Story: Why the Lip of the Elephant Droops

(The Elephant, Flickr

There once was a family; a father, mother and twelve daughters. Now this family was extremely poor as there were so many mouths to feed. One day, the mother and father could no longer afford to feed their daughters and knew it was time for them to go. Their father placed a bunch of ashes in a basket, and covered them with a thin layer of rice, all he had left, then sent went with them into the woods to hunt for food. At the hottest point in the day, the father gave them all a strip of bamboo and told them to go fetch water for him, only he had poked a hole in the bottom of the bamboo so all the water leaked out. While they were occupied trying to get water, he returned home. Finally, the girls gave up and returned back to their camp to find nothing, but a basket of ash.

All began to cry, as they thought hope was lost. But a woman heard them and offered them a home if they would only clean her house and cook her meals. They accepted and returned back to the womans' home. There they lived happily for many years until one day, while picking berries for dinner, they were attacked by a tiger. They fled, running as fast and as far from the animal as possible. They finally slowed as they were extremely tired and were approached by an elephant. Wanting to rest for a while they asked to elephant to hide in his mouth. He agreed, and after all twelve girls climbed in, a long grey piece of clothing was left hanging outside his mouth. He traveled far until he landed back in the place the girls grew up in. Their mother heard the elephant wander up and came outside to see what the ruckus was about. She saw the clothing hanging out of his mouth and recognized it as one of her daughters. Thinking the elephant injured her daughters, she cursed him and his kind, so from then on, the lip of all elephants were destined to droop down like the garment hanging out of his mouth.

Bibliography: Laos Folk-Lore by Katherine Neville Fleeson link to reading

Authors Note: The beginning of this story is the same as the original. However, in the original the woman that found them offered them a home if they would take care of her daughter, while she was in the woods. They agreed and went to live with the woman. The first time the woman left, she said she was going to be gone just a short while and to not go into the garden. The woman ended up being gone the entire day but still the girls did not go into the garden. The next time she left she said the same thing, but the girls, thinking she was going to be gone the entire day went into the garden and saw human bones strewn about the yard. The woman that rescued them was a cannibal. The girls ran and first hid inside a cows mouth to rest. Then continued to run and hid inside the elephants mouth but the end of one of the girls dresses hung out. Meanwhile the woman came home and realizing the girls left, went to find them. She asked the cow where they went and he told her. She then happened upon the elephant and realizing the girls were inside his mouth, due to the dress hanging out, asked where they were. The elephant lied, and because he lied, she cursed him to a life of his lip drooping .