0-6岁*讲故事 | 胖胖的大象 Fat Fat Elephant

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这是一套在美国很受欢迎的教材，按年龄共分三部分：0-6岁学龄前儿童教程，6-12岁学龄儿童教程，和12岁以上青少年教程。我们将陆续翻译成中文，分享给大家。 这套教材里的每一篇，无论是教程还是各种活动，都独立成篇，没有先后顺序，大家可以按需要和负担选择使用。 *更多内容：thedoorofsheep.com/信仰课程

介绍

一只小象因为太胖，渐渐无法和朋友们一起玩耍。

主题

动物、祝福、友谊、分享

材料

按照故事中出现的物品： 水桶、刷子、毯子、枕头、椅子

时间

约10分钟

故事

不久之前，有一片充满了许多动物的丛林。有大动物、小动物，甚至非常微小的动物。大多数动物都很友好，但有些有点凶恶。所有的动物们都会一起玩，除了那些凶恶的动物。它们朋友不多，大部分时间都是独自待着。一天，一只大河马和一只大棕熊在吃了一顿大餐后正躺着休息。

“嘿，熊，”河马说，“这就是我喜欢的生活方式。吃上一顿大餐，然后美美地睡一觉。你呢？”

熊回答道：“我也喜欢！但有时我喜欢在丛林里四处走走，找个露营地……你知道的，吓吓人类。这很有趣！他们尖叫着跑开，然后我去拿走他们留下的食物。那样可以得到不错的零食。”

就在这时，一只不太大的小象走过来了。熊注意到小象身上带着一些不同寻常的东西。

“嘿，你带的那是什么？”熊问。

小象转向熊，说：“哦，没什么。这只是一个水桶。我把它装满了河里的水，这样无论走到哪里，我都会有一份清凉的水可以喝。”

“嗯，”河马说，“挺聪明的。”

实际上，河马和熊都觉得这有点奇怪。丛林里不管在哪儿离河都不远。

是的，这头小象确实有些奇怪。当他离开河马和熊时，他看到了一个刷子。“这会帮我在河里洗澡时刷干净自己。”他想着，捡起了刷子，继续向前走，手里拿着装满水的水桶和刷子。

他朝河边走去，准备洗澡并试试新刷子时，看到一棵树枝上挂着一条色彩鲜艳的毯子。“当丛林变冷时，这条毯子可以帮我保暖，”他想着。尽管他知道自从他出生以来，丛林从未变冷过，但他还是想以防万一。于是，他把毯子甩到背上，继续走着，手里拿着装满水的水桶、刷子和一条色彩鲜艳的毯子。

走近河边时，他看到了四个靠在树上的松软枕头。“这些枕头在我找不到柔软的地方小睡时会派上用场。”他把枕头塞进毯子里，顿时看起来有点胖。于是他继续走，虽然现在走起来有些吃力，但他还是带着装满水的水桶、刷子、色彩鲜艳的毯子和四个松软的枕头。

接着，他看到了一把小木椅。“我的朋友来拜访我时可以坐在这把椅子上，”他想着。于是他把椅子放在毯子上，继续走着，带着水桶、刷子、四个松软的枕头、一条色彩鲜艳的毯子和一把小木椅。

最终，小象到了河边，一只高大的长颈鹿正在游泳。

“你为什么带着这么多东西？”长颈鹿问。

小象解释了他带着水桶、刷子、四个松软的枕头、色彩鲜艳的毯子和小木椅的原因。长颈鹿忍不住笑了起来。“你是大象啊！你不需要这些东西。而且，这些东西让你看起来像一只胖胖的马戏团大象。你带着这些东西几乎无法跑动或玩耍。”

“你尽管笑吧，”小象骄傲地说，“等你渴了，或者天黑了该睡觉时，看谁笑到最后。”

于是，胖胖的大象继续过着他的日子。丛林里的动物们看到他都会笑话他。渐渐地，他尽量避免和其他动物碰面。有一天，不经意之间，他走近了一个露营地。一个小男孩问他能不能借用一下水桶，小象拒绝了，转过了头。然后一个小女孩问他能不能借用毯子。她看起来很冷，但小象又一次拒绝了。接着，一个看起来因为走路很累的老爷爷问他能不能坐在他的椅子上休息一下，但小象还是说不，不，不！小象越来越讨厌大家老是想借用他的东西，于是他用刷子在自己身上画了一块牌子，上面写着：“走开。”从那以后，动物和人类基本都不再理他了。

