The gray elephant, Gray, told his brother, White, the white elephant: "We should have a leader in our herd. You and I are the best, your tusks are the whitest and mine are the sharpest. If you do not participate in the campaign, I will be the king for sure. Once I become the king, I will not have to search for food and furthermore, I will have a comfortable and pleasant home to live in. White replied depreciatorily, "In that case, you go ahead! I have no interest in fighting for fame and position. I would rather go far away from the vulgar herd of elephants and hide deep in the mountain by myself. I can go for a walk as I like, sleep under a tree when I am tired, eat some fruit when I feel hungry, and drink some spring water when I feel thirsty, and also enjoy comfort and ease. A morally pure and superior white elephant will not stay with those stupid elephants. I am in harmony with the rest of the world!" After the conversation, White turned around and marched toward the mountains. The sunshine penetrated the trees and shone on his body enhancing his solitary purity; some little gray elephants could not help but sing praises for his whiteness and beauty. Gray straightened his long trunk and angrily looked at those little gray elephants and said: "Humph' You little elephants only know to fawn upon others! See even though I am gray in color, I have a pair of tusks that are longer and sharper than his!" With that, he rolled up his long trunk, pointed it upwards, and made a trumpeting sound beckoning all the nearby elephants to gather together. As usual, Gray led the whole group in play and, of course, he did not forget to flaunt his long tusks. He did not notice the potential danger lurking all around. A greedy hunter had already placed traps everywhere waiting to catch those elephants who left or stayed behind the herd. Gray again mentioned the idea of becoming the king. Most of the elephants agreed with him, but a few elephants who could not tolerate his arrogance said, "If we're talking about beautiful tusks, no one can compete with White's white tusks!" Gray's biggest weak point was that his tusks were not white enough. When he heard this, he angrily retorted, "Whiteness makes no difference! My tusks are much longer than White's!"

"But White has white tusks. As you know, the value of the tusk depends upon whiteness!" Gray was even more enraged and said, " What do you mean by valuable? That's the human view of value! If humans think you are valuable, you will not have any tusks! Understand? Stupid elephants!" There were disturbances in the herd. Gray opened his mouth widely and laughed at them, "Tusks are our important weapon, not a decoration for humans. There's no point in competing on whiteness! See how long and sharp my tusks are!” After flaunting himself, Gray walked away too and was finally caught in the hunter's trap.

On his way to the elephant taming center, inside the cage, Gray suddenly saw White who was in another cage. Gary was kicking his cage angrily, but White was just lying in the cage quietly and gazing sadly into the distance through the bars. When the truck arrived at the taming center, Gray kicked at the bars several times until people shackled his legs with iron chains. As he was shouting and rolling about, the tamer led in a female elephant. Then Gray slowly began to calm down. The next thing that happened was that many delicious food dishes were put in front of him. The sleeping area was lined with soft and sweet-smelling grass. Unable to bear his hunger any longer, Gary finally ate that delicious food bite after bite. After the meal, he really felt exhausted and, under with female elephant's charms, he fell asleep on the soft and sweet-smelling grass. With the charms of the female elephant, the delicious food, the sweet-smelling grass and the whip of the tamer, a few days later, Gray finally submitted and came under control of the tamer. The white elephant, White, who had beautiful long tusks and lived in isolation from the rest of the world, became very ill due to sadness. He was not receptive to the charms of the female elephant, nor did he eat any food. When he was on the point of dying, one day the tamer came with the tusk wholesaler, negotiated the price, and cut off White's beautiful white tusks. White then became weaker and weaker and finally died due to his sadness and sickness. Gray, who once aspired to become king of the elephant herd, was sold to the circus troupe, where he was dressed as a clown and did whatever people desired.

Morals:
1. To follow the crowd gains boundless merits and virtues, to leave the crowd often invites danger.
2. "There is no guilt in being a common person; the precious stone lands its innocent possessor in jail" Even if one is in harmony with the rest of world and seeks nothing from the world, very often he gets into trouble because of the talent which he rely upon all the time. It is better to blend in with the crowd.
3. People who like to compete, to search for prestige, often become angry due to their greed. Because of their anger, they often do stupid things and finally are exploited by other people.
4. Those who are greedy for fame and profit and those who wish to renounce the world fall into two extremes. When there is no thought of good or evil, one discovers the ultimate truth of the Middle Way.