A story about a young elephant who learns a valuable life lesson.
小象生下来的第三天，跟妈妈来到小河边，看见一只小鸟在天空飞来飞去。小象想：“要是我也会飞，可以看到更多的东西，多好呀！”
小象爬到树去学飞“哎哟”一声，摔了一个大跟头。
蛇看见了说:“小象，我们有自己的本事。我不会飞，可是，我会在树上睡觉。”
狮子说:“我也不会飞，可是，我能跳过宽宽的大河。”
老虎说:“我不会飞，可是我会游泳！”
爸爸妈妈对小象说:“我们象的力气大，这是小鸟不能比的。”小象明白了。他用长鼻子一钩，大木头就搬走了。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 小 | xiǎo | small; tiny; few; young |
| 象 | xiàng | elephant; CL:隻|只[zhi1]; shape; form; appearance; to imitate |
| 生下 | shēng xià | to give birth to |
| 来 | lái | to come; (used as a substitute for a more specific verb); hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回來|回来[hui2 lai5]); ever since (as in 自古以來|自古以来[zi4 gu3… |
| 的 | de | of; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); (used after a noun, verb or adjective to… |
| 第 | dì | (prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六[di4 liu4] "sixth"); (literary) grades in which successful candidates in the imperial examinations were placed; (old) residence of a high… |
| 三 | Sān | surname San |
| 天 | tiān | day; sky; heaven |
| 跟 | gēn | heel; to follow closely; to go with; (of a woman) to marry sb; with; compared with; to; towards; and (joining two nouns) |
| 妈妈 | mā ma | mama; mommy; mother; CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4] |
| 到 | dào | to reach; to arrive; to leave for; to go to; to (a place); until (a time); up to (a point); (verb complement indicating arriving at a place or reaching a point); considerate; thoug… |
| 小河 | xiǎo hé | creek; stream; brook |
| 边 | biān | side; edge; margin; border; boundary; CL:個|个[ge4]; simultaneously |
| 看见 | kàn jiàn | to see; to catch sight of |
| 一 | yī | one; single; a (article); as soon as; entire; whole; all; throughout; "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1); also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out … |
| 只 | zhī | variant of 隻|只[zhi1]; variant of 只[zhi3]; grain that has begun to ripen; classifier for birds and certain animals, one of a pair, some utensils, vessels etc |
| 小鸟 | xiǎo niǎo | small bird; young bird (hatchling, nestling, fledgling, chick); (fig.) penis (kiddie term); (golf) birdie |
| 在 | zài | to exist; to be alive; (of sb or sth) to be (located) at; (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress) |
| 天空 | tiān kōng | sky |
| 飞 | fēi | to fly |
| 去 | qù | to go; to go to (a place); (of a time etc) last; just passed; to send; to remove; to get rid of; to reduce; to be apart from in space or time; to die (euphemism); to play (a part);… |
| 想 | xiǎng | to think (about); to think of; to devise; to think (that); to believe (that); to desire; to want (to); to miss (feel wistful about the absence of) |
| 要是 | yào shi | (coll.) if |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 也 | Yě | surname Ye |
| 会 | huì | can; to have the skill; to know how to; to be likely to; to be sure to; to meet; to get together; meeting; gathering; (suffix) union; group; association; (bound form) a moment (Tai… |
| 可以 | kě yǐ | can; may; possible; able to; not bad; pretty good |
| 看到 | kàn dào | to see |
| 更 | gēng | to change or replace; to experience; one of the five two-hour periods into which the night was formerly divided; watch (e.g. of a sentry or guard) |
| 多 | duō | many; much; more; a lot of; too many; in excess; (after a numeral) ... odd; how (to what extent) (Taiwan pr. [duo2]); (bound form) multi-; poly- |
| 东 | Dōng | surname Dong |
| 西 | Xī | the West; abbr. for Spain 西班牙[Xi1 ban1 ya2]; Spanish |
| 好 | hǎo | good; appropriate; proper; all right!; (before a verb) easy to; (before a verb) good to; (before an adjective for exclamatory effect) so; (verb complement indicating completion); (… |
| 呀 | yā | ah (used to express surprise); (onom.) creaking |
| 爬 | pá | to crawl; to climb; to get up or sit up |
| 树 | shù | tree; CL:棵[ke1]; to cultivate; to set up |
| 学 | xué | to learn; to study; to imitate; science; -ology |
| 哎 | ai | hey! |
| 哟 | ||
| 一声 | yī shēng | first tone in Mandarin (high, level tone) |
| 摔 | shuai | to throw down; to drop and break |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker); (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now); (modal particle intensifying preceding clause); (bound form) clear in one's mind; to understand clearly |
