“Oh, that is easy,” said Jocko. “He was so big-feeling and so haughty he would not look at the other animals, and it stretched his neck until now he can’t see the ground, so I have been told. I don’t know, of course.”
“He has a very little head, anyway,” said Tito.
“There is very little in it, my dear Tito,” said Jocko. And then they both laughed again.
One by one the animals had awakened, but, hearing what was being said, they each hoped to hear something about the other that would offset the fun Jocko was making of them, so they kept still.
“Where did the elephant get his trunk? That is what I should most like to hear about,” said Tito.
“Well, that is a long story,” said Jocko. “It seems that it really was only a nose to begin with, and not much of a nose at that, so I have heard it said, but because he was so big he thought he was the boss of the jungle, where he lived, and he went about poking his nose into every place he could find to see what was going on. They used to call him Old Nosey, I have been told, and he had such big ears that what he did not see he heard, so every one disliked him, but it took Old Man Crocodile to cure him of his bad habit.”
“What did he do to Mr. Elephant?” asked Tito, excitedly.
“I’ll tell you,” said Jocko. “One day Mr. Elephant was walking by the water when he saw something queer-looking sticking out of the water.
“Mr. Elephant had to know what it was, so he poked it with his nose, and, zip! it had him right by the nose, and held him, too.
“My, how he did yell, I was told, but Old Man Crocodile would not let go. He held right on tight.