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The older people in the small African village where Ahmed lived always said good things about him.
His grandfather, Hajji Ali, often told him stories about people with good character and about the prophets and messengers.
Ahmed wanted to be like the great people his grandfather told him about. He was known for obeying his parents and having a kind heart.
He tried to live by the lessons he learned from his grandfather.
One day, he saw a bird stuck in a bush.
Feeling sorry for the trapped creature, Ahmed rushed over to help it.
He freed it from the bush and let it fly away.
As Ahmed grew older, he always tried to help the older people in the village who didn’t have others to care for them.
Every day, he took water to several old people who lived alone.
One day, Ahmed was walking home when he heard a strange noise.
“Whack!” “Whack!”
Two boys were beating an elephant that had fallen down and hurt its leg.
“Get up, you worthless beast!” the boys yelled, as they struck the elephant with sticks.
Ahmed remembered that Hajji Ali had taught him to be kind to animals and to help anyone who needed help.
He felt sorry for the poor elephant and grabbed the arm of one of the boys who was beating it.
“Stop, Janjaru!” Ahmed said. “Can’t you see he’s hurt?”
Even though the boys were older than Ahmed, they ran away, taunting Ahmed as they fled.
He knew both of them. They were bullies who often beat up smaller kids.
Ahmed opened his water bottle and gave the thirsty elephant a drink. He then gently cleaned the elephant’s bleeding leg.
Then, he quickly ran home to get his father, Abdul-Kareem.
By the time that Ahmed and his father returned, it was night.
Abdul-Kareem put medicine on the elephant’s leg to take away the pain and help it heal faster.
Ahmed built a fire, and he and his father spent the night with the elephant.
The next morning, Abdul-Kareem returned to the village, while Ahmed stayed behind to help the elephant.
He fed it, gave it water from the river, and talked to it like it was a person.
By evening, the elephant felt better and was able to stand.
Ahmed hugged him and told him good-bye.
As the elephant left, he said to himself that he would not forget this kind boy.
About a year later, Ahmed was coming home from a friend’s village when he slipped and fell over a high cliff along the mountain trail.
As he was falling, he caught himself on a tree limb that grew on the side of the cliff.
“Help! Help!” he screamed.
As he hung from the limb, he became weaker and weaker and thought he would fall to his death.
Suddenly, he felt something touch his arm from above.
He looked up in amazement and saw a tree branch hanging down in an elephant’s trunk.
The elephant that Ahmed had once helped had now come to help him.
It had been eating nearby when it heard Ahmed screaming and recognized the voice as the kind boy who had helped him long ago.
Ahmed grabbed onto the branch in the elephant’s trunk, and the elephant pulled him up to safety.
Once Ahmed was safe, he hugged his old friend, thanked him, and told him good-bye.
When Ahmed got home, he told his parents what had happened.
It was an incredible story, but they believed him. Ahmed had always been honest with them, so they felt they had to trust him now.
The next day, Ahmed couldn’t wait to tell the boys of his village how the elephant had saved his life.
When he told them, however, they began to make fun of him, especially the two boys Ahmed had once stopped from beating the elephant.
The boys began to tease him and call him “Elephant Boy.”
Ahmed was sad because they didn’t believe him.
After that day, the boys called him “Elephant Boy” whenever they saw him.
He cringed with shame every time they said those words.
He hated the name “Elephant Boy.”
A few years later, Ahmed was driving the village jeep home from the market when a hippo ran in front of him.
Ahmed swerved to miss the huge animal, and the jeep flipped.
Ahmed was thrown from the jeep, and it landed on his leg. After screaming in pain for a few seconds, he passed out.
A herd of elephants was playing in a nearby river, and one of them was the same elephant Ahmed had helped many years before. The elephant heard Ahmed’s screams and recognized his old friend’s voice.
The elephant ran quickly to help Ahmed. When it got to the jeep, it braced its massive body against it and pushed as hard as it could.
Although the jeep was extremely heavy, it began to move.
Finally, it was off of Ahmed’s leg.
Once Ahmed was safe, the elephant ran to get some medicinal roots from the jungle to put on his leg.
While the elephant was looking for roots, Ahmed woke up and saw that the jeep had moved from his leg.
“How?” he wondered.
He was still in extreme pain, but he was able to get up.
He picked up a broken branch to use as a crutch and hobbled over toward the jeep.
Then, he saw them. Huge elephant footprints in the mud!
He then began to understand that his elephant friend had saved him again.
When Ahmed got home, his mother and father were frightened by the sight of his injured leg.
Abdul-Kareem ran out to get the local doctor.
