Baby Elephant - Rudyard Kipling
It’s only now, my dear boy, that the Elephant has a trunk. And before, long, long ago, the Elephant didn’t have any trunk. There was only a nose, sort of like a cake, black and the size of a shoe. This nose dangled in all directions, but still was no good: is it possible to pick up anything from the ground with such a nose?
But at that very time, long, long ago, there lived one such Elephant. - or better said: The Elephant’s Child, who was terribly curious, and whomever he saw, pestered everyone with questions. He lived in Africa, and he pestered all of Africa with questions.
He pestered the Ostrich, his lanky aunt, and asked her why the feathers on her tail grew this way and not otherwise, and the lanky aunt Ostrich gave him a blow for this with her hard, very hard foot.
He pestered his long-legged uncle Giraffe and asked him why he had spots on his skin, and long-legged uncle Giraffe gave him a blow for this with his hard, very hard hoof.
But this did not discourage his curiosity.
And he asked his fat aunt Behemoth why her eyes were so red, and fat aunt Behemoth gave him a blow for this with her thick, very thick hoof.
But this did not discourage his curiosity.
He asked his hairy uncle Baboon why all melons were so sweet, and hairy uncle Baboon gave him a slap with his furry, hairy paw.
But this did not discourage his curiosity.
Whatever he saw, whatever he heard, whatever he smelled, whatever he touched, he immediately asked about everything and immediately received a blow for it from all his uncles and aunts.
But this did not discourage his curiosity.
And it so happened that one fine morning, shortly before the equinox, this same Elephant Child - annoying and pestering - asked about one thing that no one had ever asked about. He asked:
— What does the Crocodile eat for lunch?
Everyone shouted at him:
- Shhhhh!
And immediately, without further words, they began to reward him with blows. They beat him for a long time, without a break, but when they finished beating him, he immediately ran up to the thorn bush and said to the Kolokolo bird:
“My father beat me, and my mother beat me, and all my aunts beat me, and all my uncles beat me for my unbearable curiosity, and yet I would terribly want to know what the Crocodile might eat at his dinner?”
And the Kolonolo bird said, sobbing sadly and loudly:
- Go to the wide Limpopo River. It is dirty, dull green, and poisonous trees grow above it, which give rise to fever. There you will find out everything.
The next day, when there was nothing left of the equinox, the Baby Elephant gained bananas - a whole hundred pounds! - and sugar cane - also a hundred pounds! - and seventeen green crispy melons, he put it all on his shoulders and, wishing his dear relatives to stay happily, set off on the road.
- Goodbye! - he told them. — I’m going to the dirty, muddy green Limpopo River; trees grow there, they give me a fever, and I finally find out what the Crocodile eats for lunch.
And the relatives once again took advantage of the opportunity and gave him a good farewell, although he very kindly asked them not to worry.
This was not unusual for him, and he left them, slightly shabby, but not very surprised. He ate melons along the way and threw the minks on the ground, since he had nothing with which to pick up these crusts.
From the city of Graham he went to Kimberley, from Kimberley to Ham's land, from Ham's land east and north, and all the way he treated himself to melons, until finally he came to the dirty, dull green wide Limpopo River, surrounded by just such trees, as the Kolokolo bird said.
And you need to know, my dear boy, that until that very week, until that very day, until that very hour, until that very minute, our curious Little Elephant had never seen a Crocodile and did not even know what it actually was. Imagine his curiosity!
The first thing that caught his eye was the Two-Colored Python, the Rock Snake, coiled around the cliff.
- Excuse me, please! - said the Baby Elephant extremely politely. - Have you met a Crocodile somewhere nearby? It's so easy to get lost here.
-Have I ever met a Crocodile? — the Serpent asked with heart. “I found something to ask about!”
- Excuse me, please! - continued the Baby Elephant. - Can you tell me what the Crocodile eats at lunch?
Here the Two-Color Python could no longer hold on, quickly turned around and gave the Elephant a blow with his huge tail. And his tail was like a threshing flail and covered with scales.
