Illustrator Maria Kolesnikova

© Ayusha Erdyneev, 2017

© Maria Kolesnikova, illustrations, 2017

ISBN 978-5-4490-0678-3

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

TO MY SPIRITUAL TEACHER HIS HOLINESS DALAI LAMA XIV.

WITH REVERENCE AND LOVE

Rewiew

“Tales of Baby Elephant Lanchenkar”, a book by children’s writer Ayusha Erdyneev, is directly linked with Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy. Main characters are identical with Buddhist Jatakas (stories of previous births of Buddha Shakyamuni) and bear Tibetan names. In Buddhist narrative tradition, it was white elephants who practiced and would reach the state of Boddhisattva. Elephants have supreme qualities that make them good examples.

The tale “Saving Parrot” is parable of Tibet’s destiny. White baby elephant Lanchenkar leads his friends (and other jungle folk), as Mahatma Gandhi would do, to the peaceful solving of their problems. He teaches them how to find happiness, that happiness is absence of both your and others’ suffering. Every tale encloses its own feature and its own lesson

Nowadays it is very important to convey onto children genuine values as kindness, open heart, and good will. Children raised with the ideals brought forward by Lanchenkar, there is the hope that the world may become a better, more harmonious place

To make this collection of tales more accessible to younger audience, an animated movie about Lanchenkar’s adventures may be of great help

Sincerely Robert Thurman, Professor Columbia University in New York City

How the White Elephant Calf Lanchenkar Came into This World

In torrid lands, in Hindustan there lived He-Elephant Lanchenpo and She-Elephant Lanchenmo. They were the King and the Queen of all elephants in the woods.

Lanchenpo was a kind and just king. He had ruled for many years, all was well in his elephant kingdom. The elephant population, and other animals, revered and respected the royal couple for their great wisdom.

But there was one thing that saddened King Lanchenpo – he had no heir. Lanchenpo wanted a son who would inherit his kingdom. Before he retired, Lanchenpo wanted to raise as wise and brave a king as himself.

***

“Go and ask the All-Knowing Cuckoo,” advised the caring Lanchenmo. “I hope she will help us.”

Lanchenpo did as he was told.

He walked and walked around the forest, lifting his head near tall trees in the hope of spotting the tiny bird.

Finally, in the dark thicket he heard the familiar cuckoo. The bird was predicting somebody a long – or short – life. Lanchenpo came closer and soon his small eyes spotted the All-Knowing Cuckoo on a tree branch.

“Hey, Cuckoo,” said the King. “Tell me if I’ll ever have an heir.”

“You will, O Elephant King Lanchenpo,” answered the Cuckoo. “But first you should ask the Old Crane who is going to depart this world soon. The Old Crane is one of the wisest creatures in this forest. He can choose the aspect in which to reincarnate on the Earth. Ask the Old Crane to appear as your son!”

The inspired Elephant King made for the swamp where the recluse Old Crane lived.

***

All his life the Old Crane had been seeking the meaning of life and omniscience.¹

He was looking for the truth inside himself. In s state of profound meditation, he had been standing knee-deep in the swamp, seeing nothing around him. The Old Crane didn’t fly and seldom talked to other forest inhabitants. He would stop eating if he could. But he had to be alive to find the truth and the Crane took one grain of rice a day. The only way to grasp the truth, he believed was self-denial and asceticism².

Forest inhabitants held the Old Crane in great respect and tried not to disturb him without necessity.

Standing at the edge of the marsh, the Elephant King was staring at the Crane. He placed his expectations on this bird towering like a statue over the marsh. Lanchenpo trod on slush, knelt down, took off his royal garland and put it on the Crane’s head. After that he appealed to the Crane. “O Great Sage, please, appear in our family in your next life!”

The Crane said nothing, but his head drooped with the weight of flowers by way of agreement. Having finally grasped the meaning of life, the Crane’s ghost happily left the emaciated body and soared towards the rising sun.

***

Two years later a calf was born into the happy royal family. He was white as fresh milk.

“How wonderful this incarnation³ is! How many great and good deeds I am destined to perform in this world! May all living creatures be happy and have a peace of mind,” uttered the baby elephant once it was born.

“Our son can speak already,” said the wonder-stricken mother and added: “Let’s name you Lanchenkar!”

“Name whom?” asked the newborn.

“You.”

“I don’t need two names.”

“Which names?”

“You and Lanchenkar.”

“But your name is not You,” explained his father.

“So You is not You, Me is not Me? Then who is Lanchenkar?” the baby elephant went on.

“You!” his parents answered, in chorus.

“Aha! So You refers to me, doesn’t it?”

“You’ve totally confused us. Listen, today your mom and dad had a wonderful white calf. They named him Lanchenkar. Get it?” explained the parents patiently.

