Mana, the Elephant With a Heart of Gold, Part II

Once upon a time, ages ago, in the Himalayan forest, there was a white elephant. His name was Mana and he had two superb long tusks. He was the descendant of a whole line of white elephants that came from the Hui-Sai forests in the kingdom of Siam, and they could speak the human language.

At the end of the story last month, Mana had surrendered his beautiful tusks to a greedy and selfish man by the name of Goruk. The animals in the forest were outraged by this, and decided that something had to be done. So here our story continues ….

The birds did not take the same view.

The birds started squawking resentfully and blew the whistle for the whole forest. The man, who was on his way back, found himself suddenly surrounded with myriads of animals making a barrier, just as inextricable as the one he was locked in the first time he came in the forest. Suddenly, he could hear a tiger roar nearer and nearer to him. Panicked, he took to his heels and ran back to the elephant, chased by flights of birds and grasshoppers.

Mana, still stunned by what he had just undergone, was surprised to see the man back so quickly. Then the man shouted, “Please, elephant, protect me, save me!”

The birds and the grasshoppers were squawking furiously and were soon joined by the threatening tiger addressing the king of the elephants, saying, “Oh king, you are our wise king, but don’t you see this man has shown disrespect to you! I do think that eating one of his arms would be a reasonable punishment. And if he finds the verdict is unbalanced, then I will eat his other arm. What do you think?”

Hearing that, Goruk started to shake like the leaves of a poplar in stormy weather.

The elephant said gently, “Let him go. We all have to pay for our deeds, words and thoughts. Let him harvest the fruit of what he did. As for me, I thank him for having made me get rid of my precious tusks, so useful in this world. But what use would I have of them in the other world? I am at peace with him. Please, calm down my friends and give. Ask yourselves if, at any moment, each one of us has not been blind to the condition of somebody else, out of greed or for fear of losing some acquired goods or convenience. Are we any better than he is?

When I was young, I had a great wise teacher. He was a man who could speak the language of the animals. He gave me the following piece of advice: ‘Pray for your enemies and for any person who will make you suffer.’”

“Yes, dear king,” the tiger insisted, “ but if I curse the one who does me harm and if it destroys him, I am satisfied. My mouth already waters when I think of eating one of this guy’s arms!”

“Your satisfaction will be a selfish one, but what about your heart? Will your deeper conscience be satisfied too?” asked Mana.

“But I will be considered weak and foolish,” the tiger grumbled.
“Only the ignorant will take you for a fool. We, the animals, tend to curse our enemies. Praying for them makes us look weak and defenseless. Yet, though you may seem to be weak, you will express in the true core of your being a real strength of character.”

But how about him? What is the use of what you have done?

In turn, the grasshoppers exclaimed, “Oh, beloved king, you have sacrificed a good part of yourself. But as for him, what is the use of your gift? Was it really useful? Was it wise?”

Mana answered, “I don’t know. But I had to do it. What I have to do, at all times, is to give away. Only God knows whether it is useful or not. He is the invisible force that rules all our deeds.”

Then Mana told them a story.

“When I was young, I was anxious to learn. I searched for knowledge all over the world. My quest was an endless one. I was curious about everything and sure that to become wiser and cleverer I needed to store as much diverse knowledge as I could. This quest for knowledge had no end and went on for years and years. I roamed the world for it. Every day I could see I was becoming more and more emaciated and exhausted.

“Being so strained, I tried to join a wise man I had heard of when I was in Palmyra, in Syria, and was lost in the endless desert. I was terribly thirsty. I thought I was going to die, far away from home.

Prince Hatim

“I collapsed and some men came unexpectedly to my rescue and took me to their Tai camp to Prince Hatim, who took care of me, treated me as if I were a king, and cherished me although he knew nothing about me. My heart was touched by his compassion and I was really impressed by the sort of man he was.

“Some people told me he was well-known in the whole of Syria for his extreme generosity, to the point that the king of Yemen had become jealous of him. Hatim would turn every single day into a day for feasting in my honour.

“One night a man arrived, seeking asylum for the night. He looked fishy, and he was as ragged as I had been. Hatim welcomed him as a brother would and ordered that a feast be held at once. The man stayed for several days and finally said he had to go as he was expected in Palmyra for some important business.

‘Can I be of help?’ Hatim asked.

Then the man whispered, ‘I have to kill Prince Hatim. The King of Yemen has ordered me to do so.’ He added, ‘I am poor, so I live as an assassin and this murder I must do. If you want to serve me, after you have welcomed me as I was never welcomed before, please tell me what this noble man looks like, so that I may slaughter him. I have never seen his face.’

“Hatim burst out laughing, bent down and, with his hand on his heart, answered, ‘My dear guest, you needn’t go any further, because I am Hatim Tai, the man you are looking for. Take my head. It is a present for you! Take it back to your king, since you must be true to your word and fulfil the task you have been entrusted with.’

When he heard Hatim’s words, the ruffian knelt at the Prince’s feet and kissed the ground. Amidst choking sobs and hot tears he said, ‘If ever I kill you, may all the sand in the desert devour my body and reduce it to dust.’

“Hatim raised him up, ordered some food to be given to him, and then the man went back to Yemen, no longer a murderer. Hatim’s generosity and kindness had touched him so deeply that his heart opened and became tender.

“When the king of Yemen heard his story, he had to admit that no man in the world was more generous than Hatim. From that very day, he respected him and considered him a saint. Hatim’s legendary story is still told nowadays in Syria and in the surrounding countries. His tomb has become a place of pilgrimage.

“I could never forget Hatim’s story, and so I try to give willingly to all those who come across me and ask for something. That is the way my life was outlined.”

Goruk had never seen nor felt such potent love.

All the animals were impressed and they drifted away. Cheeky Goruk, who thought his hour had come, looked at the elephant whom he had so far considered as an ivory bank. He stood there in front of that elephant with bleeding wounds where there had been superb tusks. This creature radiated love; a love he had never seen before, a love he had never experienced.

He felt a strong heat invade his whole chest; then a tidal wave of sobs rose up. It was so strong that he knelt down on his knees and sobbed his heart out. Now he felt ashamed for all his wickedness, his ungratefulness, and he regretted sincerely that he could not turn back the clock and change the events that happened.

Mana comforted him and wished he would fare well.

The story continues…

In the forest, no one ever saw that cheeky Goruk again. Later on, some passing birds related that a man from the city of Gorakhpur was well known for his generosity, and used to tell everyone ready to listen to him stories about a white elephant.

That is the end of the tale.
May its words illuminate your path and enchant your hearts.

Illustrations by THOMAS KLEIN