- These are miracles! - said the Baby Elephant. - Not only did my father beat me, and my mother beat me, and my uncle beat me, and my aunt beat me, and my other uncle, Baboon, beat me, and my other aunt, Hippopotamus, beat me, and everyone beat me up for my terrible curiosity - here, as I see, the same story begins.
And he very politely said goodbye to the Bicolor Python, helped him wrap himself around the rock again and went on his way; although he had been beaten up quite a bit, he was not very surprised at this, but again took up the melons and again threw the peels on the ground, because, I repeat, what would he use to pick them up? - and soon came across some kind of log lying near the very bank of the dirty, muddy green Limpopo River, surrounded by fever-inducing trees.
But in fact, my dear boy, it was not a log at all - it was a Crocodile. And the Crocodile blinked one eye - like this.
- Excuse me, please! - the Baby Elephant addressed him extremely politely. “Did you happen to meet a Crocodile somewhere nearby in these parts?”
The crocodile winked with his other eye and stuck his tail half out of the water. The little elephant (again, very politely!) stepped back, because the new blows did not attract him at all.
- Come here, my baby! - said the Crocodile. “Actually, why do you need this?”
- Excuse me, please! - said the Baby Elephant extremely politely. “My father beat me, and my mother beat me, my lanky aunt Ostrich beat me, and my long-legged uncle Giraffe beat me, my other aunt, the fat Hippopotamus, beat me, and my other uncle, the shaggy Baboon , beat me, and the Two-Colored Python, the Rocky Snake just recently, beat me terribly painfully, and now - don’t tell me in anger - I wouldn’t want to be beaten again.
“Come here, my baby,” said the Crocodile, “because I am the Crocodile.”
To confirm his words, he rolled a large crocodile tear out of his right eye.
The baby elephant was terribly happy; He took his breath away, fell to his knees and shouted:
- My God! It's you that I need! I've been looking for you for so many days! Please tell me quickly, what do you eat for lunch?
“Come closer, little one, I’ll whisper in your ear.”
The baby elephant immediately bowed his ear to the toothy, fanged mouth of the crocodile, and the Crocodile grabbed him by the small nose, which until this very week, until this very day, until this very hour, until this very minute, was not at all larger than a shoe.
“From today,” said the Crocodile through his teeth, “from today I will eat young elephants.”
The little elephant didn’t like this very much, and he said through his nose:
- Pusdide badya, bde ocher boldo! (Let me go, it hurts me very much).
Then the Two-Color Python, the Rocky Snake rushed from the cliff and said:
“If you, oh my young friend, do not immediately pull back as long as your strength is enough, then my opinion is that before you have time to say “Our Father”, as a result of your conversation with this leather bag (as he called Crocodile) you will end up there, in that transparent stream...
Two-colored Pythons, Rock Snakes always speak in a scientific manner. The baby elephant obeyed, sat down on its hind legs and began to stretch back.
He stretched, and stretched, and stretched, and his nose began to stretch out. And the Crocodile retreated further into the water, foamed and muddied it all with blows of his tail, and also pulled, and pulled, and pulled.
And the Baby Elephant’s nose stretched out, and the Baby Elephant spread out all four legs, such tiny elephant legs, and stretched, and stretched, and stretched, and his nose kept stretching out. And the Crocodile hit with his tail like an oar, and pulled, and pulled, and the more he pulled, the longer the Elephant’s nose stretched out, and this nose hurt like crazy!
And suddenly the Baby Elephant felt that his legs were sliding on the ground, and he cried out through his nose, which became almost five feet long:
- Osdavde! Dovoldo! Osdavde!
Hearing this, the Two-Colored Python, the Rocky Snake, rushed down the cliff, wrapped a double knot around the Baby Elephant’s hind leg and said in his solemn voice:
- Oh, inexperienced and frivolous traveler! We must push as hard as possible, because my opinion is that this living battleship with an armored deck (that’s what he called the Crocodile) wants to ruin your future career...
Bicolor Pythons, Rock Snakes always express themselves this way. And so the Snake pulls, the Baby Elephant pulls, but the Crocodile also pulls.
