The Hummingbird And The Elephant

Stories

Once upon a time on a beautiful summer day, Elephant was walking down the road, humming to himself, looking around at the trees and clouds and taking in the scent of the beautiful summer flowers. Suddenly he stopped short, because there, flat on her back in the middle of the road in front of him with her feet in the air, was his friend Hummingbird. He could see her tiny breast moving up and down, so he knew she was breathing, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what she was doing, laying there in the middle of the road.

As he approached to get a closer look, Hummingbird opened her eyes and looked up at her friend. "Hello, Elephant," she said.

"Hello, Hummingbird," Elephant replied. "What'cha doing?"

"Oh," said Hummingbird. "I heard that the sky was going to fall, so I decided I'd better get down here and put my feet up in the air so I'll be ready to hold it up when it falls."

Elephant thought this over for a minute. Then he began to smile. The smile turned into a giggle, and the giggle turned into a laugh. A big, bellowing laugh as only Elephant can laugh. "Oh, Hummingbird," he said when he was done laughing, "You have to be the tiniest bird I know. And the sky is so big! It stretches from horizon to horizon in every direction. How in the world are you going to hold up the sky?"

Hummingbird looked up at her friend. "I didn't say I was going to do it all by myself," she said. "But I'm ready to do my part."