Another fable told to me by my parents when I was a child:
Once upon a time, there was a clothes-washer--a dhobhi--who had an elephant. Everyday, the dhobhi went to the river to wash clothes, taking with him his elephant, who carried the large pile of dirty clothes on his back.
One day, the elephant told him that he wasn't feeling well and wanted to stay home and rest. The dhobhi was very upset with him. He threatened to not feed the elephant if he didn't go along and help him with all the laundry. But the elephant felt terrible and refused to go.
Later, after the elephant had rested a while, he went to the river. The dhobhi, seeing him, became incensed and said, "Oh, now you come to see me, to mock me! See how tired I am because you did not help me!"
The elephant, who had truly been sick, said, "No, no...it's not like that. I was very ill and now I have rested and I feel better. So I have come now to help you carry all your clothes back home."
The dhobhi, not believing him, said, "I don't need your help! And I'm not going to feed you today." He scolded him terribly and carried all the clothes back home himself.
The elephant felt shamed and followed him home sheepishly. When they got back, he saw the man eating his dinner and felt so very hungry that he began to cry.
"Please feed me," the elephant begged.
The dhobhi turned away from him and continued to eat his dinner.
Soon, the elephant became angry as well. He got up and returned to the river. There, he stirred the riverbed with his great trunk, making the water all muddy. He took water into his trunk and held it there as he went back to the dhobhi's house. Once there, he sprayed the dirty water all over the dhobhi's house and all over all the clean clothes that the dhobhi had put out to dry on a clothesline.
Now, it was the dhobhi who was crying.
The elephant then asked him, "Now, will you give me food?"
Finally, the dhobhi had understood. From then on, he never treated the elephant unfairly.
The next day, they returned to the river together, each helping the other, and lived long and happy lives.
Moral of the story: Treat others the way you would wish to be treated.
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