He was big. “Massive!,” screeched the cockatoos. “Gigantic!,” chirped the crickets. Everyone agreed that there was no larger creature in the jungle, and so they made him king. This pleased the elephant, who kept on crashing through the jungle in his usual lumbering fashion—but, now, he fancied that he did so with a certain “royal” flair. Everyone kept getting out of his way—but, now, they managed to squeal, “Excuse me, Your Greatness!” and “Make way for His Hugeness!,” over their shoulders as they fled.
The days passed and, as the end of the year drew near, everyone’s thoughts turned to Christmas: “Because we now have a king of such substantial size, we should have a Yuletide feast that’s just as big,” chattered the monkeys, who had an opinion about everything. All the other animals thought this was a brilliant idea and, no one more so than the elephant!
“I agree!,” he trumpeted. “I hereby royally decree that we all shall have a stupendous Christmas feast. I command everyone to start gathering food now—put everything in my house and when Christmas comes, we all shall eat our fill and be merry!”
Illustrations by Nastasha Verayo
It was the elephant’s first royal decree, and it was very popular because, well, who doesn’t enjoy a good party? And, so it was that in the days leading to Christmas, the jungle was filled with the sounds of animals scurrying about, gathering the very best fruits and shoots and roots, baking cakes, and raiding their own secret food stores.
In a jolly mood
Everybody was in a busy, happy, jolly mood. Well, almost everybody. There was one animal in particular who was quite miserable while all this was going on—and it was the tiger!
The tiger lived in a little cave in the deepest, darkest corner of the jungle, and he had no friends. He didn’t even get visitors so, no one bothered to send him an invitation to the Christmas feast.
“It’s best not to have him there, really, even if he is a vegetarian,” murmured the snails, who were the committee in charge of making sure that everyone got an invitation.
“Oh, yes!,” cawed the macaws, who weren’t especially known for their tact. “He has those terrible claws, and those nasty sharp teeth—and he has stripes!”
Royal proclamation
Everyone agreed that the stripes were horrible, and the elephant made his second royal proclamation and decreed that the tiger was banned from the feast!
“Oh, well,” sighed the tiger to himself, “I can’t do anything about my claws and teeth and stripes, but I can still celebrate the birth of the Christ child, even if it’s just by myself.” And, as he was used to providing for himself and was an excellent pastry chef besides, he managed to assemble a rather respectable dinner.
On Christmas Eve, the whole jungle was alive with excitement, and the trees were aquiver with anticipation as the animals made their way to the elephant’s house. The elephant had a grand palace on top of the highest hill, and the closer they got, the more excited they became until they were almost climbing over each other to get inside.
“Ooh,” they gasped when they managed to get in, for the elephant’s grand dining room was very grand, indeed. But, it wasn’t long before their gasps of admiration turned into shrieks of dismay for in the midst of it all was their snoring elephant king, and he was surrounded by gleaming, empty platters!
“Your Immensity!,” squealed the mice, who were always brave where dinner was concerned.
“What? What?,” snorted the elephant as he shook himself awake.
“Where is our feast?,” asked the animals all at once, creating an incredible din that was heard in all the corners of the jungle, including the deepest, darkest one where the tiger was just sitting down to enjoy his Christmas dinner in his little cave.
Empty state
The elephant hemmed and hawed and made many a sidestepping rumble but, there was no denying the empty state of the long dinner table or, his many satisfied belches!
“Well,” he finally said after yet another big burp, “I believe I ate it all.” And he found his own statement so hilarious and his stomach was so full that he laughed himself back to snoring slumber, leaving the other animals to stew in their disappointment!
They were the sorriest, most downcast Christmas diners in all creation! There was absolutely nothing left to eat, not even the ants could find a single crumb to nibble on! Sadly, they turned to go back to their homes with grumbling stomachs, and many a sigh and a sob. But, what was this? They couldn’t even go out, because there stood the tiger looking very stripey, and he was blocking the way!
“Oh, don’t be frightened!,” he said as they all started shrieking in terror. “I only want to have you for dinner.” At this, their shrieks grew louder, the birds started molting, and the slug almost got stepped on twice!
“No, no!,” said the tiger, “What I meant was, I’m inviting all of you to have Christmas dinner with me!”
It took some time for everyone to calm down, with the exception of an old turtle, who had immediately grasped what the tiger meant, and was already making his way out the door!
And so it was that all the animals ended up having Christmas dinner with the tiger, after all, though they were most rightfully ashamed and had to be persuaded. Everyone managed to squeeze into the little cave, which wasn’t grand, but was very cozy, and they all had more than enough to eat, which was something of a miracle, but not very surprising considering whose birthday it was that they were all celebrating!
As for the elephant, he woke up on Christmas Day with terrible indigestion—and couldn’t eat anything but soup until after the New Year!