THE ELEPHANT GIRLIE

FACE
A BUDDHIST JATAKA TALE

NARRATED

BY

BABA INDABA

PUBLISHED BY
ABELA PUBLISHING, LONDON
[2015]

T HE E LEPHANT G IRLIE FACE

Typographical arrangement of this edition

Abela Publishing 2015

This book may not be reproduced in its current format

in any manner in any media, or transmitted
by any means whatsoever, electronic,
electrostatic, magnetic tape, or mechanical
(including photocopy, file or video recording,
internet web sites, blogs, wikis, or any other
information storage and retrieval system)
except as permitted by law
without the prior written permission
of the publisher.

A BELA P UBLISHING ,
London, United Kingdom
2015

ISBN-13: 978-1-910882-22-1

Email: Books@AbelaPublishing.com

www.AbelaPublishing.com/girlieface.html

I NTRODUCTION
BABA INDABA, pronounced Baaba Indaaba,
lived in Africa a long-long time ago. Indeed,
this story was first told by Baba Indaba to the
British settlers over 250 years ago in a place on
the

South

East

Coast

of

Africa

called

Zululand, which is now in a country now

called South Africa.
In turn the British settlers wrote these stories
down and they were brought back to England
on sailing ships. From England they were in
turn spread to all corners of the old British
Empire, and then to the world.
In olden times the Zulus did not have
computers, or iPhones, or paper, or even pens
and pencils. So, someone was assigned to be
the Wenxoxi Indaba (Wensosi Indaaba) the
Storyteller. It was his, or her, job to memorise
all the tribes history, stories and folklore,
which had been passed down from generation
to generation for thousands of years. So, from
the time he was a young boy, Baba Indaba had
been apprenticed to the tribes Wenxoxi
Indaba to learn the stories. Every day the
Wenxoxi Indaba would narrate the stories and

Baba Indaba would have to recite the story

back to the Wenxoxi Indaba, word for word.
In this manner he learned the stories of the
Zulu nation.
In time the Wenxoxi Indaba grew old and
when he could no longer see or hear, Baba
Indaba became the next in a long line of
Wenxoxi Indabas. So fond were the children of
him that they continued to call him Baba
Indaba the Father of Stories.
When the British arrived in South Africa, he
made it his job to also learn their stories. He
did this by going to work at the docks at the
Point in Port Natal at a place the Zulu people
call Ethekwene (Eh-tek-weh-nee). Here he
spoke to many sailors and ships captains.
Captains of ships that sailed to the far reaches
of the British Empire Canada, Australia,
India, Mauritius, the Caribbean and beyond.

He became so well known that ships crew

would bring him a story every time they
visited Port Natal. If they couldnt, they
would arrange to have someone bring it to
him. This way his library of stories grew and
grew until he was known far and wide as the
keeper of stories a true Wenxoxi Indaba of
the world.
Baba Indaba believes the tale he is about to tell
in this little book, and all the others he has
learned,

are

the

common

property

of

Umntwana (Children) of every nation in the

world - and so they are and have been ever
since men and women began telling stories,
thousands

and

thousands

of

years

ago.

WHERE IN THE W ORLD LOOK IT UP!

This story was told to Baba Indaba by visiting

Arab sailor who had sailed the East Coast of
Africa, and further East across the Arabian Sea
and the Andaman Sea to lands where the
Buddhist people live. This was one of their
Jataka tales told to children to teach them how
precious all forms of life are.
Can you find the city of Mombasa and the city
of Sittwe on a map?

THE ELEPHANT GIRLY-FACE

A story, a story
Let it come, let it go.
A story, a story
From long, long ago.

UMNTWANA IZWE! CHILDREN LISTEN!

This is a story about why you should not
believe everything you hear or overhear.
ONCE in a land far, far away, there lived a
King and the King had an Elephant named
Girly-face.
Baba! You cant call an indlovu (in-shloh-vu
elephant) Girlie Face. The elephant is king of
the jungle. We all know that. Even the Zulu
Kings is call the Great Elephant and his kraal
is called Gingindlovu! (place of the big
elephant)

Well young Sandile, THIS Elephant was

called Girly-face because he was so gentle and
good and looked so kind. "Girly-face never
hurts anybody," the keeper of the Elephants
often said.
But you cant call a boy elephant, Girlie
face!
Well this one was. Now, no more questions
and interruptions please, we must finish the
story
Now one night some robbers came into the
courtyard of the Kings palace and sat on the
ground just outside the stall where Girly-face
slept. The talk of the robbers awoke Girly-face.
"This is the way to break into a house," they
said. "Once inside the house kill anyone who
wakens. A robber must not be afraid to kill. A
robber must be cruel and have no pity. He
must never be good, even for a moment."

Girly-face said to himself, "Those men are

teaching me how I should act. I will be cruel.
I will show no pity. I will not be good--not
even for a moment."
So the next morning when the keeper came to
feed Girly-face he picked him up in his trunk
and threw the poor keeper to the ground,
killing him.
Another keeper ran to see what the trouble
was, and Girly-face killed him, too.
For days and days Girly-face was so ugly that
no one dared go near. The food was left for
him, but no man would go near him.
By-and-by the king heard of this and sent one
of his wise men to find out what ailed Girlyface.
The wise man had known Girly-face a long
time. He looked the Elephant over carefully

and could find nothing that seemed to be the

matter.

He thought and thought and finally decided

that "Girly-face must have heard some bad
men talking. Have there been any bad men
talking about here?" asked the wise man.
"Yes," one of the keepers said, "a band of
robbers were caught here a few weeks ago.
They had met in the yard to talk over their
plans. They were talking together near the
stall where Girly-face sleeps."

So the wise man went back to the king. Said

he, "I think Girly-face has been listening to
bad talk.
If you will send some good men to talk where
Girly-face can hear them I think he will be a
good Elephant once more."
So that night the king sent a company of the
best men to be found to sit and talk near the
stall where Girly-face lived. They said to one
another, "It is wrong to hurt anyone. It is
wrong to kill. Everyone should be gentle and
good."
"Now those men are teaching me," thought
Girly-face. "I must be gentle and good. I must
hurt no one. I must not kill anyone." And from
that time on Girly-face was tame and as good
as ever an Elephant could be.
The moral of the story is:

Dont believe everything you hear.

Remember, good words are food,

bad words are poison.
Umntwana, here ends my story.

Salagahle umntwana!
(Salla-gah-shle Um-in-twaan-ah
Stay well my children!)

www.AbelaPublishing.com