Curious baby elephant
Judith Baker
Wiehan de Jager
Everyone knows that the elephant has a very long nose.
But a long time ago, the elephant's nose was short and fat. Like a shoe in the middle of its face.
One day a baby elephant was born. She was curious about everything.
She had a question for every animal.
She was curious about Giraffe.
"Why do you have a long neck?" she asked.
She was curious about Rhino.
"Why does your horn have a sharp point?"
She was curious about Hippo.
"Why do you have red eyes?" she asked.
And she was VERY curious about Crocodile.
"What does Crocodile eat for dinner?" she asked.
"Never ask a question like that!" said her mother.
Then she walked off, frowning.
Quickly Crow flew down to Baby Elephant.
"Follow me to the river. There you will see what Crocodile eats for dinner," squawked Crow.
So the baby elephant followed Crow down to the river.
She pushed through the reeds and stood on the bank.
She looked into the water. Where was Crocodile?
"Hello," said a stone near the river bank.
"Hello," said Baby Elephant. "Can you tell me what Crocodile eats for dinner?" she asked.
"Bend down and I will tell you," said the stone. "Lower, lower," said the stone.
So Baby Elephant bent down lower, and lower.
Then suddenly, "Snap!" Baby Elephant's nose was caught in Crocodile's jaws.
"Crocodile will eat you for dinner!" squawked Crow, and flew away.
Baby Elephant sat back on her strong legs and pulled. She pulled, and pulled.
But Crocodile did not let go of her nose.
Baby Elephant's nose stretched, and stretched, and stretched.
Then, "Thud!" she fell on her back.
Crocodile sunk back into the water.
He was cross about losing his dinner.
Baby Elephant looked at her nose.
It was stretched very long. She could not see where it ended!
Her nose was so long she could pick fruit from high branches.
Her nose was so long she could shower her back with water.
From that day, all elephants had long and useful trunks.
You are free to download, copy, translate or adapt this story and use the illustrations as long as you attribute in the following way:
Curious baby elephant
Author - Judith Baker and Lorato Trok
Illustration - Wiehan de Jager
Language - English
Level - First sentences
© African Storybook Initiative 2014
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
Source www.africanstorybook.org
