without their wings and grew furious. In their anger, they trumpeted loudly and stomped off into the wild forests of south India. They still angrily barge about when they see peacocks dancing in the rain. And you can see how quickly they eat the bananas off the trees who took away their wings!