Elephants’ Ears

I should here recount the little-known 1002nd tale of Scheherezade, wherein Allah forgot to give the elephant any ears and so the simple country maid Afsaneh, feeling sorry for the beast, fashioned some out of dough. Allah finally realized his omission, and was impressed by the elephant’s forbearance; in recognition of this he gave the creature bigger and better ears than all others, not only for to hear, but to fan his great bulk and wave away pestilent flies. And Afsaneh, as a reward for