One morning a lone Elephant was walking in the woods. 

Suddenly on the lawn she met Tiger. The baby elephant approached him and said:

 - Let's be friends with you!

 - How is it? Tigrenya was surprised.

- I do not know. I just heard it's good.

 They sat down next to each other and began to think what it meant to be "friends", but they didn't come up with anything.

"I need to ask my parents," Elephant suggested.

- All right. We will meet here on the lawn, when the shade of bamboo will be the longest.

And they each went to their parents to ask what it meant to be "friends."

Daddy Tiger rested after a night hunt. He waved his son away and did not explain anything to him. 

Tigress's mother was engaged in a serious conversation with Aunt Behemoth.

"Then, then," she told the Tiger cub.

 Elephant's parents were swimming in the river that hot day. They answered their son that they did not know ...

The tiger cub waited until the sun began to set in the jungle, and went to the meadow to meet the Elephant there. 

"Hello," said the Elephant. - Mine do not know.

And mine promised to tell later. 

"Let's ask everyone who happens to be on the road," Tigrenya suggested.

And they went into the jungle.

On the way, the Elephant plucked fruit from the trees and offered it to the Tiger Cubs, it did not know that tigers do not eat fruit.

The tiger cub refused, but in order not to upset the Elephant, he pretended to have a stomach ache.

 Finally, they met two monkeys playing on the branches of a large tree.

 "Tell me, please," said the Tiger monkey politely, "don't you know what it means to be friends?"

 "What nonsense is this stupid Tiger talking about?" The monkeys growled and disappeared into the leaves of the tree.

 The baby elephant and the tiger cub went on. Later they reached the river.

The tiger stopped in confusion. It could not swim. Then the Elephant tilted a large branch with its trunk, and across this "bridge" Tigrenyamoved to the other side.

Then they met the Crocodile. He sat in the pond and held on to his bandaged cheek. Tears flowed from his eyes.

"Could you tell me," said the Elephant Crocodile, "how we should be friends with the Tiger?"

"What impudence!" Don't you see that my teeth hurt? And you are here with your nonsense ... - and the Crocodile dived into the water.

The baby elephant was upset, and Tigrenya began to comfort him ...

- Do you want me to sing you a song?

And Tigrenya sang about how good it is to chase butterflies and roll over in the grass. She tried very hard to make the Elephants like it. And the Elephant shook his head merrily.

Then they got tired and sat down to rest. They completely forgot where and why they were going, they had such a good time together.

And then a red-green parrot flew in from somewhere.

- Pr-r-rechudovo! He shouted. - Poor parents are looking for them, they are worried, and these two friends are walking!

- Did you hear? He said, "two friends." Who is this about?

 "Pr-r-ro you," said the parrot. - Well, dead home!

 And they happily went home.

 Daddy Tiger was very angry:

 - Why don't you play with tiger cubs? So that I don't see you and the Elephant again. Needless to say - found a friend!

 Daddy Elephant snorted when he heard this.

 - My son will find his best friends! 

And they led their children in different directions.