Long, long ago in the faraway lands of India, there sat a small meadow. 

    In this meadow lived Anika, a young elephant who loved to play in the grass and explore the forest. 

   One day while Anika was in the forest, she ran into some elephants from another field.

    "Hi!" she smiled. "Nice to meet you. Do you want to play with me?"

    The three elephants looked at each other and laughed. 

    "You think we want to be your friend?" they snickered. "We only came here to tell you to stay on your side of the forest. We would never want to be friends with you!"

    And just like that, they left.

    Anika stood there, sad, before walking back to her meadow. She didn't understand why the other elephants were so rude. At mealtime, she decided to tell her parents.

    "Today I tried being nice to the other elephants, but they laughed at me," she cried. “I asked to play and they said they’d never want to be friends with me”

    “Don’t worry Anika, I’m sure they didn’t mean that,” Mother Elephant reassured. “If they continue to be bullies, karma will get them.”

    “What’s that?”

    “Karma?” she smiled. “It’s actually quite simple.” 

    “Karma translates directly to ‘action’, so positive effects would come from our good actions and negative effects would come from our hurtful actions,” Mother Elephant explained (Castro). 

    “So my actions control the weight of my effects?” she asked.

    “Yes, exactly. Let’s say, if I were to do something good, then in return something good would happen to me in the future. However if I were to do something bad, then something harmful would happen to me. Do you understand?”

    Anika nodded. 

   “It’s important because karma travels across all your lifetimes, not just this one. Our soul, or our atman, is carried through different bodies each lifetime ("Reincarnation and Samsara"). Have you heard of samsara?” she asked.

     Anika shook her head.

    “When we pass through one body to another, it’s called samsara. If we keep repeating bad actions, our atman will be reborn in a lower form, but if we keep repeating good deeds, we’ll be reborn in a greater body” (Flood). 

    "I still don't understand," Anika sighed.

    "For example, say in my past life I did many good things. When this past life ended, I was reborn into this body; my atman traveled from that body to this one," Mother Elephant explained. "But if I had done bad things in that lifetime, I would've been reborn into a worse body, like a plant." 

    "I see now. Samsara is like a cycle of lives, and the body we are reborn into is based on our past life's actions."

    "Exactly. Don’t worry too much about this,” she said, patting her daughter's head. “I’m sure the others will be nicer eventually.” 

    Anika smiled. Little did she know, Mother Elephant was wrong.

Give us all your food! Now!

    The next day, Anika was walking in the forest when she ran into the three elephants again. This time, they did more than laugh. They called her names, took her grass, and even drank all her water. 

    This bullying would go on for several days, and each time, Anika didn’t say a word. One day, something changed inside her. She had enough. 

    “Why do you keep treating me like this?” she shouted. “If you keep acting this way, you’ll have horrible karma!”     

    “Who cares!” they laughed.

    “You should care! My mother told me that if you do hurtful actions, you’ll receive hurtful outcomes. That should matter to you!”

    “Oh please!” the oldest one huffed. “Who cares what your mother says! I’ve done good things in my life; I’ll be fine.”

     She turned and left, the two younger elephants trailing behind, and Anika was once again left alone in the forest. 

    One gloomy day, a strong flood hit one of the nearby meadows. Their homes were destroyed and sadly, the elephants living there were unable to be saved. 

    When Anika heard this news, her heart dropped. The three elephants—the bullies—had lived in that meadow, and though they had treated her horribly, she still felt awful.

    After finishing her morning meal, she raced into the forest, hoping to find the three elephants. She had no such luck. The forest was quieter than ever—no laughter, no splashing in the river, nothing. Tears fell from Anika’s eyes. Even though the bullies were horrible to her, they didn’t deserve this!

   Just then, a rumbling from the bushes made her jump.

*squeak*

    “Hello?” she called out. “Who’s there?”

     No answer.

    “Hello?” she repeated.

    Silence.

    Just then, Anika heard a small squeak.

    “Hey!” it called out.

    “Don't hurt me!” she cried out. "Who's there?"

    “Down here!” the voice said, this time louder. “I’m down here!”

    And that's when Anika saw it.

    Right beside her foot was a tiny brown mouse. But this wasn’t just any brown mouse. No—this mouse could speak!

    “Anika! Please help us!” it cried out. “You were right all along!”     

    The elephant was very confused.

    “Who are you?” she asked. “And how do you know my name?”

    A snail and a fly appeared from the bushes.         “It’s us! The three elephants from the other meadow!"

    Anika gasped.

    “That’s impossible!” she uttered. “How did you all become . . . so small?”

    “Remember what your mother told you about karma? This must have been a result of our actions!” one cried out.

    “We’re so sorry for doing those hurtful things to you,” the snail added. “Please tell us what she said. We need your help!”