提要

明朝的思想家呂坤曾說：「自私自利之心，是立人達人之障。」自私自利者常束縛在狹小自我裡，凡事只想自己不顧別人。這樣的人不明白：「人是不可能單獨生存的。」個人與大家的利益休戚相關、福禍相依，如果只顧自己不管群體，最後必然害人害己。

Many years ago, it is said, that elephants had small trunks with stubbed noses. One year, it did not rain for many months. The ponds and lakes began to dry up, and the streams had very little water. All the animals in the forest were very thirsty, and desperately searching for a source of water. A river used to flow not very far away from the forest, and an elephant decided to go there in search of water.

Walking slowly, he reached the river. There lived a bright green crocodile in the river. As he saw the elephant, he cried, "Go away! Water is already scarce here. If you start drinking, what will be left for me?"

The elephant knew it was a risk to pick a fight with the crocodile. So, he decided to come back to the river when the crocodile would be sleeping.

In the same river, there also lived a shiny green toad. Whenever the crocodile would be swimming across the river, the toad would hop onto his back and enjoy a ride. Over and over, the crocodile was annoyed with giving free rides to the toad. Many times, he had tried to shake the toad off his back, but in vain. "Hahaha!" the toad would laugh.

One day, the crocodile was resting on a rock. Finding this to be a good opportunity, the elephant went to the river silently and began to drink water. Just then, the toad jumped onto the crocodile's back, disturbing his slumber. The crocodile was irritated! He began to swim around the river and shake his body violently. "Now, I shall get rid of you!" he cried at the toad. But, the toad was unmoved.

Suddenly, the crocodile noticed the elephant. "How dare you drink from my river when you were told not to?" he cried. Unable to get rid of the toad, the crocodile decided to vent all his anger on the elephant. He caught the elephant's trunk and began to pull him into the river.

The poor elephant started to pull back, crying, "Let go of me....please! Let go of me....my nose hurts!" But the crocodile showed no mercy. Then, with a mighty jerk, the elephant succeeded in freeing his trunk from the crocodile. But, in tug-of-war, the elephant's nose had become really long! The Angry elephant sucked all the water from the river. Then, he sucked some mud and sprayed it on the crocodile and the toad. Since then, it is said, elephants have had long trunks, and crocodiles and toads are not bright green anymore.

解說

多年前，據說大象的鼻子曾經又小又塌。這一年來，好幾個月都不下雨。池塘和湖泊開始枯竭，溪水很少。森林裡所有的動物都非常口渴，拚命尋找水喝。大象決定往森林深處找尋水源。

慢慢走著，牠到了河邊，河裡有一條鮮綠色的鱷魚。當鱷魚看到大象的時候，大聲吼叫：「走開吧！水已經很稀少了，如果你開始喝，還剩下什麼給我？」

大象知道與鱷魚對抗有風險。於是牠決定，等鱷魚睡覺的時候再回到河邊。

在同一條河裡，還住著一隻綠得發亮的蟾蜍。只要鱷魚在河裡游泳，蛤蟆就會跳到牠背上享受一下「鱷魚船」。一而再、再而三，鱷魚對於讓蛤蟆免費搭乘很不耐煩。他試圖把蛤蟆從背上甩掉很多次，但都徒勞無功。「哈哈哈！」蟾蜍還會得意地笑。

有一天，鱷魚躺在一塊石頭上休息。大象發現這個好機會，悄悄地到了河邊，開始喝水。就在這時，蛤蟆跳到鱷魚的背上，打擾了牠打盹。鱷魚被激怒了，開始在河裡游泳、劇烈地搖晃身體，「我這回要擺脫你！」牠對蛤蟆哭喊，但是蛤蟆依然牢牢地在鱷魚背上。

突然，鱷魚發現了大象：「已經叫你走開，你怎麼膽敢還是到我的河裡喝水？」牠叫著，擺脫不了蟾蜍，鱷魚決定找大象洩忿。牠逮住了大象鼻子，開始把牠往河裡拉。

那隻可憐的大象開始後退，大叫著：「請……放開我！讓我走吧……我的鼻子會疼！」但是鱷魚卻毫不留情。然後一個猛力一拉，大象成功地掙脫鱷魚的糾纏。但是，在「拔河」時，大象的鼻子已經變得很長了！氣呼呼的大象把河裡所有的水吸乾。然後，牠吸了一些爛泥巴，噴向鱷魚和牠背上的蟾蜍。據說從那時起，大象開始有長長的鼻子，而鱷魚和蟾蜍的「膚色」不再是鮮綠，而變得像泥巴了。