Well … not quite face to face … he, being a short man and the elephant being as big as an … elephant!
Oh … I forgot to tell you. This short explorer had previously been a doctor. Being so short he became a knee specialist since this is as far as he could reach.
So … to cut a long story short he became and explorer and here he was face to … body … with an elephant.
The elephant was lying on its side with its trunk in the air and flapping its ears … well, he was flapping one ear really, because the other one was under his head as he lay there on his side.
The short explorer also noticed that the poor creature was bleeding from its front paw … or foot I suppose. Do elephants have paws? It’s not a foot either is it? Not like a human foot. Anyway … let’s get on with the story. This is taking longer than I thought!
The short explorer got nearer to the elephant and noticed a big thorn stuck there at the bottom of the elephant’s foot.
“Aha” … he thought, “I remember reading a story about a man who found a thorn in an animal’s paw … it was a lion I think. Then the man took the thorn out and the lion and he became friends. They met again many years later and the lion recognized him and befriended him all over again!”
Cheered by this happy story the man approached the elephant ever so slowly and using a pair of pliers which he happened to have on him …
All right … don’t ask me why a short explorer in the jungle happened to have a pair of pliers on him. Maybe he had been a dentist and this was a tool he had to extract teeth … after he gave up being a knee specialist.
To continue … using the pliers he extracted the thorn from the elephant’s foot.
The elephant was so relieved! He stood up at once and let out a big trumpet sound to say thank you and ran away happily in the jungle.
Many years later the same short explorer was visiting a zoo whilst on holiday and would you believe it … there in the elephant’s enclosure was a majestically big elephant.
The explorer looked up at the elephant. He was still short that’s why he looked up. And the elephant looked down at the man.
Their eyes met each other … not literally, just a figure of speech to say they looked at each other.
The elephant moved slowly forward and put his trunk through the big metal bars of the enclosure and ever so gently with his trunk he caressed the explorer’s head. The short man smiled. A tear ran down the elephant’s eyes as he continued caressing the explorer.
Then suddenly the elephant wrapped its trunk round the explorer’s neck and started to strangle him tightly until he was blue in the face. Luckily the zoo-keepers managed to free the explorer before he was killed.
Why did the elephant behave this way? You may ask.
The answer is simple.
It was not the same elephant!
And the moral of the story is: Not everyone who says he’s a Christian is necessarily so.
Not everyone who calls me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do what my Father in Heaven wants them to do. Matthew 7:21
Victor, you are a master story teller!
ReplyDeleteSome people don't regard Catholics as Christians. Have you come across this? I was thoroughly confused by this. Isn't Jesus on all our crucifixes and not on the protestant crosses? He is the reason for our Church.
But I know this isn't what you meant.
I love the walking elephant. I want one too!
God bless.
Hello Sue,
ReplyDeleteI've not come across anti-Catholicism as such but certainly anti-Christianity in general. In the UK there's a strong secular movement and the very belief in God is ridiculed on TV often. It is very trendy for celebrities to announce proudly in interviews that they don't believe in God "and all that"!
I suspect Catholicism confuses people because of our "different" beliefs and traditions: e.g. Honoring the Virgin Mary, praying to Saints, having Saints, praying the Rosary, lighting candles and burning insects ... sorry, incense.
Oh ... to get a copy of the elephant right click on it, press copy, then paste in your Pictures file.
God bless.
Very clever! And quite true.
ReplyDeleteThanx Sarah.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Good one, Victor! I had no idea how you were going to tie this one in with God but you managed it quite well :)
ReplyDeleteI have come up against anti- Catholicism, including people telling me I'm going to hell because of it. There are quite a lot of people who don't "count" Catholics as Christians. As you say, it probably stems from a lack of understanding about Catholicism and the things we do.
Yes Mary ... to an outsider what we do as Catholics may seem very strange indeed. Like taking two collections on Sundays for instance!
ReplyDeleteGod bless.