Roy the Indian Elephant

Roy – The Indian Elephant

A story for children

This has been adapted from a story my late husband used to tell our daughters when they were small while we all waited for our food in our local Indian restaurant. By the time he got to the end the food had usually arrived and the girls had been so wrapped up in the story that they never complained about the wait.

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There are two possible endings so I am asking the readers to choose which one they prefer in their comments:-

Once upon a time there was a beautiful elephant named Roy. He wore lots of gold jewelry decorating his enormous ears and on his back he had a jeweled and braided blanket. 

Strapped to his back was a huge, very grand golden chair that shone like the sun with lots of ribbons and other decorative items, in which a king or queen or other important person could travel, although rather bumpy it was a fun ride on the elephant's back. 

Roy didn't always carry people, he carried other things too like packages of food that had to travel a long, long way to reach whoever wanted it.

It was on such a day that Elsa and her mummy and daddy decided to have an Indian meal in a restaurant near where they lived. The restaurant had lots of lovely wall decorations, and the food smelled really yummy.

Elsa's mummy and daddy told the waitress what they would all like to eat and the waitress carefully wrote it all down. Now, it was just at times like these that Roy, the Indian elephant was woken out of his deep sleep and given the very important job of bringing the food across the sea, and travel across all the different countries to get to the restaurant so that Elsa and her family could enjoy their delicious dinner.

And so the journey began. The food was cooked in the most delicious way and packaged very carefully so that nothing would spill, and off Roy went.
Bumpity, bump went the chair on Roy's back, but the food was safely strapped down and it didn't spill.

They traveled across India where all the children waved and cheered at Roy because he was so pretty. He took a little swim in the big sea, then dried off in the sun and carried on his journey across many strange lands, and everywhere he went all the children cheered and waved.

Then they reached another ocean, this time it was BIG. This one was called the Atlantic ocean.

Roy had to be extra careful now, this ocean was even bigger and very deep; he had to swim and keep the boxes of food from getting wet otherwise it would all be ruined and he would have to go all the way back to get some more. He didn't want to do that. 

It was a very long and exciting journey and he was tired but he knew that Elsa and her mummy and daddy would be hungry. So slowly he journeyed on through the big sea and then back on dry land, to a strange place called America.

America was big and Roy had difficulty finding his way around, people stared, they hadn't seen anything like this before. But he got to a little place called Sedona where his journey was due to finish. He found the restaurant and there was little Elsa and her mummy and daddy sitting at a table very patiently waiting for their food. He knelt down like all good elephants do when they need to be unloaded.

The waitress helped the elephant driver unload all the food boxes from Roy's back. She took them into the kitchen where the food was heated up and placed onto pretty dishes for Elsa and her mummy and daddy -- it smelled so good.

Roy had done a good job and was rewarded with a big kiss and a hug from all the people in the kitchen, and especially Elsa.

Roy was happy, he rested a while and then he set off, back to his homeland to wait for his next voyage.



THE END

 
The alternate ending:-


When Roy arrived at the restaurant and saw Elsa and her mummy and daddy sitting there so patiently he got so excited that he tripped up the curb and fell over spilling the boxes of food all over the street. Oh dear, he said to himself, what I am I to do now? The only thing to do was to pick up the mess, go back home to India and start all over again!!