Meet Brokentusk the elephant. As a child, Brokentusk had the most beautiful tusks in his herd. His tusks were so great that the chief of the herd was jealous and challenged Brokentusk to a duel because the chief had a violent childhood and believed his peers needed to validate him in order for him to be happy. On the day of the duel, the chief was about to attack Brokentusk when the sun caught on Brokentusk's tusk and the chief collapsed on the floor and started crying because he had never seen such beauty since before his pet goldfish ran away. The chief was very insecure about his own tusks, and at this point realized that this insecurity led him to mistreat those who had cooler tusks than him. He promoted Brokentusk to chief and then shamefully ran away. In later years, this former chief would be reduced to performing magic tricks on the streets of Nairobi to sustain his livelihood.
The spirits, who had been watching the ordeal this whole time, thought this was an unfair setup. First, Brokentusk has gorgeous tusks that bring all the boys to the yard, and now he is also a chief. They decided that, in the name of fairness, they should remove his tusk. So, one day while Brokentusk was asleep, a spirit tried to cut off both of his tusks but only managed to cut off one because Brokentusk slept on his side, making it difficult to remove both tusks. Suddenly feeling guilty for amputating such an amazing tusk, the spirit left the tusk for Brokentusk to sell, because this spirit knew that one could make a pretty penny selling ivory on the black market.
In the following days, people began calling him "Brokentusk". Deprived of one half of his identity, Brokentusk fled the herd in search of meaning. On his travels, he realized that it did not matter the quality of his tusks, but rather the quality of his character. He began living with humans, whereupon he learned that nobody will ever judge him harder than they judge themselves, therefore peoples' opinions of his one-tuskedness does not matter, especially regarding humans. Humans love elephants.
One day Brokentusk was roaming the streets of a city when he heard a familiar voice solemnly telling somebody to pick a card. A way off to his right Brokentusk saw his former chief performing magic tricks. Brokentusk greeted him and told all about how he learned to find inner peace and all that jazz. Brokentusk also told his former chief that he found his goldfish that had run a way so long ago. This goldfish turned out to be a spirit and was so grateful for Brokentusk reuniting her with her former owner that she summoned up some cosmic epoxy that Brokentusk could use to glue his tusk back on. Brokentusk was disillusioned with the value of external appearance, but he did so anyway to show gratitude. The three then got jobs building sustainable infrastructure in Kenya and lived happily ever after.
The spirits, who had been watching the ordeal this whole time, thought this was an unfair setup. First, Brokentusk has gorgeous tusks that bring all the boys to the yard, and now he is also a chief. They decided that, in the name of fairness, they should remove his tusk. So, one day while Brokentusk was asleep, a spirit tried to cut off both of his tusks but only managed to cut off one because Brokentusk slept on his side, making it difficult to remove both tusks. Suddenly feeling guilty for amputating such an amazing tusk, the spirit left the tusk for Brokentusk to sell, because this spirit knew that one could make a pretty penny selling ivory on the black market.
In the following days, people began calling him "Brokentusk". Deprived of one half of his identity, Brokentusk fled the herd in search of meaning. On his travels, he realized that it did not matter the quality of his tusks, but rather the quality of his character. He began living with humans, whereupon he learned that nobody will ever judge him harder than they judge themselves, therefore peoples' opinions of his one-tuskedness does not matter, especially regarding humans. Humans love elephants.
One day Brokentusk was roaming the streets of a city when he heard a familiar voice solemnly telling somebody to pick a card. A way off to his right Brokentusk saw his former chief performing magic tricks. Brokentusk greeted him and told all about how he learned to find inner peace and all that jazz. Brokentusk also told his former chief that he found his goldfish that had run a way so long ago. This goldfish turned out to be a spirit and was so grateful for Brokentusk reuniting her with her former owner that she summoned up some cosmic epoxy that Brokentusk could use to glue his tusk back on. Brokentusk was disillusioned with the value of external appearance, but he did so anyway to show gratitude. The three then got jobs building sustainable infrastructure in Kenya and lived happily ever after.