Once upon a time there was a fat young elephant. Now, you might think that elephants, big as they are, would not be concerned about their figures, but this is far from the truth. Variations in plumpness that we would never even be able to recognize can make the difference between a svelte, attractive elephant and a laughingly ugly one.

Poor Willie was teased by his peers until he cried.

"People on safari will mistake you for a hippo," they jeered.

"Now, now, William" said his mother. "It’s true that you are rather fat, but you are not beyond hope. You see, it all comes down to comportment. If you behave as a fat elephant behaves, grabbing way too many leaves in a go, swinging your rear excessively when you walk, and sniveling behind a bush every time one of those nasty beasts mocks you, your troubles will only increase. If, however, you think of yourself as a slim, handsome elephant, you will be perceived as one."

"But, Mama," said Willie, "you’ve given me that advice a thousand times. I try to follow it. Really I do. But I can’t. Whenever I’m eating, I start out by taking only a single leaf at a time, but it’s so unsatisfying, and before I know it, I’ve broken off a whole branch. And I seem to have no control of my rear. I can’t see it while I’m walking, you know. And as for hiding behind a bush—well, you try standing up to Timothy and Bertha. They just keep laughing and laughing. There’s nothing I can say to make them stop. I bet you were never teased in your whole life. How would you know how it feels?"

"William, you are my son, but you are rash as well as fat," his mother replied. "As a matter of fact, I was often teased as a child. I had a speech impediment. Whenever I would trumpet, the sound was dull and muted, not clear and strident as an elephant’s call should be. Like you, I was ridiculed, but I did not hide behind a bush, nor did I remain silent. I trumpeted along with the other elephants and pretended my call was as clarion as theirs. Eventually, it was."

"I’m sorry, Mama," said Willie. "I’ll keep trying to follow your advice."

For the next few months, Willie did just as his mother had said. He grabbed at most ten leaves at a time with his trunk. He walked slowly and carefully, so his rear wouldn’t swing. And when the other elephants teased him, he did not run and hide, but shouted back at them, "I am not fat. I am a thin, handsome elephant."

After a while, the elephants that mocked him began to believe him.

"What were we thinking?" they said to one another. "Willie’s not fat. In fact, we’re too skinny."

Then they began grabbing leaves by the hundred, swinging their rumps fervently, and hiding behind bushes out of shame. By the time half a year had passed, they had long forgotten their superior attitudes, and Willie was one of the more popular young elephants in the herd.

"You see," said his mother. "What did I tell you? And, I dare say, William, you are no longer fat. You have lost two hundred pounds at least."

"And the best part, Mama," said Willie with a smile, "is that Timothy and Bertha, the ones who teased me most, have become the fattest elephants around."

"Ha, ha," laughed his mother. "Let’s have at them, shall we?"

And mother and son, with their rears gently and tastefully swinging, walked over to where Timothy and Bertha were standing, and ridiculed them until they cried.