Long, long ago, there lived a big elephant in a small town. The elephant was of a religious nature and used to perform puja in front of a temple. Despite his enormous physique, he was a very loving creature. People loved him and offered him delicious fruits to eat.

While going to temple, the elephant had to pass through a busy market place. There a Tailor, making dresses and selling, would give him a plantain everyday, while a fruit seller would offer him fruits. The elephant was very grateful to both of them for these presents. The people in the market place would gather around the elephant and show their affections by patting him gently. They had a lot of respect in their hearts for him.

One day, the tailor thought of playing a little joke on the elephant. When the elephant arrived at his shop the next day, as usual, he, instead of offering him a plantain, pricked his trunk with a needle, which he used for stitching dresses.

The elephant writhed in pain and sat on the ground. Some people gathered around him and began to laugh.

This made the elephant very angry with the tailor. That day he didn’t visit the temple, but instead, went to a nearby dirty pond. At the pond he collected some dirty water in his long trunk and came back to the tailor’s shop. There he emptied his trunk by spewing dirty water upon the tailor and the dresses kept in the shop. The dresses became dirty and could not be sold in the market. Thus the tailor had to suffer a heavy loss for his mischief.

❖ Tit for tat.