Revenge of the Elephants

Years of human exploration have driven the elephants out of their natural habitat -- the jungles of Southeast Asia. Some of the elephants ended up living near a farming village. At nighttime when no villagers were around, a few of them would sneak into the farm and make a nice feast of the crops there. Since the elephants were so big in size, their unwanted visits left behind lots of damages.

The villagers were not happy with the intrusion. They hired a group of professional elephant hunters to track down the culprits. The hunt was successful; the two elephants responsible for the damaged crops were killed.

For several days after the killing, the villagers enjoyed some tranquil time. They would, however, start to hear the sound of elephants mournfully trumpeting coming from where the two elephants were killed. The sound would get louder and become more depressing in the days after. As one would expect, the villagers were quite concerned. They sent elephant hunters to where the sound originated to investigate.

Two days after the hunters were dispatched, there was still no sight of them coming back. The noise, on the other hand, was growing louder and louder. Alarmed by the situation, the villagers decided to put a barrier around the village just in case something bad might happen.

The following evening started surprisingly calm. Many villagers went to sleep unguarded, thinking the worst had passed. At roughly past midnight, the whole village was abruptly awakened by thunderous noises. Before the villagers could realize what was happening, the walls around them collapsed.

The villagers quickly exited their homes. Unfortunately, they were greeted outside by numerous rampant elephants. The monstrous creatures showed the defenseless villagers absolutely no mercy. Some villagers fell victims to the elephants' indiscriminate tusks. Others were trampled to death. Cries of agony could be heard several kilometers away.

By morning, the whole village had been obliterated. Most of the homes were destroyed and farmlands were flattened. Odors of dead bodies consumed the air. The sun's blazing heat added more misery to what had already been a grim travesty. For a village of a thousand people, only half survived. The clear victims were the village's children. Many of them vanished in the stampede. Those survived had to spend the rest of their lives as orphans without homes.