The Dog and the Elephant
A story from India that shows how friendship is more important than fine food and living the high-life.
This story includes a few words from the most used Indian language, Hindi.
Words translated by Jana Elizabeth.
Haan = Yes
Ji = In Indian culture, adding Ji after a name is meant to convey warmth and respect.
Doste = Friend
Haathi = Elephant
Ghee = Clarified butter
Dhal = Lentils
Adapted by Bertie.
Read by Richard.
Produced by Jana Elizabeth.
Illustrated by Bertie.
There was once an elephant who belonged to a maharajah of India and who lived in great style. The Maharajah’s personal chef prepared great quantities of rice for the elephant to eat every day - not just any old rice, but fluffy, savoury smelling basmati rice, with cardamon pods, cloves, cumin seeds and a touch of red saffron - a dish fit for a king or queen.
Now in the same palace there also lived a dog who belonged to one of the servants. He was not nearly so lucky as the elephant, and had to get by on a few dollops of butter called ghee or a spoonful or two of lentils called dhal for his breakfast. In the mornings, he would pass by the stable where the elephant lived and take in the wonderful smell of the rice. How he loved that aroma! But oh, how hungry it made him feel.
One day, the dog could hold back no longer. He slipped through a gap under the door to the stable, and saw the elephant eating his breakfast.
“Hail, oh great one!” said the dog. “I humbly ask if I may eat a few mouthfuls of your wonderful rice.”
“Haan-Ji doste,” said the elephant, which is a most respectful way of saying ‘yes my honoured friend’, and the dog, who was very much reassured by the elephant’s good manners, stepped forward and ate a share of the rice.
“Thankyou oh great Haathi.”
After that, the dog became a regular guest at the home of the elephant, and the two became great friends. When the elephant went out and about on Royal Business, the dog went too. He was starting to fill out and looked far less scrawny than before. In fact, he turned out to be quite a handsome young hound - so much so - that one day a wealthy man asked the elephant keeper if he could buy the dog.
Now the elephant keeper was not the master of this dog. He actually belonged to another servant in the palace, but seeing an opportunity to make a few rupees. He agreed a price with the wealthy man to let him take the dog away to his home.
Now neither the dog nor the elephant, nor indeed the dog’s rightful owner, was happy about this occurrence. The elephant keeper made up a story that the dog had run away. The elephant did not believe such a thin tale, and pined for his friend. He refused to eat his rice, no matter how tasty the chef made it. The Maharaja noticed how the prized elephant was growing thin, and sent his personal doctor to find out the cause. The doctor examined the elephant very carefully before reporting back to his master:
“Oh Great One,” he said, “I can find no physical cause for the honoured elephant’s distress, and I must conclude that his ailment is psychological. My conjecture is that he is pining for a lost loved one, or a much valued friend, who has died or otherwise gone away out of his life.”
The Maharaja called for the elephant keeper and related to him the words of the wise doctor. “Can you think who this prized loved one or dear friend might be?” he asked.
The elephant keeper knew right away that the dearest friend of the elephant was the dog. He told this to his master, and said that somebody had taken him away.
The Maharaja, when he heard this, put out a proclamation that whoever had taken the dog from the Royal Elephant Stables must return him or face severe punishment. The wealthy man heard this news, and hastily returned the dog to the elephant keeper. And the elephant keeper, who had spent most of the money he had received for the dog, returned a few rupees to the man. And in this way the two great friends, the dog and the elephant, were once again united, and both of them ate Royal Rice and thrived in each other's company. More importantly than food, they had love and friendship.
And Bertie says that this story is from a series of traditional Indian stories called The Jataka.
For now, from me Richard, Goodbye.
I love this story!!!!
Heidi — August 22, 2017
good story
Ahmed — August 22, 2017
i love this story good details
isaiah — August 22, 2017
yes it was really fun and i loved it but why would he lie to his boss but i love this book and this app you guys rock
THINK YOU SO MUCH
sierra — August 22, 2017
great story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
fireghost — August 22, 2017
Bertie where is elizabeth
i miss her style
Natasha and Richard are good but Elizabeth has not shown up in a long time
p.s
i am an indian
mithal — August 22, 2017
Dear Mithal, I know – we need to think up a nice series for Elizabeth to read, but she did do a few poems for us at the start of the summer including the wind and the moon
Jana Elizabeth — August 22, 2017
Its ok
Tyler — August 22, 2017
Who wrote this story??????????👦👦👦
Emmanuel — August 22, 2017
can you make more stores from India please? I love this story
unicorn — August 22, 2017
I haven’t even finished this story yet and i already love it!!!!! well, i’ve finshed it now! p.s, friendship is awesome!
sophia — August 22, 2017
Wow, awesome story, is there a song that goes along to it?
