The Elephant’s Secret.

In the heart of the African savanna, where the sun poured golden light over endless grasslands, there lived an old elephant named Jafari. He was not the biggest, nor the strongest, but he was the wisest of his herd. Jafari had a secret—one that had been passed down through generations, whispered only to those who had earned the trust of time.

One evening, as the sky turned shades of orange and purple, a young elephant named Kito approached Jafari. He had always admired the old elephant’s calm presence and mysterious ways.

“Jafari,” Kito asked hesitantly, “what makes an elephant truly strong?”

Jafari chuckled, the deep rumbles in his throat like distant thunder. “You think strength is in your tusks? Your size? The way you charge through the grass?”

Kito nodded. “Isn’t it?”

Jafari shook his head. “Strength is not in what others can see. It’s in what you carry inside.” He turned and led Kito to a small, hidden waterhole, one that the other elephants never seemed to find. The water was clearer than the sky, untouched by the dust of the land.

“This,” Jafari said, “is the secret.”

Kito blinked. “A waterhole?”

Jafari smiled. “Not just any waterhole. This is where the elephants before us left their memories. When you drink from it, you do not just taste water. You taste wisdom. The struggles, the joys, the lessons—they all live here.”

Kito hesitated, then took a sip. At first, it was just water. Cool. Refreshing. But then… something changed. He saw flashes of the past—his mother’s comforting touch when he was scared, the day he first trumpeted, the way the herd protected him in storms. He saw pain, too, but it did not frighten him. It made him feel… strong.

Jafari watched with knowing eyes. “Now, tell me—where does strength come from?”

Kito swallowed, his heart full in a way he had never felt before. “From what we carry inside.”

Jafari nodded. “And that is something no hunter, no drought, no fear can ever take away.”

That night, Kito walked back to the herd, no bigger than before, no stronger on the outside. But inside, he carried something new. And for the first time, he understood why Jafari always smiled, even when times were hard.

Because he knew the secret.

And now, so did Kito.