Elefanten weinen nicht

Let your feelings run free!

It’s just an ordinary morning in the savanna – at least it seems that way. Matti, the little mongoose, wakes up and wants to stretch his nose out into the open. But he can’t! A huge gray creature with a wrinkled, bristly bottom is blocking Matti's way and view at the entrance of his burrow. That’s Elias, the old elephant. He is very, very sad – but he has internalized that elephants don’t cry. Yet he would really like to... So Elias just sits there, sighing and feeling lost. Fortunately, Matti is quite nice and also pretty clever. The mongoose knows very well that it is much, much better to feel and do what we want – and not what we are supposedly supposed to do. He leads Elias by the trunk through the savanna, and they encounter: a lion who is afraid, even though all the animals fear him, and he himself is not supposed to be scared. A hippopotamus grazing by the riverbank during the day, and a leopardess who is taking care of a baby monkey instead of hunting it. Elias is astonished and realizes that he can indeed embrace his feelings and cry. And he does. But not out of sadness, rather out of emotion and joy. Finally, he has found a friend who has helped him to be who he wants to be. And in the end, Matti and Elias form a herd – even though mongooses and elephants are not really supposed to do that...

Encourages children to perceive and embrace their feelings.

Emotional and colorful illustrations by Julian Meyer.

With great facts about elephants and mongooses.