He pulls and pulls, but since the Baby Elephant and the Bicolor Python, the Rocky Snake pull harder, the Crocodile, in the end, must release the Baby Elephant’s nose - he flies back with such a splash that it can be heard throughout the entire Limpopo.
And the Baby Elephant, as he stood, sat down with a flourish and hit himself very painfully, but still managed to say thank you to the Two-Color Python, the Rocky Snake, although, really, he had no time for that: he had to quickly take care of the outstretched nose - wrap it in wet banana leaves and put it in the cold, muddy green water of the Limpopo River so that it cools down at least a little.
- Why do you need this? - said the Bicolor Python, the Rock Snake. “Please forgive me,” said the Baby Elephant, “my nose has lost its former appearance, and I’m waiting for it to become short again.”
“You’ll have to wait a long time,” said the Two-Color Python, the Rocky Snake. - That is, it is amazing how much others do not understand their own benefit!
The baby elephant stood above the water for three days and three nights and kept waiting to see if his nose would shrink. But the nose did not shrink, and what’s more, because of this nose, the Elephant’s eyes became a little slanted.
Because, my dear boy, you, I hope, have already guessed that the Crocodile stretched the Baby Elephant’s nose into a very real trunk - exactly the same as the ones that modern Elephants have.
Towards the end of the third day, some kind of fly flew in and stung the Elephant on the shoulder, and he, without noticing what he was doing, raised his trunk, smacked the fly with his trunk - and it fell down dead.
- Here's your first benefit! - said the Bicolor Python, the Rock Snake. “Well, judge for yourself: could you do something like that with your old pin nose?” By the way, would you like to have a snack?
And the Baby Elephant, not knowing how he did it, reached out with his trunk to the ground and tore off a good bunch of grass, shook the clay from it on his front legs and immediately put it in his mouth.
- Here's your second benefit! - said the Bicolor Python, the Rock Snake. - You should try to do this with your old nose! By the way, have you noticed that the sun has become too hot?
- Perhaps so! - said the Baby Elephant. - And without knowing how he did it, he scooped up a little silt from the dirty, muddy green Limpopo River with his trunk and plopped it on his head: the silt became a wet cake, and whole streams of water flowed behind the Baby Elephant’s ears.
- Here's your third benefit! - said the Bicolor Python, the Rocky Snake. - You should try to do this with your old pin nose! And by the way, what do you think about cuffs now?
“Please forgive me,” said the Elephant’s Child, “but I really don’t like cuffs.”
- What about blowing up someone else? - said the Bicolor Python, the Rock Snake.
- I'm ready! - said the Baby Elephant.
-You don’t know your nose yet! - said the Bicolor Python, the Rocky Snake. “It’s just a treasure, not a nose.”
“Thank you,” said the Baby Elephant, “I will take this into account.” And now it’s time for me to go home; I will go to my dear relatives and check my nose on my family.
And the Baby Elephant walked across Africa, amusingly and waving his trunk. If he wants fruits, he picks them straight from the tree, and does not stand and wait, as before, for them to fall to the ground.
If he wants grass, he tears it right from the ground, and does not fall to his knees, as happened before.
The flies bother him - he picks a branch from the tree and waves it like a fan. The sun is hot - he will immediately lower his trunk into the river - and now there is a cold, wet patch on his head. It's boring for him to wander around Africa alone - he plays songs with his trunk, and his trunk is louder than a hundred copper pipes.
He deliberately turned off the road to find the Hippopotamus, give her a good beating and check whether the Two-Color Python told him the truth about his new nose. Having beaten the Hippopotamus, he went along the same road and picked up from the ground those melon peels that he had scattered along the way to Limpopo - because he was a Clean Pachyderm.
It had already become dark when one fine evening he came home to his dear relatives. He curled his trunk into a ring and said:
- Hello! How are you doing?
They were terribly happy with him and immediately said with one voice:
- Come here, come here, we will give you a blow for your intolerable curiosity.
- Oh, you! - said the Baby Elephant. - You know a lot about punches! I understand this matter. Do you want me to show you?
And he turned his trunk, and immediately his two dear brothers flew upside down from him.
“We swear by bananas,” they shouted, “where did you get so alert and what happened to your nose?”