Jemima — August 22, 2017
Hello Jemima, yes there will be a song to it, abit later. Stay tuned 😊
Jana Elizabeth — August 22, 2017
Love this story
Grete
Grete — August 23, 2017
This book was good
Malik — August 23, 2017
Love it
Anton — August 23, 2017
Bad😡
Bad — August 23, 2017
I loved it it the best fable ever 🙂
Elsren — August 23, 2017
nice story which is presenting Indian culture…..
radha — August 23, 2017
THIS IS A GRATE STORY OF THE ELEPHANT AND THE DOG IT IS A FUNNY STORY LOL
Anonymous — August 23, 2017
Yo-yo😝😝😝😝😝
Emmanuel — August 23, 2017
I like the dog because he sounds like Astropup.
Joe — August 23, 2017
My first time here and i love it!!
Aline — August 23, 2017
Welcome to Storynory, Aline.
Jana Elizabeth — August 24, 2017
this story is awesome I learned a lot of words from it and I thought it was fun
andro — August 23, 2017
I like your story
karthik — August 24, 2017
What was going on? I didn’t get it
Chameleon — August 24, 2017
This is an awsame book It is touching
CHRISTIAN — August 24, 2017
It is a good book 🙂
Anonymous — August 24, 2017
My whole family loves the stories. We all listen on road trips and bed time. Thank you so much.
Monica — August 24, 2017
good story
Anonymous — August 24, 2017
Good story
Ksi — August 25, 2017
Good one!
*spoiler*
I hate the corrupt elephant keeper. How humble is the Rajah’s elephant! I liked the information about Jataaka, by the way.
Anonymous — August 25, 2017
Hello Bertie,
I liked this story a lot.
Can you please narrate some more Jataka stories??
Please reply,
Vallaree.
Vallaree — August 25, 2017
Hello Valleree, We most certainly will be recording more Indian stories and songs. Many thanks.
Jana Elizabeth — August 25, 2017
i have a dog
kaitlin — August 25, 2017
this is a great story would read it again
Jordan — August 25, 2017
luvly story
tasha — August 26, 2017
It’s sweet, I like it.
Edith — August 26, 2017
thank you i am happy to be here
yasser — August 26, 2017
I LOVED THE STORY ❤
KHADIJAH — August 26, 2017
Nice story
Anonymous — August 27, 2017
Cute story
T — August 27, 2017
The beautiful story!
Nastya — August 27, 2017
We were looking for some good websites for stories and fables, my younger sister Abbie loves Aesop’s fables (I personally do too!) and we found StoryNory! Great job everyone
Caitlin — August 27, 2017
I love it
Finn — August 28, 2017
I love your story
Finn — August 28, 2017
This is great. But tip. It was all too sudden. Maybe expand the story more. Instead of the wealthy man INSTANTLY returning the dog how about he hesitantly returned the dog. And same with the elephant. He just gave him the rice. Maybe he was like ” Hmm why? ” or something. You really need to expand the story. Because it was like so sudden. You never really got to know the personality of the characters and if you expanded it more people can relate to the characters which will make them more interested in the story. Sorry it’s long but it’s just some feedback from me personally. I like stories I can more relate to and aren’t so sudden. I know you guys aren’t completely professional and I defiantly ain’t. But I thought I would just help you out 🙂 Cheers
Unknown :) — August 28, 2017
I agree with Unknown 🙂 it was just all to sudden I love reading and really relating to the story so yeah it’s a tip
Cheers 🙂
Unknown #2 :) — August 28, 2017
dear unknown thanks for interesting comment. We have lots of stories where we expand the characters but we try to vary things and make some short and sweet. In this story we decided to pick out a few aspects of Indian culture such as the food and greetings and highlight them for interest.
Bertie — August 28, 2017
Wooooooooowww its so good, were is Elizabeth??
Kini — August 28, 2017
Good book try and make a sport one next
Bryce — August 28, 2017
great book i love it and its my first time and i want to read and listen to them all
Austin — August 28, 2017
Thanks good story👍🏻😂😜
Janie — August 29, 2017
omg i love this story it has so much righting
nicholas — August 30, 2017
I love your stories Bertie could you do one about waffle please reply
Waffle — August 30, 2017
I love it😍 Rice is yummy by the way
Waffle — August 30, 2017
This story is fun and valuable. Love and Friendship are more important in my life than any others I think.