一开始，他感到很孤单，但后来他渐渐习惯了没有人或朋友来借他的东西。随着时间的推移，他找到了更多的东西，把它们都包在毯子里。现在他看起来真的很胖，几乎无法动了。事实上，他连走路都有点困难。

一天，疯狂世界马戏团派出动物捕手来到丛林里。马戏团需要一些新动物来表演。果然，没几分钟他们就发现了胖胖的大象。一个捕手说：“这只大象对马戏团来说真是太棒了。看，他已经把彩色的毯子裹在身上，还带着这么多东西。”

小象看到捕手，试图逃跑。但他跑得非常非常慢。他舍不得放下他的东西，所以很快就被抓住，关进了笼子里。

“放我出去！”他喊道。“我不是真的胖，只是我带着这些东西才显得胖。”小象感到很难过，心想：“如果我没有这么多东西，我就可以逃脱了。我现在该怎么办？我不想待在笼子里。”

就在这时，之前的小男孩和小女孩走了过来，看到了他。小男孩大声笑了出来，小女孩喊道：“吓你一跳！”

突然，小象猛地跳了起来，所有的东西都掉在了地上。然后他哭了起来。

孩子们互相看了看，说：“你真是只悲伤又傻的大象。你早就可以逃脱了。看，没有了这些东西，你并不胖。事实上，你很可能能从那两根弯曲的笼条之间滑出去。试试看吧。”

小象虽然不太相信，但还是尝试了一下。孩子们大声喊道：“快跑！快跑！快跑！”

没有了装满水的水桶、刷子、四个枕头、彩色毯子、小木椅和其他所有东西，他真的没有那么大了，轻松逃了出来。甚至还可以跑得很快。他摇着尾巴向孩子们表示感谢，但不敢回头看。他跑回了丛林，回到了朋友们身边。再次，他感到安全，最重要的是，他自由了。

结束

故事的寓意： 拥有东西并不是坏事，但自私地拥有却不好。神赐予我们很多东西，但祂也希望我们与有需要的人分享。物品不会说话、不会玩耍，也不会给你一个拥抱。如果我们不分享，别人可能就不愿意和我们在一起。没有别人的关爱，我们可能会感觉像是被困在笼子里，没人能够接触到我们。

*** 英文版 *******

Fat Fat Elephant

A small elephant becomes too big for his friends.For storybook version Click here 

Not so long ago, there was a jungle filled with many, many animals. There were big ones, little ones, even itty-bitty ones. Most were friendly, but a few were a little mean. All the animals played together, except the mean ones. They didn’t have too many friends so they just stayed alone most of the time. One day, a big hippopotamus and a large brown bear were resting after eating a big snack.

“Hey bear,” the hippopotamus said. “This is how I like to live. Eat a big snack and then take a long nap. How about you?”

The bear replied, “Me too! But sometimes I like to walk around the jungle looking for a campsite…you know, to scare the people. It’s fun! They scream and then run away. Then I go get the food they left behind. You get good snacks that way.”

Just then, a not so big elephant walked up to them. The bear noticed something different about the elephant.

“Hey, what’s that you have with you?” The bear asked.

The elephant turned to the bear, “Oh nothing. It’s just a bucket. I keep it filled with water from the river. That way, wherever I go, I’ll always have a supply of nice refreshing water to drink.”

“Hmmm,” said the hippopotamus. “That’s smart.”

Actually, both the hippopotamus and the bear thought it was a little odd. The river was not far from anywhere in the jungle.

Yes, this elephant was strange indeed. As he walked away from the hippopotamus and the bear, he spotted a paintbrush. “This will help me scrub myself when I take my bath in the river,” he thought. He picked it up and off he went, carrying a bucket filled with water and a paintbrush.

