The Elephant and Ant Story for Kids in English

A good story is needed for a child to understand basic yet important life lessons. The stories have a deep influence on every children’s character. So, it is important to read stories that are not only entertaining but will also add some value to their lives. 

Every culture has its mythology and history that involves good and bad. These stories are entertaining and have a moral lesson behind them. The most important thing is these will bring a smile to our faces when you read them. 

We all are so busy in the hustles of life. It is very important to take a break from them as it will help to grow us mentally and physically. In the olden days, our parents and grandparents used to narrate us beautiful and entertaining stories. This was their escape from their daily lives.

We are living in such an era that everything is available to us with ease. But still, nothing can replace the story narration by grandparents to their grandchildren. It is the best time to develop warm feelings towards each other as stories are the best way to express our emotions. 

Below is a famous story of the ant and an elephant. The story teaches how a small ant teaches a lesson to a giant elephant. How to strengthen your bonding with kids?

The story of an elephant and an ant is mentioned below:

Story of Elephant and Ant

A long time ago, a tiny ant and a huge elephant lived in a forest. This huge elephant is very strong and used to get furious about petty things. He underestimated every other small animal living in that forest. 

Somewhere in the forest, the tiny ant lived with her family in a deep pole. The ant was kind and hardworking. Every day, this tiny ant along with her family would go in search of food. They would meet the elephant regularly on their way. 

Every time when they met the elephant, the elephant would make fun of ants and trouble them. The giant elephant was very proud of his strength and his body. Each time, he would use his strength to upset the ants. All the members of the ant’s family were anxious about the elephant’s prank.

One fine morning, when the tiny ant and her family went off to get their food, the elephant sprayed water from his trunk on the pole. This incident shocked the entire ant family and the tiny ant started to cry. 

Seeing the ant cry, the elephant said furiously “Stop crying or I will crush you to death.” The poor tiny ant stopped crying, but she decided to teach a lesson to the giant elephant.

One afternoon, when the elephant was sleeping, the ant slowly crawled in the elephant’s trunk and started biting him. The elephant woke up due to the ant bite. 

The elephant started to get hurt. He tried everything but could not get that tiny ant out. After some time, he started to feel restless. He was such a giant animal still he could not get the ant out of his trunk. The elephant started to cry loudly. 

There was nothing left for him to do. He was exhausted.

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Then the ant said, “This is how it feels when you hurt others. From now, you should remember this when you are hurting someone”

Out of pity and came out of the elephant’s trunk. The elephant was finally relieved. He was happy. The elephant had learned his lesson.

From that day, he promised not to trouble any creature in the forest. This is how the giant elephant learned his lesson. After this, everyone in the forest lived happily ever after. Read the scorpion and the frog story

Moral

• Never underestimate anyone. With this, don’t underestimate yourself as well. You are capable of doing anything, more than you can imagine.

“It is always dangerous to underestimate anybody” — Someone

• Never hurt anyone. We should always try to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings. As a human, it should be our major goal to spread love and brotherhood in the entire world.

“People cannot hurt you without your permission” — Mahatma Gandhi

• Always be compassionate. Being compassionate increases happiness, reduces stress, increases social connections and also improves one’s mental health.

“Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength” — Dalai Lama

• Don’t be overconfident about your strength, size, and status. Never judge a book by its cover. Don’t make anyone feel inferior due to their shortcomings.

“Well, I think we tried very hard not to be overconfident because when you get overconfident, that’s when something snaps up and bites you” — Neil Armstrong

Origin of the Story

The story of elephant and ant was based on Aesop Fable titled “The Dove and the Ant”. It was illustrated by Bill Peet and was later adapted into family musicals. This story is loved by every kid. 

Although it has gone through many iterations with time, yet remained almost the same. This folk-tale has been sung and recited for many years. Its footprints can also be found in Latin fables. 

It is a foreign fable yet it is loved by every Indian kid and adult. In Indian mythology also, many stories teach us important values and morals.

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Application in real life

• We have to always try to help others. Helping others not only satisfies others’ needs but also makes us healthier and happier. It creates good social connections and also makes relations healthier. Helping is one of the most important attributes one has to cultivate. 

• Never make fun of others. Making fun of someone is nothing but disrespecting them. It makes others feel down and can destroy the positiveness in the relationships. 

• Never underestimate others. In the beginning of this story, the elephant underestimated the ants. He laughed and made fun of them. But in the end, he learned a lesson.

• Don’t be overconfident. Being overconfident leads to failure in a majority of cases. It makes us rate our ability too high and fall into situations which are beyond our control. 

• Do not underestimate others if you are good at something just like the elephant did in this story. Thumbelina story in English

• Never make fun of anyone. In this story, the elephant made fun of the small ants. This overconfidence led him to his downfall. Eventually, he left being hurt by the ant’s bite.

Happy Reading!