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38Aesop's Fables  

The Rat and the Elephant

By Rob John

A Rat was walking through the city. 

He was a very proud Rat who 

believed that he was the most 

frightening animal alive .

‘Oh , yes!’ said the Rat to himself. 

‘Everyone’s scared of me.’ 

‘Scary Rat coming through. Out of 

my way.’ 

The Rat turned a corner and saw 

a crowd of people standing by the 

side of the road.

‘Brilliant,’ thought the rat. ‘I do like 

a crowd.’

He jumped out into the middle of 

the road right in front of the crowd 

and waited for the first scream...

but there wasn’t one. Everybody 

was staring up the road. Nobody 

even noticed the Rat.

‘Look everybody,’ said the Rat. 

‘Over here. Rat. See.’ 

Nothing happened. The people 

were all too busy looking up the 

road. 

‘This is ridiculous,’ said the Rat. 

‘Are you all blind? Can’t you see 

me?’

Then the Rat saw what the people 

were looking at. 

An elephant was coming down the 

road. Sitting on the elephant ’s back 

and stroking a large white cat rode 

the King.

‘Wow,’ said a man. ‘Just look at the 

size of that elephant!’

‘Never mind the elephant,’ said the 

Rat. ‘What about me. Look at me. 

I’m a scary rat.’

‘Yes look at its wonderful long 

trunk,’ said a woman.

‘That’s just its nose,’ said the Rat. 

‘I’ve got a nose.’

‘And its huge ears,’ said a little girl.

‘I’ve got ears,’ said the Rat , 

jumping up and down.

But nobody was listening. They 

were too busy admiring the enor-mous elephant.

‘That is the most wonderful crea-ture in the whole world,’ they all 

said.

‘No...no!’ said the Rat. ‘There’s 

nothing wonderful about elephants. 

How many legs have they got? Four 

like me. How many eyes have they 

got? Two like me. What colour are 

they? Grey like me. See, I’m exactly 

the same as an elephant except an 

elephant’s really slow and boring 

and I’m truly the most fierce and 

terrifying creature in the world.’

But nobody noticed the Rat...

...apart from the King’s Cat. 

‘Look at me...look at me. I’m ex-actly like an elephant ‘cept better. 

Elephant’s are rubbish. I am the 

most fierce and...’

The Rat didn’t finish what he was 

saying because ... 

...in an instant the white cat had 

run down the elephant’s trunk and 

was staring the Rat in the face. 

‘Exactly like an elephant, eh?’ said 

the Cat looking down at the Rat. 

‘Well maybe not exactly,’ said the 

Rat looking nervously at the cat’s 

sharp claws. ‘Obviously my nose 

isn’t quite as long...my ears are 

a bit smaller...and I haven’t got a 

king riding on my back…’ 

Suddenly the Cat’s paw flashed out 

and pinned the Rat to the ground. 

The Rat couldn’t move.

‘Think I could do this to an ele-phant?’ said the Cat.

‘Um...not sure,’ said the Rat.

The Cat scooped up the Rat and 

held him up to her mouth.

‘Think I could do this to an ele-phant?’ said the Cat.

‘No , maybe not,’ said the Rat shak-ing in fear.

‘Think I could eat an elephant in 

two seconds flat?’ asked the  Cat.

‘Nope,’ whispered the Rat.

‘Look what I’ve found,’ said the Cat 

to the people putting the terrified 

Rat back down on the ground.

The Rat was shaking and looked 

so small and scared that people 

weren’t at all frightened of him. 

‘What is it?’ said a man.

‘Sort of mouse I think,’ said his 

wife. ‘Funny little mouse thing 

probably.’ 

As he slunk away the Rat heard the 

Cat say ‘A rat and an elephant may 

be the same colour but that doesn’t 

make them the same size. You re-member that...Mr Rat.’

And the Rat did remember that. For 

ever.