The Fable of the Elephant

By Vincent Gray

The short story involves a retelling of an ancient Jewish parable from medieval European times. Ironically the re-telling of the story takes place in a historical building called 'The Elephant Trading Store' and the trigger that led to the actual re-telling of the Jewish Parable was the discovery of an old newspaper report in the bottom of one of the drawers in the store. The newspaper story was about the actual 'murder' of the biggest African elephant that ever lived. The fable is about the capture and taming of an Elephant and the key to the unlocking of the meaning of the fable turns out to be the Torah, the Talmud and the destruction of the second Temple. The retelling of the ancient fable also results in the inadvertent unveiling of another secret, a family secret, which turns out to be an unexpected, dramatic and spell-binding disclosure for everyone present in the shop.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vincent Gray
• Release date: Aug 10, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370458486

Vincent Gray

As a son of a miner, I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. I grew up in the East Rand mining town of Boksburg. I matriculated from Boksburg High School. After high school, I was conscripted into the South African Defence Force for compulsory national military service when I was 17 years old. After my military service, I went to the University of the Witwatersrand. After graduating with a BSc honours degree I worked for a short period for the Department of Agriculture in Potchefstroom as an agronomist. As an obligatory member of the South African Citizen Miltary Force, I was called up to do 3-month camps on the 'Border' which was the theatre of the so-called counter-insurgency 'Bush War'. In between postgraduate university studies I also worked as a wage clerk on the South African Railways and as a travelling chemical sales rep. In my career as an academic, I was a molecular biologist at the University of the Witwatersrand, where I lectured courses in microbiology, molecular biology, biotechnology and evolutionary biology. On the research side, I was involved in genomics, and plant and microbial biotechnology. I also conducted research into the genomics of strange and weird animals known as entomopathogenic nematodes. I retired in 2019, however, I am currently an honorary professor at the University of the Witwaterand and I also work as a research writing consultant for the University of Johannesburg.

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The Fable of the Elephant

By

Vincent Gray

Copyright© 2015 Vincent Gray

This book is a work of fiction. All the characters developed in this novel are fictional creations of the writer’s imagination and are not modelled on any real persons. Any inadvertent resemblance to persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental. Mention of persons who are deceased and who feature incidentally have been made to contextualized some of the events which are significant to the story.

All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 9781370458486

The next day on the 1st of January 1970 Aaron and Geraldine headed back to Swaziland to begin their new lives as teachers at the mission station. On the long stretch of road from Inhambane to Lourenço Marques for the first hour they drove in silence, both were in a reflective mood.

Let’s talk, Geraldine said breaking the spell of silence.

About what? Aaron asked.

Anything you like, she answered, "even about Plato’s Symposium or Phaedrus. I will listen. You have an audience."

Aaron looked at her.

What about you, can’t you think of a story? he asked.

No at the moment my head is empty.

"You once said that you had a story about the Elephant Trading Store. You can tell me that story. Is it a true story?

Oh yes, it is a true story indeed.

Well what are you waiting for? Like Socrates I am all ears to hear your story, my dearest ‘Aaronicus’, she said.

He glanced at her sitting next him. She was in a