who had been trying very hard to capture the elephant for his personal
collection, but that prize had proved elusive. All the hunters in the kingdom
had tried but failed to capture the elephant. So the king promised anyone who
could capture the elephant half of his kingdom.
The tortoise heard about this and went to the king to accept the challenge. The
king was very amused. All my hunters have failed to capture the elephant and
you think you can succeed where they failed??, the king asked. The tortoise
insisted that he was up to the task and promised to deliver the elephant to the
king within 48 hours.
The tortoise then dug a big hole, big enough to hold the elephant along a path
leading into the village. Then he covered the hole with sticks and leaves so
that it was not visible unless you inspected closely. When this was done, the
tortoise went to seek out the elephant.
He told the elephant You know you are the largest animal in the forest and you
should be king. The elephant had never considered this before but he thought it
was not a bad idea. The tortoise told the elephant that the villagers had
decided to make the largest animal their king and were all expecting the elephant
to come to the village and be crowned as their king. The more the elephant
heard, the more excited he became.
The tortoise adorned the elephant with colorful beads and beating a gong, he
sang songs praising the elephant while he led the way into the village. Soon
they approached the trap and the tortoise being smaller and lighter walked over
the trap. The elephant who was following him fell through the sticks and leaves
into the deep hole the tortoise had dug. And that was how the tiny tortoise captured
the huge elephant and earned half of the king’s kingdom.
