Rashid Realises his Mistake (Audio)

When Rashid saw that the poor elephant was ill and could hardly move, he was very sad and ashamed of himself. He realised that in listening to the giraffe and the hare he had been unfair to the elephant. So, he went immediately to the elephant and apologised, saying, ‘I am sorry, elephant! I was unfair to you when I told the three of you to share the food equally. Now I understand that in some cases fairness doesn’t mean sharing things equally. It actually means giving everyone what they need.’ Then he went up to his uncle and said, ‘I apologise to you too, Uncle. I thought I was sharing the food fairly, without understanding how much every animal really needed. I thought how you shared out the food was unfair, when really the way you shared it out was perfectly fair. The hare and the giraffe heard what Rashid said and they understood that they were wrong. So they shouted loudly, ‘We are sorry!’ From that day on, everyone took very good care of the elephant until it was feeling better. Rashid, himself, gave the elephant its share of the food every morning. He spent most of his time with the elephant, making sure it was feeling better. Then his holiday came to an end and it was time for him to return home.