Lilac — August 30, 2017
Thankyou Lilac, yes I ageee.
Jana Elizabeth — August 30, 2017
not bad
samah — August 30, 2017
I love it.good details i like it
heidi — August 30, 2017
i tink its asowm
Anonymous — August 30, 2017
I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SO COOL
isabela — August 30, 2017
Cool story
Nicholas — August 31, 2017
Cool 😎I love it
Chloe — August 31, 2017
WHERE’S ASTROPUP
Dedicated Listener — August 31, 2017
do not like itself one part
Brianna — August 31, 2017
thank you : )
Lenah — August 31, 2017
Such a good friendship 😍
Someone — August 31, 2017
I like it
Shae — September 1, 2017
i am indian
Isha — September 1, 2017
Enjoyed story.
Marion — September 1, 2017
I like this story alot!!!
Jake — September 1, 2017
The story was good and very interesting .I have no complaints in the story.thank you.
Good story and well done.
Mrithini Muthuramalingam — September 2, 2017
yes, I like it
Anonymous — September 3, 2017
This story was really fun and I loved it! 😊
Lexi — September 3, 2017
Oh, and thanks for teaching me some Hindi words!
Lexi — September 3, 2017
You’re welcome, Lexi. I’m glad you enjoyed learning Hindi words from this story. We’ll be coming up with more Indian stories and songs.
Jana Elizabeth — September 4, 2017
i liked how the Elephant was kind respectful and the dog was kind and brave xxx
Elena — September 4, 2017
Thankyou El, yes exactly.. well done 😊
Jana Elizabeth — September 4, 2017
Ok
Tyler — September 5, 2017
I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Willow — September 5, 2017
how to make it
sophie — September 6, 2017
Very interesting!
Jun Heng — September 6, 2017
This book is AAAAmaaazzziiinnnggg!!!!!!
Susana — September 8, 2017
love it
raymond — September 8, 2017
it was a good book and interesting book and i am looking forward to reading this again the animals were cute.
Anonymous — September 8, 2017
Love this storyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
princess — September 8, 2017
ITS HORRIBLE AND BORRING
EGYA — September 11, 2017
give us more plase
braylen — September 11, 2017
It is very boring plus I did not get what the story was saying.
Esha — September 11, 2017
i loved it and egay is in my class tho it was good tho make more
braylen JR — September 11, 2017
bad story 😒
poop — September 12, 2017
really good story
kaylee — September 12, 2017
It was Ok !!!
Dixie — September 12, 2017
I love this story
lucas — September 12, 2017
I HATE IT
JA JA — September 12, 2017
BAD STORY
JA JA — September 12, 2017
the morel is teach children the power of friendship.
the plot is how the dog was bought and the elephant didn’t eat her food and the dog came back.
Brooklyn, Estelle — September 12, 2017
awesome story
Ben bisops bigest fan!!! — September 12, 2017
no it is so boring and not fun at all
Bobb Jeff Jose — September 12, 2017
so good
Anonymous — September 13, 2017
it was a short story but fascinating the child it till the end. Indian kings had such elephant to show off.
sunita — September 14, 2017
Its good
kesava — September 14, 2017
cool
Anonymous — September 14, 2017
good story😁
nima — September 15, 2017
I very like this story
lily — September 15, 2017
I have to say that this story is fantastic.
Evita — September 15, 2017
l love this storyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
ryan — September 18, 2017
The story was really good but I would’ve liked it if I found out more about what happened to the elephant keeper because he didn’t tell anyone about the dog being sold.😃😃😃
Tahlia — September 18, 2017
I think you did a good job but just try to make it a little interesting the next time you do an audio book alright but other wise you did good thanks for writing audio books
Kami — September 18, 2017
I LOVE THIS STORY!!
John — September 18, 2017
good story guys
manuel — September 18, 2017
Its about dogs and elephant. elephant Maharaja’s.
Akhi — September 19, 2017
I LOVE YOU STORYNORY!!!!!!!!!!![:
JOHN — September 19, 2017
Good story
juliana — September 20, 2017
HI. I love my puppy.
Potato — September 20, 2017
this is so cool
abigail — September 20, 2017
i love it great stort
cody — September 20, 2017
i love the great story im writing a summary about it in class
cody — September 20, 2017
best story ever!!!!!
ethan — September 20, 2017
your book was very awesome wonderful
allyson — September 20, 2017
they where best freinds
Anonymous — September 20, 2017
hi home man the rice is bruing
ggtbtbgfify — September 21, 2017
awesome
kenneth — September 23, 2017
Awww😄
I live in India
aanya — September 24, 2017
Good story
Isaac Tan — September 25, 2017
Goog story
Anonymous — September 25, 2017
Such a sweet story; it was beautiful!
