Long ago before Erin the elephant got his long trunk, he was a very nosey creature. Back then, his nose was like a pig’s nose. Much smaller than what it is now but that didn’t stop him from sticking it in the other animals’ business.

Erin wanted to know what everybody was doing, all the time. He’d listen in on other animals talking with his great big elephant ears. And he would ask lots of questions that sometimes upset the other animals. Like when he asked the Vulture, “Gunugu, why are you so bald?” Or when he asked the cow, “Maalu, why are flies always on your face?” And when he asked the leopard “Ekun, why are you so spotty?”
One day, while walking through the bush, Erin overheard some animals talking about a scary animal that had moved into the Warthog’s old hole. Ever so nosey, he decided to find out who it was and why they were there.

Erin soon arrived at the hole and, thinking to himself, “I wonder if anyone’s in“, he placed his ear over the hole to listen. But he couldn’t hear anything. Then he stuck his nose into the hole to see if he could smell the animal. But he couldn’t smell anything either. Then he decided to shout into the hole instead. “Is anyone down there?” he called. “Go away” came an angry hiss. Erin was excited to hear that there was someone in the hole.“Who are you and why are you hiding in a hole?” he asked. “I said go away”, the voice hissed again angrier than before.

“Can I see what you are doing down there?” he continued, ignoring the angry voice as he started making the hole a little bigger so that he could fit his head in it. Suddenly, there was a loud snap, and Erin let out a loud cry, “yeeeeee!”. The animal in the hole had bitten Erin’s nose and it wouldn’t let go.

Erin pulled back hard trying to free his nose. “Let me go” he cried. As he pulled, a giant snake came out of the hole still biting Erin’s nose. It was Ejo, the python and she had been protecting her eggs.

The two animals pulled and pulled. As they did, Erin’s nose got longer but the snake wouldn’t let go.
Just then, Ekun the leopard was passing by when he heard Erin’s cry for help. Quickly he grabbed the legs of his nosey neighbour and pulled. As they pulled, the elephant’s nose got longer but the snake wouldn’t let go.

Then Gunugu, the vulture, who was soaring high in the sky, spotted the three animals, heard the elephant cry, “let go of my nose”, and decided to help. The vulture landed on the elephant’s back and flapped as hard as he could to free Erin. But, as they pulled, the elephant’s nose got longer and the snake still wouldn’t let go.
All the noise finally reached Maalu, the cow, who came to see what all the fuss was about. “What is going on?” she asked. Seeing that Erin was in trouble, she joined the others, and together, they pulled as hard as they could. As they pulled, the elephant’s nose got longer until finally, “pop!” They pulled Erin free from the snake but, the damage had been done. The elephant’s nose had stretched so much that it touched the ground.
“Oh no! Look at my nose”, Erin said, rubbing his sore and very long nose. He was ashamed of his floppy new nose and walked home feeling very sad.

On his way, Erin noticed that his new nose was long enough to reach over his head making it great for swatting flies. He also noticed that he could now pick fruits and juicy leaves from tall trees which only the giraffe could reach before. And when he stopped for a drink, he noticed he no longer had to bend down like he used to. “Maybe a long nose is not a bad thing after all” he smiled to himself.

Although Erin had learned his lesson about being nosey, he was grateful for his useful new nose.
The End.

The Morale of the Story:
This story teaches us to be polite and respectful of people. Elephant was rude to his neighbours but he was lucky that they were kind enough to still help him when he got in trouble.