THE ELEPHANT 'S CHILD IN the High and Far-Off Times the Elephant , O Best Beloved , had no trunk . He had only a blackish , bulgy nose , as big as a boot , that he could wriggle about from side to side ; but he could n't pick up things with it . But there was one Elephant -- a new Elephant -- an Elephant 's Child -- who was full of ` satiable curtiosity , and that means he asked ever so many questions . And he lived in Africa , and he filled all Africa with his ` satiable curtiosities . He asked his tall aunt , the Ostrich , why her tail-feathers grew just so , and his tall aunt the Ostrich spanked him with her hard , hard claw . He asked his tall uncle , the Giraffe , what made his skin spotty , and his tall uncle , the Giraffe , spanked him with his hard , hard hoof . And still he was full of ` satiable curtiosity ! He asked his broad aunt , the Hippopotamus , why her eyes were red , and his broad aunt , the Hippopotamus , spanked him with her broad , broad hoof ; and he asked his hairy uncle , the Baboon , why melons tasted just so , and his hairy uncle , the Baboon , spanked him with his hairy , hairy paw . And still he was full of ` satiable curtiosity ! He asked questions about everything that he saw , or heard , or felt , or smelt , or touched , and all his uncles and his aunts spanked him . And still he was full of ` satiable curtiosity ! One fine morning in the middle of the Precession of the Equinoxes this ` satiable Elephant 's Child asked a new fine question that he had never asked before . He asked , ` What does the Crocodile have for dinner ? ' Then everybody said , ` Hush ! ' in a loud and dretful tone , and they spanked him immediately and directly , without stopping , for a long time . By and by , when that was finished , he came upon Kolokolo Bird sitting in the middle of a wait-a-bit thorn-bush , and he said , ` My father has spanked me , and my mother has spanked me ; all my aunts and uncles have spanked me for my ` satiable curtiosity ; and still I want to know what the Crocodile has for dinner ! ' Then Kolokolo Bird said , with a mournful cry , ` Go to the banks of the great grey-green , greasy Limpopo River , all set about with fever-trees , and find out . ' That very next morning , when there was nothing left of the Equinoxes , because the Precession had preceded according to precedent , this ` satiable Elephant 's Child took a hundred pounds of bananas -LRB- the little short red kind -RRB- , and a hundred pounds of sugar-cane -LRB- the long purple kind -RRB- , and seventeen melons -LRB- the greeny-crackly kind -RRB- , and said to all his dear families , ` Goodbye . I am going to the great grey-green , greasy Limpopo River , all set about with fever-trees , to find out what the Crocodile has for dinner . ' And they all spanked him once more for luck , though he asked them most politely to stop .
Then he went away , a little warm , but not at all astonished , eating XXXXX , and throwing the rind about , because he could not pick it up .
Equinoxes Giraffe Hippopotamus Kolokolo Ostrich Precession fever-trees melons pounds sugar-cane