Eli the Eelephant

Eli the Eelephant

By Amanda Lynn Steinhaus

Illustrations by True Delorenzo

An Eelephant ALWAYS forgets. 

In fact, it takes steps to remember.

But let's start in the beginning.


***

Eli, the eelephant, was born in the warm waters of Thailand.

He was the only son of Erwin the Albino elephant, who loved to swim,
and Eos, the most beautiful Moray eel in the ocean,
who swam to shore at the dawn of each day.

Erwin and Eos loved to swim together every morning! 

They fell in love and soon gave birth to Eli,
the only eelephant in the entire history of Asian waters.

Legend has it that fishermen heard of this unique creation by Erwin and Eos
and have been hunting Eli for many moons.

The tides never lie, and with every new moon in the sky,
when the water is at its lowest, Eli gets very lonely and sad.

He searches for a friend to comfort him,
but his awkward appearance scares the other ocean creatures away.

Eli swims as fast as he can through the shallow waters and along a dangerously strong current,
which his parents warned Eli about when he was young.

They said,
"Eli, above the water, fishermen will cast their nets down below
 in hopes of trapping ocean creatures as they travel along the quick ocean current."

However, Eli forgot their words as he let his lonliness take over his emotions
and he swam carelessly into the powerful current. 

His mom and dad also told him about a special gift that he had as an eelephant
that no other sea creature possessed.

However, in his current state of mind, he wasn't thinking about his gifts.

Eli focused on the things he did NOT have.

He thought about the things he wanted and needed, but was not getting.

His thoughts drove him deeper into the dangerous current.

Until....SNAP! 

Eli got caught in his tracks! 

The net pulled him up and Eli suddenly became very scared!

Lifted onto the deck of an old fishing boat,

when the nets fell, the fishermen gasped and pointed their fingers at Eli.

They pointed their fingers down in awe.

It was the myth they now saw!

Eli, the eelephant had FEET!

And with them he crept off the boat and back into the sea!

Where he swims peacefully free.

Until the new moon rises again, and Eli gets lonely...

THE END

Moral #1:  Sometimes your best traits are the ones that others notice.

Moral #2: Sometimes others can point out the things you need to learn about yourself.