The first elephants only had short noses and one day an elephant named Ndlovu* went to the river to drink. Crocodile was very hungry and grabbed Ndlovu's nose and tried to pull him into the river. A titanic tug-of-war ensued and Ndlovu's nose grew longer and longer until Crocodile admitted defeat and let go. At first Ndlovu was embarrassed about his long nose but soon found out that it made picking things up off the ground and drinking from the river much easier. He could also reach leaves and fruit high up in the trees. When the other elephants heard how Ndlovu had got his long nose and saw what he could do with it, they all wanted new noses. But will Crocodile oblige? A fun story from Africa.

*Ndlovu means "elephant" in the Zulu and Xhosa South African languages.