In a forest, there lived a mighty elephant whom every creature feared. He would boast and strut about declaring himself the true king of the forest.

One day, as the tusker was passing by, he carelessly crushed one of the tiny chicks. The mother hen was heartbroken and cried out in pain- “Why did you kill my baby?”

The elephant replied arrogantly and without remorse, “Because I am the most powerful, the king of this forest.”

The hen, however, stood her ground and confidently said, “You are a liar. I am powerful too.”

Hearing the commotion, other animals of the forest gathered around the elephant and the hen. They were put off by the elephant’s cruelty. Just then, a clever jackal stepped forward and offered a contest by the way of which the argument could be resolved. “Let us decide who the true king is by measuring who can eat the most.”

Thus, the challenge began. The elephant started breaking and eating large branches until his stomach was full. Meanwhile, the hen pecked at the earth and kept finding worms to eat. Since the contents of the two animal’s meals were varied, it was difficult to measure their consumption

Soon, the elephant could eat no more, but the hen continued. Seeing this, the animals declared the hen the winner.

Shamed and humiliated, the tusker left the forest, while the hen stayed back and came to be loved by all the animals of the forest.

A Folktale sourced by Varleen Kaur from “Tribal Folk Tales and Folklore in Odisha” published in the Odisha Review (ISSN 0970-8669)

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