Ethiopian Folktales

Narrated by Niall Gatch

There was once an elephant and a rooster. The elephant always used to boast because he was so big and so strong, and he pretended to be important. Now, even though the rooster was small, he was very intelligent.

So one day he said to the elephant, “Though you’re so big, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s brains that count, not size.”

So the elephant said, “No! You’re a stupid, small animal. You’re no comparison to me, no match.”

So the rooster said, “Alright, let’s have a competition. Let’s see who can drink more water.”

So they went down to the big river, maybe the Baro or the Akobo, and they asked all the other animals to judge. So when they started, the rooster put his beak inside the water and the elephant put his trunk in the water and started drinking.

But the rooster didn’t actually drink. He was just putting his beak in the water and opening and closing it, whereas the elephant drank and became bigger. And drank and became bigger. And drank and became bigger.

And he finally exploded, which goes to show that it’s not size that matters, but intelligence.