The little elephant really did seem to play all day, lost in his own thoughts and not caring much about the world around him.

Water was his favorite thing in the world, he could spend his whole life just splashing in it, sucking it up into his trunk, and then blowing it high into the air with a big swing.

But then he noticed a black-and-white shape watching him.

At first, he tried not to think much about it, after all, he had more important things to do, like play with water, but soon he realized that the watching happened every single day.

Then he saw it was a crow. A young crow, it seemed. Her head and wings were black, but her chest was bright white, so she looked a little like a chessboard. Not that Rauni knew what a chessboard was — but he did know what African crows looked like, and this one was just like that.

She probably wants to play with me but is too scared because I’m so big, thought the elephant.

Did he want to play with her? Hmm. Let’s see.

I could put her on my trunk and throw her up into the air! She can fly, I think. It wouldn’t be dangerous.

And so, once again, the elephant drifted into his thoughts, only this time, the crow was there too.

He had decided: he would let her play with him.