In Rudyard Kipling’s “The Elephant’s Child,” what does the crocodile pull to stretch?

In Rudyard Kipling’s “The Elephant’s Child,” the crocodile pulls the elephant’s nose to stretch it.

The young elephant visits the Limpopo River because he wants to discover what the crocodile eats. When he leans over the riverbank, the crocodile grabs his nose and pulls. The elephant’s nose gradually lengthens, becoming the trunk associated with modern elephants.

Kipling’s story is a humorous “just-so story,” meaning it offers an imaginative explanation for an animal feature rather than a scientific account of evolution. The tale emphasizes curiosity, persistence, and the consequences of asking questions.

Some summaries call the growing feature a trunk from the beginning, but Kipling deliberately describes it as a nose during the transformation. That wording makes the change central to the story’s comic origin myth.