Anonymous — September 26, 2017
I love the friedship in the story.
Isabella — September 27, 2017
i loved the story very much, it was a little sad to but thank you.
please reply!
zech — September 27, 2017
Good job
No one — September 27, 2017
I love this story it’s funny and Elephant and Dog as friendship together
Joshua Mel — September 27, 2017
this is a interesting story
Kent LOL — September 27, 2017
this book is great
yo ca por — September 28, 2017
was kinda of boring.
sadie — September 28, 2017
Nice
Sabrina-kiara — September 28, 2017
wonderful story!
cat — September 30, 2017
I love this story!!!!
Rosemary — October 1, 2017
great
mahmoud — October 1, 2017
A charming story fit for a king and queen 🐘🐕🍚
Sophia — October 3, 2017
cool story
ariel — October 3, 2017
gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
unknown — October 4, 2017
this is awesome book
Aiden — October 5, 2017
yes
gracie — October 5, 2017
Very good
Sunneva — October 6, 2017
I loved how do you create that story, with that important mean in our life that is the friendship and that story describes perfectly how do we can use it to fix our hearts and emotions. Thank you Storynory
Adrian — October 8, 2017
this is the best story ever.
Edgar chavez — October 9, 2017
This fable is awesome i really like it is really funny but why did they take the dog.Good story
jaci — October 9, 2017
good bye bye
sime — October 11, 2017
good book
Aydun — October 11, 2017
I really liked the story i didn’t know what was going to happen next it really made me think!
James — October 11, 2017
the elephant is gray, is a animal very big and dangerous.
The history from elephants is interesting
Cristhian — October 13, 2017
If I liked this story is very beautiful because it speaks of the friendship between a dog and an elephant they met were great friends shared their food would get along very well after a certain time they were separated and were not happy that the great friends would they had separated because the dog was sold to another person who was not from there.
Jimmy — October 13, 2017
The elephant in spite of having too much money and food I carry in a humble way with the dog and even it it was stopping to eat of the rice that so much him the two liked. When they them separated the elephant I fall ill and not to eat, since the dog is turned his great friend. And when the dog I return the two they were very happy.
Juan — October 14, 2017
great story!!!
edin — October 14, 2017
Cool storytelling about it
Jaeden — October 16, 2017
YOU GOOD BRO
Logan Paul — October 16, 2017
When my kids heard this they just loved it i loved it too
Meera — October 17, 2017
i like this story
AHMOZ — October 18, 2017
I love this store.
ISAIAH — October 19, 2017
I was born in India
Swati — October 20, 2017
is a pretty reflection
Lizbeth Castaneda — October 27, 2017
It’s a beautiful story, it teaches us that friends are important because of the love they give us.
History shows how important it is to be honest people and help those who need us.
Marisabel Rivera — October 28, 2017
i loved this story and it was very exciting
AbdulRehman — November 7, 2017
A good story by the author.
Murtaza — November 13, 2017
Kool story Astropup. Nice music Richard . Lovley post Bertie
Anaya — November 15, 2017
I love This story ! I hope you guys make more like ! My little brother enjoyed this so much
Mel — November 17, 2017
Thankyou Mel, I’m pleased you both enjoyed this story. It is a sweet one.
Jana Elizabeth — November 17, 2017
It’s boring!!!!😡😡😡😡
Cristian — November 21, 2017
Ugly!!!!
U — November 21, 2017
I love this story because i love stories about animals
Paying — November 23, 2017
Ahh cute animal storys!!!
Not saying — December 4, 2017
I like this story
Mohammed — December 18, 2017
Good
It is awesome
Isis — December 21, 2017
this site is nice !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
majaja — February 20, 2018
I love this story and it is sad and good at the same time
Serena — March 11, 2018
This book is intresting.
Sashanth — March 16, 2018
lovely story,even my dog likes it
hayyel — April 13, 2018
I really liked the story.
It was great!
Z — April 18, 2018
Good friend’s story
Reva — April 18, 2018
I appreciate my country’s story or history. I just loved it.
Pavithra — August 4, 2018
if I like it, because it leaves us a beautiful message that no matter how much you need you always have to reach out to the neighbor in this case the elephant with the dog creating friends and not enemies and the big blessing of what you give
Adrian. — October 19, 2018
This history is very interesting, all the history the dog and elephant
Jean — October 20, 2018
It´s a good story
Estuardo — October 20, 2018
yes, i loved the story it give us a great message
Benjamin — October 22, 2018
I like stories about friendship
Leland — October 26, 2018
yes I like and love the story.
