The story “The Great Elephant” was narrated and enacted by our Special educator,Ms.J.Sumangali.
The story was about an elephant who wandered in a jungle in search of friends.The animals in the jungle – Monkeys,Frogs,Rabbits and Fox denied the request of the elephant to be his friend giving silly reasons like the elephant is huge and they cannot be his friend.The elephant was very upset about this,but he never gave up.One day the animals saw the king of the jungle,The Lion returning to the forest. They got frightened as the lion started to kill and eat the animals one by one.The giant elephant fought the lion and chased him away.All the animals felt grateful to the elephant. They became good friends and lived happily together thereafter.
The teacher used a puppet of the elephant,entered the place making sound of the elephant while interacting with the children.The story line was enacted by the children and teachers wherein each house group represented an animal –
Red house represented the monkeys – where in, they refused to become friends with Elephant saying the elephant can’t jump like them.They went around jumping, thus mocking the elephant.
Green house represented the frogs – where in, they refused to become friends with Elephant saying the elephant can’t leap up and down like them.They did a sit-stand action, thus teasing the elephant.
Blue house children represented the rabbits – where in, they rejected the Elephant as their friend saying he can’t fit inside a burrow and cant walk zig zaggin through things. They walked around in a zig zag manner telling the elephant that they can’t accept him as friend.
Yellow house children represented the fox – where in,they refused the Elephant as their friend because the elephant can’t run as fast as them. They ran around making fun of the elephant.
As all the animals refused to accept him as friend, the elephant felt very sad.Then entered the Lion with a roaring,growling sound.It frightened all the animals.The elephant then fought with the lion and chased him away.The lion role was done by another teacher who wore a mask and made sounds.
As the lion ran away,all the animals felt happy. They realised that the Elephant was helpful and a lovely being. They decided to be good friends thereafter. To celebrate theis friendship, all of them danced happily to “I like to move it” music.
In this story, emotions of the Elephant were projected as well as the rejection by others just because they assume one to be different. Accepting people for who they are without judging and including them in a peer group is a very important aspect in society. If only this would happen easily it can be expressed as in the story - happily with dance, music and love.
