The Bible
Four creatures argued over who was most special. An elephant felt superior, being biggest and strongest. A monkey boasted nimble climbing, swinging from his tail, made him best. A giraffe claimed height, reaching treetops, plus the pace his long legs gave him, ensured his superiority. An eagle felt wingspan, enabling effortless soaring high in the sky, seeing from afar, proved him preeminent.
Murray Smith
They asked a wise owl to arbitrate. The owl promised an answer, providing they undertook a challenge. Across the river, a tall tree grew golden fruit. Although virtually inaccessible, Owl promised an answer if they brought a fruit to him.
The four accepted Owl’s challenge. At the riverbank, Monkey faced never getting across with the current and depth. Eagle flew high over the river looking for the special tree. Elephant saw Monkey’s problem and invited him onto his back to cross safely together. Seeing Elephant wasn’t swept away gave Giraffe confidence to cross. However, on the other side, those three couldn’t find the tree.
Eagle soared above and eventually spotted it and swooped down to the others wandering about aimlessly, and squawked, “follow me!”
At the towering tree, elephant charged to bring it down – it wouldn’t budge. Eagle couldn’t land in the tree or reach the golden fruit hanging under spikey leaves. Monkey’s climbing efforts failed since the bark proved too slippery.
Giraffe invited Monkey to scamper up his neck, onto his head. He grabbed Giraffe’s horns and leapt upwards to a branch, then swung by his tail to pluck a fruit. Back on Giraffe’s head, Monkey slid down to the ground then sat on Elephant’s back, clutching the fruit on the journey back to Owl.
Atfer placing the fruit in front of Owl they awaited the answer as to who was the most important and special. Owl asked, “who brings me this fruit?”
The monkey shrilled, “me!” The elephant trumpeted, “no!” “Monkey couldn’t even cross the river without me!” Eagle screeched that finding the tree wouldn’t have happened without him. Giraffe pompously stated, “The credit is mine… I present this fruit to Owl because Monkey couldn’t scale the tree without me!”
Wise Owl interrupted their bickering,“quiet!”
“Enough nonsense. Each of you has special abilities and strengths. Look at each other…”
The four animals stood silently – they had never appreciated their differences, nor observed how each of them was special in their own way. Owl continued…“the Creator made you so different to one another because He loves variety and He loves your differences. Your differences were His ideas. You all needed each other to achieve what you were asked you to do. “Not one of you is superior to any of the others…everyone played a part in completing a task that none of you could have completed alone.”
How foolish to compare ourselves with others. Arguing and infighting over who’s the greatest isn’t new. Jesus rebuked His disciples for that, warning, whoever aspires to become great among you, become as a servant”. Nobody modelled that better than Him.
