A white elephant.
There once was a group of carpenters that lived on a river bank near a forest. Every day, they would boat to the forest to cut down trees for lumber. One day when they were working, an elephant walked up to them, limping on three feet. He held his foot up and the carpenters saw that it was swollen and sore because there was a splinter in it. They pulled it out and washed the elephant's sore. The elephant wanted to thank them so he started pulling trees up for the carpenters, helping them roll logs down the river, and carry their tools. The carpenters fed the elephant well throughout the day. The elephant had a son that was white. The elephant said, "I;m going to take my son with me to work so he can learn to help the carpenters because I;m getting too old for this." The old elephant told his son how much the carpenters had done for him so the elephant's son started to work with them and his father
too. After work, he would play in the river with the children of the carpenters. One day, the kind saw the beautiful white elephant and the carpenters sold the elephant to the king and the elephant lived a happy and healthy life with the king.
Part of the Jataka Tales unit. Story source: Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, illustrated by Ellsworth Young (1912). The King's White Elephant.
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