“I have this new nose and the Crocodile gave it to me - on the dirty, muddy green Limpopo River,” said the Baby Elephant. “I started a conversation with him about what he eats for lunch, and he gave me a new nose as a souvenir.
- Ugly nose! - said the hairy, shaggy guy Baboon. “Perhaps,” said the Baby Elephant, “but useful!”
And he grabbed the hairy leg of the hairy guy Baboon and, swinging it, threw him into the wasp's nest.
And this nasty little Elephant went so wild that he beat off all his dear relatives. They widened their eyes at him in amazement. He pulled out almost all the feathers from the tail of the lanky aunt Ostrich; he grabbed the long-legged Giraffe by the hind leg and dragged him along the thorn bushes; with a whoop, he began to blow bubbles right into the ear of his fat aunt Hippopotamus when she was dozing in the water after lunch, but he did not allow anyone to offend the Kolokolo bird.
It got to the point that all his relatives - some earlier, some later - went to the dirty, muddy green Limpopo River, surrounded by trees that gave people fever, so that the Crocodile would give them the same nose.
Having returned, the relatives no longer fought, and from then on, my boy, all the elephants that you will ever see, and even those that you will never see, all have the same trunk as this curious Elephant’s Child.
(Translation by K. Chukovsky)
Why does an elephant have a long nose? The Elephant's Child (Baby Elephant) – A Tale by Rudyard Joseph Kipling
Thousands and thousands of years ago, giants called mammoths inhabited the Earth. Since they could not bear the hardships and difficulties they were subjected to, they gradually died one after another. But they left two descendants - African and Asian elephants.
Elephants are the largest land animals. Despite their size, they are gentle and very intelligent, with a gentle and patient nature. Of all animals, they are the easiest to train, with the possible exception of the domestic dog.
The elephant has an unusually heavy body, it can weigh 5 tons. It is in order to hold such a weight that elephants’ legs are short and shaped like columns, which gives them the necessary power.
The two tusks that protrude from the elephant's upper jaw are actually overgrown teeth. Animals use their tusks to uproot roots when searching for food, and also as a means of defense.
How is an elephant different from other animals? First of all, with its long trunk. This is a special process that is formed by the upper lip and nose, fused together. Its average length is about one and a half meters, and its weight is 120-150 kilograms.
An elephant's trunk is an amazing organ without which the animal simply cannot exist. This is the most remarkable part of the elephant's body, which performs almost the same functions as human hands. The trunk serves as the elephant's hand, nose, and lip!
The trunk has many muscles - about 50,000. Therefore, this organ is very strong and flexible. So an elephant can use its trunk as a very effective weapon. The tip of the trunk, like the fingers, is so sensitive that it can feel a barely noticeable touch.
The trunk can be used as a hand to place food into the mouth. The elephant drinks by drawing water through tubes in its trunk, then bends it and releases the water into its throat. The most interesting thing is that there is not so little space in the trunk - an elephant can use it to absorb up to 6-7 liters of water, which is used either for drinking or for pouring water over its huge body. Elephants love water very much and take a bath whenever they have the opportunity. Despite their weight, they are excellent swimmers. The female often places her baby elephant on her back while bathing.
Elephants have no shortage of skills - with their appendage they can not only lift weights into the air, but also pick tiny fruits from trees or bushes, which then end up in their mouths. In fact, the trunk replaces the arms of these large animals.
But small elephants do not know how to use this “appendage” and sometimes even step on it. It takes a lot of time to learn how to master it. This activity is undertaken by female elephants, who teach the kids the skill for several months. Moreover, they do not leave their children for many years - such a strong mother’s love!
By the way, elephants have another very funny feature. So, they know how to talk to each other over long distances using their stomach! Yes, yes, this is not a joke! Initially, scientists believed that all the sounds emanating from the belly of these mastodons were associated only with the process of digestion. However, it later turned out that elephants are able to control them and, when danger approaches, “fall silent.” Once the threat is gone, they start "talking" again. Thanks to this unusual phenomenon, individuals are able to hear each other at a distance of several kilometers.