As he made his way to the river to take a bath and try out his new paintbrush, he saw a large colorful blanket draped over a tree limb. “This will be great to keep me warm when the jungle gets cold,” he thought to himself. Although he knew the jungle never got cold, at least not since he was born. Still, he wanted to be prepared just in case it did. He swung the blanket onto his back and off he went, carrying a bucket filled with water, a paintbrush, and a colorful blanket.

As he got closer to the river, he spotted four fluffy pillows leaning against a tree. “These pillows will come in very handy when I can’t find a soft place to take my nap.” He stuffed the pillows under his blanket, and as he did, he looked kind of fat. And so off he walked, with a little more difficulty now, carrying a bucket filled with water, a paintbrush, a colorful blanket, and four fluffy pillows.

Then, he spotted a small wooden chair. “I can let my friends sit on this chair whenever they come to visit me,” he thought. So he put the chair on the top of the blanket and off he went carrying a bucket filled with water, a paintbrush, four fluffy pillows, a colorful blanket, and a small wooded chair. Finally, the elephant reached the river, where a tall giraffe was swimming near the shore.

“Why are you carrying all that stuff?” asked the giraffe.

The elephant explained all about the bucket filled with water, the paintbrush, the four fluffy pillows, the colorful blanket, and the small wooden chair he was carrying. The giraffe could only laugh. “You’re an elephant! You don’t need those things. Besides, they make you look like a big fat circus elephant. You can hardly run or play with all that stuff.”

“You can laugh all you want,” the elephant said proudly, “but we'll see who is laughing when you get thirsty, or when night falls and it’s time for you to go to bed.”

And so it went for the fat elephant. The animals would all laugh at him as he walked through the jungle. Soon, he did his best to stay away from them altogether. One day, when he wasn’t paying attention, he wondered too close to a campsite. A small boy asked him if he could borrow the bucket, but the elephant said no and turned his eyes away. Then a little girl asked if she could borrow his blanket. He looked at her and she looked cold, but he said no again and walked on. Then an old man that looked tired from walking asked if he could sit on his chair to rest, but he said no, No, NO! The elephant grew annoyed at everyone wanting to borrow his things, so he decided to paint a sign with his brush on the side of his body that said, “Go away.” From then on, the animals and the people pretty much left him alone.

At first, he was lonely, but he got used to not having people and friends asking to borrow his things. As the days went on, he found more and more things and wrapped them all up under his blanket. Now he looked really fat and he couldn’t run at all any more. In fact, he could hardly walk.

One day, the Wacky World Circus sent animal catchers to the jungle. The circus needed some new animals for their show. And wouldn’t you know it, within a few minutes they spotted the fat elephant. One of the catchers said, “This one would be great for the circus. Look, he already has a colorful blanket wrapped around him and look at all those things he can carry.”

The elephant saw the catchers and tried to run. But he was very, very slow. He would not let go off all his stuff, so they caught him and threw him into a cage.

“Let me out!” he shouted. "I’m not really fat. It's just all this stuff I’m carrying.” The elephant was sad and thought, “I could have escaped them if I wasn’t so heavy with my stuff. What should I do now? I don’t want to be in a cage.”

Just then the little boy and little girl from before walked by and saw him. The little boy laughed loudly and the little girl shouted, “BOO!”

Suddenly, the elephant jumped and all his possessions fell to the ground. Then he cried.

The children looked at each other and said, “You are a sad and silly elephant. You could have escaped all along. See, without all those things you’re not so big. In fact, you could probably slip right through those two bent cage bars. Go ahead, try it.”

The elephant wasn’t so sure but tried it anyway. The children shouted, “Go! Go! Go!"

Without the bucket filled with water, the paintbrush, the four pillows, the colorful blanket, the wooden chair, and all the other stuff he collected, he was really not very big and he escaped easily. He was even able to run fast. He waved his tail thanking the little children but didn’t dare look back. He ran back into the jungle, to his friends. Once again he felt safe and most of all, free.

THE END

Moral of the Story:

Having things is not bad, but being selfish with them is not good. God blesses us with many things but He also expects us to share them with others who are needy. Things can’t talk, play, or give you a hug. When we do not share, people will not want to be around us. Without the love of others we may feel like being in a cage where nobody can reach us.

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