| 一个 | yī ge | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) |
| 大 | dà | big; large; great; older (than another person); eldest (as in 大姐[da4 jie3]); greatly; freely; fully; (dialect) father; (dialect) uncle (father's brother) |
| 头 | tóu | head; hair style; the top; end; beginning or end; a stub; remnant; chief; boss; side; aspect; first; leading; classifier for pigs or livestock; CL:個|个[ge4] |
| 蛇 | shé | variant of 蛇[she2]; snake; serpent; CL:條|条[tiao2] |
| 说 | shuì | to persuade; variant of 說|说[shuo1] |
| 们 | men | plural marker for pronouns, and nouns referring to individuals |
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is; (bound form) having; with; -ful; -ed; -al (as in 有意[you3 yi4] intentional) |
| 自己 | zì jǐ | oneself; (attributive) one's own |
| 本事 | běn shì | source material; original story |
| 不会 | bù huì | improbable; unlikely; will not (act, happen etc); not able; not having learned to do sth; (coll.) (Tw) don't mention it; not at all |
| 可是 | kě shì | but; however; (used for emphasis) indeed |
| 上 | shǎng | used in 上聲|上声[shang3 sheng1] |
| 睡觉 | shuì jiào | to go to bed; to sleep |
| 狮 | ||
| 子 | zǐ | son; child; seed; egg; small thing; 1st earthly branch: 11 p.m.–1 a.m., midnight, 11th solar month (7th December to 5th January), year of the rat; viscount, fourth of five orders o… |
| 能 | Néng | surname Neng |
| 跳过 | tiào guò | to jump over; to skip (a step, chapter etc) |
| 宽 | Kuān | surname Kuan |
| 大河 | dà hé | large river (esp the Yellow River) |
| 老虎 | lǎo hǔ | tiger; CL:隻|只[zhi1] |
| 游 | Yóu | surname You; to walk; to tour; to roam; to travel |
| 泳 | yǒng | swimming; to swim |
| 爸爸 | bà ba | (coll.) father; dad; CL:位[wei4] |
| 对 | duì | right; correct; towards; at; for; concerning; regarding; to treat (sb a certain way); to face; (bound form) opposite; facing; matching; to match together; to adjust; to fit; to sui… |
| 力气 | lì qi | physical strength |
| 这 | zhè | (pronoun) this; these; (bound form) this; the (followed by a noun); (bound form) this; these (followed by a classifier) (in this sense, commonly pr. [zhei4], esp. in Beijing) |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion); variant of 是[shi4] |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- |
| 比 | Bǐ | Belgium; Belgian; abbr. for 比利時|比利时[Bi3 li4 shi2] |
| 明白 | míng bai | clear; obvious; unequivocal; sensible; reasonable; to understand; to realize |
| 他 | tā | (third-person singular) (since the early 20th century, usu. male) he; him; his; (bound form) other; another; some other (as in 他日[ta1 ri4] and 他人[ta1 ren2]) |
| 用 | yòng | to use; to make use of; to employ; (coverb) with; using; to need; to have to (usu. used in the negative or in questions); usefulness; utility; (bound form) expense; outlay; (courte… |
| 长 | cháng | long; (bound form) length; (bound form) strong point; forte; (bound form) to be good at; (literary) surplus; spare (Taiwan pr. [zhang4]) |
| 鼻子 | bí zi | nose; CL:個|个[ge4],隻|只[zhi1] |
| 钩 | gōu | hook; to hook |
| 木 | Mù | surname Mu |
| 就 | jìu | (after a suppositional clause) in that case; then; (after a clause of action) as soon as; immediately after; (same as 就是[jiu4 shi4]) merely; nothing else but; simply; just; precise… |
| 搬 | bān | to move (i.e. relocate oneself); to move (sth relatively heavy or bulky); to shift; to copy indiscriminately |
| 走 | zǒu | to walk; to go; to run; to move (of vehicle); to visit; to leave; to go away; to die (euph.); from; through; away (in compound verbs, such as 撤走[che4 zou3]); to change (shape, form… |
On the third day after he was born, Little Elephant went with his mother to the banks of a stream, and there he saw a bird in the sky flying here and there. Little Elephant said: “If I could fly, I could see even more things, it would be great!”
In order to learn to fly, Little Elephant climbed a tree and, with a yelp of “Ai Yo!”, fell heavily to the ground.
Seeing this, the snake said: “Little elephant, we all have our own abilities. I can’t fly, but I can sleep in a tree.”
Lion said: “I also can’t fly, but I can jump across a wide river.”
Tiger said, “I can’t fly, but I can swim!”
Little Elephant’s father and mother said to him, “We elephants have great strength, incomparably greater than that little bird’s.”
Little Elephant understood. He used his long nose as a hook and moved a large branch.