“Yes, I do. A brother was born to me today!” exclaimed the little elephant happily.

He was so funny, this Lanchenkar.

Crocodile tears: why?

“Dad, why is mom ill?” asked Lanchenkar.

“The terrible King of Crocodiles now lies in wait at our watering place. He attacks all who come for water and eats them. So we have to make do with stagnant marsh water. That’s why your mom, among others, is down with typhus… Well, go on playing and I am going to tend your mother,” said Lanchenpo.

Little Lanchenkar’s heart filled with empathy for the ailing forest inhabitants. He determined to get them pure water at any cost. He had never been at the watering place, so he just followed the animal route.

***

As he was walking briskly, Lanchenkar saw a hare who had only one ear. The hare was sitting under a tree and crying.

“Hi, Hare. What happened to your ear?” asked the Little Elephant.

The Hare told his story. He came to the river for watering and the Crocodile came upon him. He got hold of the poor Hare’s ear, the Hare started running and his ear stuck in the monster’s teeth.

“I got away cheap,” the Hare said.

“This Crocodile’s mouth is so big that you can fully go into it.”

“I’m going to see the monster,” Lanchenkar said bravely. The Hare tried to talk him out of it but could not.

As Lanchenkar was approaching the river, the Young Deer, a friend of his, emerged from bushes and stood in his way. The Young Deer was limping.

“I was drinking water and the Crocodile grasped my leg,” he complained. “He very nearly dragged me under water. Oh, how my leg is aching! That Crocodile surely has sharp teeth, get out of here quick, Lanchenkar!”

Those words only fortified the Little Elephant’s spirit. He continued his way, singing an impromptu ditty.

 
“Yo, shake and tremble, Crocodile,
Be ready, O green king!
As white as milk, I’m Lanchenkar,
The Elephant Prince. Hear me?
I’m going to the watering place
And I have no fear.
There’ll be pure water for animals.
I’ll get it. Is that clear?”
 

The horror-stricken Hare and the Young Deer were watching the Elephant Prince approach the river. He looked around trying to see the sloping path that led to the watering place. Suddenly the water seethed and a huge head showed up. It was the Crocodile King! Its skin was covered with big green scales and warts. There were widely-set, yellow eyes on the sides of his head.

“Where are you going, O great Lanchenkar?” the Crocodile asked with a grin.

Still not realizing it was the Crocodile King, Lanchenkar answered politely: “I want to get a bucket of water for my sick mother. Would you please tell me where the watering place is?”

“I am the watering place. Just hop into my mouth and get as much water as you wish,” said the Crocodile King and opened his mouth as wide as possible.

I will taste a suckling elephant,” he thought and closed his eyes in anticipation. He could not close his jaws.

“How tough this Little Elephant is,” he said to himself. He shook his head, opened his eyes and was surprised to see the elephant calf on the river bank.

“That’s a stick I threw into your mouth. Now you’ll never give trouble to anyone,” said Lanchenkar loudly.

When he saw those sharp teeth, the Little Elephant understood who it was and knew what to do.

***

The Crocodile caught sight of the Hare and swam towards him hoping that the Hare would help him get rid of the stick. But the Hare loped as far as he could: he well remembered how he had lost his ear.

“Well, how does it feel to suffer? Poorly? Did you think about it when you attacked your victims? Serves you right, murderer. Now try and swim with that stick in your mouth,” said the Hare and loped into the forest, burning with the desire to tell its inhabitants how Lanchenkar punished the Crocodile.

“So you’ve been punished for maiming my leg, huh? Now you want to eat me but you can’t, right? It seems to be the time for you to pay for the trouble you gave living creatures,” the Young Deer admonished the Crocodile, cautiously advancing towards the watering place.

With the stick in his mouth Crocodile King spent three days. He was angry and hungry.

When they learnt from the one-eared Hare that the “coast’ was clear, all animals rushed to the watering place. No longer afraid of the Crocodile King, they drank the river water to their heart’s content. The Crocodile was hanging around, stick in his mouth, hoping for help but none volunteered, waiting for Lanchenkar.

***

Lanchenkar gave a stern look to the Crocodile, whose mouth with the stick in it looked like the letter A, and asked:

“So, villain, will you keep hurting and killing the poor animals?”

The Crocodile King shook his head frantically in a fit of false repentance and burst into tears. Looking at the weak and crying Crocodile, the woodsfolk felt sorry for him. He no longer appeared to be vicious and dangerous. They believed the Crocodile and asked Lanchenkar to remove the stick.

As he was thanking Lanchenkar, the Crocodile tried not to open his mouth too wide: he feared that Lanchenkar might change his mind.

***

Since that time crocodiles never open their mouths wide; and, having finished with their prey, they always shed tears. Everybody knows that they are feigned and false. That is why they are called crocodile tears.