Office Envy

(based on the Brothers Grimm tale "The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage". Unlike earlier posts below (of other stories), this version does not differ that much from the original. Maybe will try again later. )

An Elephant, a Hawk, and a Bat co-owned a company.

One day the bitter Crow whispered to the Elephant. “Your ‘partners’ take advantage of you.”

“How’s that?”

“They don’t do anything when you’re busting your trunk, breaking through walls. You come back after a long day. You think they’ve been working, but all they’ve been doing is sleeping. You ought to change jobs with them, then you’d see.”

The Elephant worked hard and hated to think that he was a fool. He called a meeting and demanded that the three change jobs. The others objected but the Elephant was forceful and kept trumpeting his demands.

Finally, they agreed to try.

The next day the Hawk took over the Elephant’s duties. His job was to swing the anvil and break down the walls that separated them from their customers. The Hawk picked up the anvil in his beak but it was very heavy. He couldn’t keep it lifted so, to avoid the wrath of the Elephant, the Hawk tried to throw himself against the wall. Over and over again he flew into the wall until finally, he knocked himself out. Then, before he recovered, a Cougar came and ate him.

Meanwhile, the Bat was set to do the Hawk’s job. He flew and tried to look for prey but he couldn’t see anything in the daytime and became disoriented in the sunshine and open sky. He flew and flew until he became lost over the high seas. Then, flying in circles while looking for home, the Bat became exhausted, fell into the sea, and drowned.

At the same time, the Elephant had taken the Bat’s job, thinking that it was the easiest of all. He tried to listen for the rats in the cave but they terrified him. He ran, petrified, until he got himself stuck inside a narrow passage. The Elephant pushed and pushed but the walls came down all around him and he was crushed.

©Lewis-Barr 2007.