Favour — October 27, 2018
yes the story is interesting
ebose — November 7, 2018
Yes I like this story bcz I get some new words in this
Vandana — November 19, 2018
Hi there, this is Rossy. This indeed a touch story, i was touched. I have never got this kind of friend!
Rossy Wang — December 13, 2018
After this story, I think friendship is more important than anything. Some people commented down below and said they don’t understand. The main point of this story is the friendship between the dog and the elephant. P.s. sorry, this comment is a bit to long!
Rossy Wang — December 13, 2018
i love this story
praise — August 20, 2019
It was good
Kiara — August 27, 2019
it was amazing, but I think that it should be longer.
Mia — September 3, 2019
good
Tanner — September 19, 2019
I like hearing stories from India
I am Indian and I remember hearing this when I lived in India
But I think u should add some tenali Rama and Akbar birbal stories here. Please reply
Leeta — November 23, 2019
Thank you leeta. We will be doing more versions if Indian stories
Jana Elizabeth — November 23, 2019
Also thank you for putting Hindi words in the story
They also remind me of my heritage
Leena — November 23, 2019
Thank you Leena, we will bring more ☺️
Jana Elizabeth — November 23, 2019
ok
rania — December 9, 2019
AWWWWWW!
Kangaroo — December 29, 2019
I love friendship, everybody know friendship is important right?😶
Zoe — April 8, 2020
i dont like reading storys like this at school its so borring
holly — April 22, 2020
i love this book so much
holly — April 22, 2020
lol the story was so funny
lol lol lol lol ha ha ha
holly — April 22, 2020
Very good story it is very very very beautiful 🥳
DianiuX — April 28, 2020
O
O ). Good
Diana — April 28, 2020
nice
Brian — April 28, 2020
it was so boring i waist my time
valentina — April 28, 2020
I hate the story
valentina — April 29, 2020
the best story!
camila — April 29, 2020
That was a very good story , but please do try to say the indian words propaly I am an indian and the way you said the words didn’t make sense at all. It was still a good story though.
Sanjana - May 15 2020 — May 15, 2020
try to say the indian words propally
Anonymous — May 15, 2020
yes it was a good story.
laila — May 18, 2020
This story is soooo good i love it i love it i LOVE IT
Nuh — May 18, 2020
love the story
Anonymous — May 18, 2020
Loved it!
Aariz — May 18, 2020
I loved it. I learned some Indian words such as Basmati rice, ghee, dostee etc. It was a wonderful story of a beautiful friendship!
Aariz — May 18, 2020
Thank you Aariz
Jana Elizabeth — May 18, 2020
yes it was so intresting
Anonymous — May 20, 2020
I like this story!!!😶😶😶🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗 you guys that made this rocks!!
Ronit — May 20, 2020
i am a indian 🇮🇳 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and i love 💓 the story !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anonymous — May 20, 2020
Thats a good animal story its my firt time reading an Idian story!
Alya — May 20, 2020
nice one I liked how he read in ” indian way”
Anonymous — May 20, 2020
Yes, I did like the story. It tells us about friendship.
Alice — May 20, 2020
Great story I liked how he explained the Hindi words
Anoymos — May 20, 2020
You guys like myths me too by the way this story is a great myth
Anoymos — May 20, 2020
The story had lots of new thing I needed to learn… The best part I loved bout the story is that when they reunited .TIS STORY BLEW MY MING THANKS INDIA
Ayat — May 20, 2020
It’s nice to have friends. The story was like an lost and found.
Dain — May 21, 2020
good story:)
Anonymous — May 27, 2020
It’s very good.”-“
Mollie — June 5, 2020
In simple terms,
Story = good.
Rishabh — July 21, 2020
Hi Jana, thank you are amazing! I enjoyed the story very much!
SARTHAK — August 11, 2020
good
ergsssrggs — August 31, 2020
It’s an interesting story 🙂 🐕🐘
Oasis — January 26, 2021
This is a really good story. It tells a lesson. 🙂
Rose ;) — January 26, 2021
very bad
Anonymous — January 26, 2021
Amazing cute
Meliana — January 26, 2021
Nice story
Katie — January 26, 2021
Love itttt!!!!! <3
-_-pxntom-_- — January 26, 2021
No
No — January 27, 2021
amazing
goti — February 5, 2021