Elephant Amaranta’s Fear

The elephant Amaranta was one of the biggest stars of the Great Worldwide Circus “The Whale.” With her enormous trunk she was able to juggle more spectacularly than had ever been seen in the circus tent. Also, the elephant Amaranta was happy and fun and everyone loved her very much in the circus.

She only had one problem: mice made her panic. But this, in reality, was a very small problem, because no mouse had ever been seen in the Great Worldwide Circus “The Whale.” But one day, a family of mice appeared there. They had escaped from a town in which a strange flautist rounded them all up and threw them out via the river. Once the flautist arrived, he emitted a magical sound, and every mouse that heard it lost all sense of reason.

– Lucky for us, we were sleeping when this happened. The only one that was awake was grandfather; and since he is deaf…nothing happened to him!

So that family of mice had to flee. And so, walking and walking, they had arrived at the circus.

– You can all stay here – said the ringmaster – but you have to be careful with the elephant Amaranta. She gets panicked around mice, so it will be best that she doesn’t see you.

But the Circus Worldwide “The Whale” was very small and the elephant Amaranta didn’t take long in discovering this family of mice.

– Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! – she yelled afraid.
– Don’t you worry – assured the ringmaster – Surely she will become accustomed…

But Amaranta did not become accustomed and each time that she crossed one of the mice, she climbed atop the first thing she found.

1. The stool the ringmaster used in the lion spectacle.
2. The trapeze where Calixta, the trapeze artist monkey, left all the kids marveling at her pirouettes.
3. Including the tightrope, which Nicolasa, the giraffe aerialist, climbed.

Whichever site was good enough for her to be far from those tiny, speedy and bothersome animals that gave her so much fear. So, those who had to get used to the situation were the other members of the circus.

The animals, convinced that this absurd fear had to end, decided one day to search for a way to end it. The first to propose something was the clown Miguelín, always so ingenious…

– I have found in my suitcase full of joke supplies, a fake mouse…
– I don’t see how this will help us with Amaranta – groaned a grumpy lion.
– Very easy: we gift her the mouse, and when she sees that it is fake and realizes that you can wind it when you want, she will feel like she can control mice, and with that, her own fear.

No one was very convinced with this plan, but as they did not have another, they decided to give it a chance. So they hid the fake mouse in a box, wrapped it up in floral paper and gave it to Amaranta.

– A gift? For me? But it isn’t my birthday – exclaimed the elephant Amarantha happily when she saw the package.

But her smile disappeared when inside the package she saw the mouse.

– Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh… – she screamed as she climbed a stool scared to death.
– Amaranta, it’s a fake mouse! It is nothing more than a toy. Touch it!

But the elephant didn’t want to know anything more about the gift. The plan had failed.

– We have to leave – exclaimed the mice. – At the end of the day, we are only a family of mice and Amaranta is the star of the circus. We can’t compete with her!
– Don’t say that! – exclaimed the upset Calixta, the monkey trapeze artist – if we cannot end her fear, we have to accustom ourselves to it.
– But, what happens with my stools? I can’t perform my show if every few minutes she is breaking them. – protested the ringmaster.
– Well, yes the problem with the stools…let us buy one of her size! – suggested Greta, the oldest lion of the circus.

– Great, one that can withstand her on all parts so she will be able to climb it, when she sees a mouse, and won’t break anything.

To the elephant Amaranta, they gave a new gift that she like much more than the anterior. She promised all her peers that she would not return to breaking their work tools and that she would try to control her attacks of fear.

What is certain is that Amaranta never was able to control her fear, but at least the Great Worldwide Circus “The Whale” never again was a disaster. And of course, the family of mice remained there always. Eventually, even they had a circus performance that became very very very famous.

But this, my friends, is another story…