Back to: CBSE Class 7 English Summary & Notes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Written by Rudyard Kipling, this chapter tells the story of how the elephant got its trunk. According to the story, the elephants originally had a small nose. But after a particular incident, the nose grew longer into a trunk.
Summary
Golu was a baby elephant who had a small, bulgy nose. Since it wasn’t long enough, he couldn’t use his nose to pick things. But after an encounter with the crocodile, Golu’s nose got elongated.
Golu was an inquisitive elephant and he had many questions. One of his questions was “What do crocodiles eat for dinner?”. Since the mynah did not know the answer to Golu’s question, she told him to go to the banks of the Limpopo river and find out himself. Golu had never before seen a crocodile and his curiosity made the young and curious baby elephant set out towards the Limpopo river.
On his way, Golu met the python. But the python also did not have the answer to his question. On reaching the bank of the great Limpopo river, Golu saw what looked like a log of wood. It was actually the crocodile who winked at the elephant and the two began to talk. Golu asked his question from the crocodile himself.
But the cunning crocodile invited Golu closer to the river, grabbed the elephant by his nose and began to pull him into the water. Golu tried hard to pull himself back and was helped by the python who had witnessed this struggle between the two animals. After a long struggle, Golu succeeded in freeing his nose from the crocodile’s grip. But by now, his nose had become elongated due to the pull.
Conclusion
Golu was initially dejected by such a long nose. But when he used it to hit the fly, pluck grass and scoop cool mud from the river bank to pour over his head, the python counted the advantages of Golu’s long nose. Satisfied at last, Golu was happy with the nose he had grown. This is the story of how the elephant grew a trunk.