When Abdul-Kareem and the doctor returned, Ahmed told them what had happened.
Although Ahmed didn’t want to tell the other villagers what had happened because he was afraid they would make fun of him again, somehow the story got out. The boys again began to make fun of Ahmed and call him “Elephant Boy.”
This time, even some of the older villagers joined in the taunting.
“Ahmed used to be a good boy, but now he is making up all of these lies,” they whispered to each other.
Ahmed was very sad and ashamed to leave his house. He hated to be called “Elephant Boy.”
He often had terrible nightmares about the villagers calling him a liar. He felt alone in the world.
One day, a very old and wise religious man of the village saw a crowd of people talking about Ahmed behind his back. He became very angry and began warning the crowd.
”Ahmed has always been known for his kindness and honesty,” the old man told them. ”But now you follow these bad boys who have always caused problems in the village in making fun of Ahmed. Shame on you all! You are doing something terribly wrong!”
But when the old man left, the villagers went right back to saying bad things
about Ahmed. Sadly, they had learned nothing from his wise advice.
Many months later, Janjaru, one of the boys Ahmed had stopped from beating the elephant, stole some cigarettes from his father.
He then went out into a field to smoke – even though his parents had forbidden him to do so.
After lighting the cigarette and taking a few puffs, Janjaru heard his mother in the distance walking toward him.
”Janjaru? Janjaru?” she yelled. ”Your father is looking for you.”
Frightened that he would get caught smoking and be punished, Janjaru threw down the burning cigarette and ran into the jungle.
Looking back, Janjaru saw his cigarette start a fire in the tall, dry grass. Still, afraid that he would get into trouble, he didn’t return to put it out. Instead, he ran away as the flames grew higher and higher!
At that time, Ahmed was returning to his village from visiting his grandparents’ house in the mountains.
Suddenly, he saw a huge fire near his village — the fire started by Janjaru’s cigarette!
Standing on a hill, he began to yell, “Fire! Fire! Wake up!”, but the villagers were taking their afternoon nap, and everyone was sound asleep.
Then, Ahmed looked in the distance and saw smoke coming toward the village from the other direction as well. He became even more afraid – a fire in the east and a fire in the west!
He feared that his village would burn and that all of the villagers would be killed.
The fire to his left was getting closer and closer to his village, and he continued to yell, “Fire! Fire! Wake up!”, but no one heard him.
The smoke to his right was also getting closer.
When he looked again, however, there was no fire to his right. The smoke was not smoke at all, but dust.
About 40 elephants were running at full speed toward his village and toward the fire, kicking up dust that looked like smoke as they ran.
Ahmed feared that they would trample his village, and he continued to yell for the villagers to wake up. Finally, they heard the noise of the elephants and began waking up and running out of their houses. They saw the fire on one side and the rampaging elephants on the other.
They were terrified!
Then, as the elephants got closer, a strange thing happened. They all turned away from the village and positioned themselves between the village and the fire.
The villagers watched in amazement as the elephants began blowing huge amounts of water from their trunks onto the fire. They had gone to the river to suck water into their stomachs
and their trunks before coming to the fire.
The elephants kept blowing water from their trunks until the fire was almost completely out.
Then, they began stomping the fire and kicking dirt on it until it was finally extinguished.
They had saved the village!
The villagers were amazed.
By this time, Ahmed had reached the village, and he saw his elephant friend. Ahmed ran over to his friend and hugged and kissed him.
Everyone now realized that Ahmed’s stories were true!
All of the villagers gathered to thank the elephants and tell them goodbye.
As the elephants left, Ahmed and his parents were the last villagers to stop waving.
Everyone apologized to Ahmed for not believing him. Even Janjaru told Ahmed that he was sorry for the way he had treated him and hugged him. The two would later become lifelong friends.
Ahmed was happy. He knew that Allah protected the innocent.
After that day, the villagers still called Ahmed ”Elephant Boy,” but now they meant it in a good way.
Now, Ahmed loved the name ”Elephant Boy.”
Things to Discuss
1. Hajji Ali told Ahmed stories about the prophets and messengers and people with good character. Why is it important to hear or read such stories?
2. In the story, Ahmed was the good boy. Early in the story, Janjaru – the village bully – and the other villagers made fun of Ahmed and called him a liar. However, at the end, everyone learned the truth. Do you believe if people think or say something wrong about you that the truth will ultimately become clear?
3. Early on in the story, Ahmed hated the name ”Elephant Boy.” At the end, he came to love the name. Why?
4. What did you learn from this story?
Copyright © 2026 Ibrahim Abu Ismail and Dean Kane. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, posting on the Internet, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author/illustrator.
