The elephant, the leader of the village, was already sound asleep when suddenly a loud, insistent voice made him gasp: Ge-cko… Ge-cko… Ge-cko. After opening his eyes and taking a deep breath, the elephant said: “Gecko, what are you doing here? Why are you walking around my head? It’s the middle of the night. Go to sleep. “

“But I cannot sleep, – replied the gecko -. Outside, the air is full of fireflies that keep turning their lanterns on and off. You who are the chief of this village, try to do something.” “All right, all right, – replied the elephant – I will talk to them in the morning. Now go to sleep”.

Early in the morning, the elephant summoned all the fireflies of the valley. “Is it true”, he asked them, “that all night long you do nothing but turn your lanterns on and off so that the gecko cannot sleep?”

“Yes, it is. We are constantly turning our lanterns on and off all night because the buffaloes on their way backfill the paths with dung and we have to light the way to prevent anyone from trampling on their dirt, “replied the fireflies.  “All right, you can go now, said the elephant.

The elephant was sleeping when suddenly a snapping voice woke him up: Ge-cko… Ge-cko… Ge-cko… The elephant opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and said: “Gecko, what are you doing here? Why are you walking around my head? It’s night, go to sleep.”

“I can’t sleep”, replied the gecko, “the fireflies keep turning their lanterns on and off. You promised me you would talk to them.
What did they tell you?”

“Yes, I talked to them”, replied the Elephant. “The fireflies have to light and extinguish their lanterns because they are afraid that someone, walking along the paths, will step on the dung of the buffaloes. They do their duty.  I guess you will have to get used to fireflies.”

“Then, talk to the buffaloes”, insisted the gecko. “You are the chief of this village; try to do something”.

The next day, the elephant summoned the buffaloes of the valley and said to them: “Is it true, that you come back in the evening and fill the paths with dung, and the fireflies are obliged to turn their lanterns on and off all night to prevent anyone from treading on them?”

“Yes, it is true” – the buffaloes confessed. “Every afternoon the rain digs holes along the paths and we fill them as best we can so no one falls in.”  “Very good buffaloes”, said the village chief. “Now you can go.”

The next night the elephant was sound asleep when the usual voice woke him up. “Gecko, it’s the middle of the night. Go to sleep.” “But I cannot sleep”, was the usual reply. “The fireflies keep turning their lanterns on and off. You promised to talk to the buffaloes.
What did they tell you?”

“In fact, I did talk to the buffaloes”, replied the elephant, “and they told me that every afternoon the rain digs holes along the paths and that they try to fill them as best they can to prevent anyone from going into them. They do their duty. I guess you’ll have to get used to the buffaloes.”  “Then talk to the rain”, said the gecko. “You are the chief of this village try to do something.”

The next day, the elephant summoned Rain and said to her: “Is it true that every afternoon you dig holes along the paths and the buffaloes are forced to fill them with dung so that no one ends up in them? And the fireflies have to turn their lanterns on and off all night to light the way and prevent anyone from stepping in the buffalo dung?”

“Of course,”, said the rain. “Every afternoon I try to fall on the earth with all my strength to make the rice fields fertile so that the insects have a place to be born and live. If every afternoon I did not fall with all my strength and make the fields fertile, the insects would die and the geckos would have nothing to eat.” “Oh, now I understand”, said the elephant contentedly. “Thank you; you may go”.

The Elephant was already fast asleep when for the umpteenth time a loud, insistent voice woke him up. “Gecko, what are you doing here? It’s night, go to sleep”. “But I can’t sleep”, the gecko replied, “because the fireflies keep turning their lanterns on and off. You promised you would talk to the rain. What did it tell you?”

“Every afternoon the rain tries to pour down on the earth with all the strength it has to make the rice fields fertile. It is in the rice fields that insects are born and live. If the rain stopped falling, the insects would die and you, gecko, would have nothing left to eat. So”, concluded the elephant, “how shall we put it?”.

The gecko was silent for a moment.  After a while, he said in an astonished voice: “Do you mean to say that if the rain did not leave holes in the paths and the buffaloes did not fill them with dung and the fireflies did not light and extinguish their lanterns, I, a gecko, would have nothing to eat?” “Exactly! Gecko, in this world everything is connected”, the elephant replied. “Now go home and go to sleep”.

The gecko walked home thoughtfully and once he arrived; he fell into a deep sleep. Outside, the fireflies continued to light and extinguish their lanterns. In this world, all creatures must know that they depend on each other, and for this reason we should not complain. (Photo: 123rf.com)

Folktale from India