ff is the banks of the great
grey-green, greasy Limpopo River (but I am not allowed to paint these
pictures), and the bottly-tree with the twisty roots and the eight
leaves is one of the fever-trees that grow there.

Underneath the truly picture are shadows of African animals walking
into an African ark. There are two lions, two ostriches, two oxen, two
camels, two sheep, and two other things that look like rats, but I think
they are rock-rabbits. They don't mean anything. I put them in because I
thought they looked pretty. They would look very fine if I were allowed
to paint them.]

At the end of the third day a fly came and stung him on the shoulder,
and before he knew what he was doing he lifted up his trunk and hit that
fly dead with the end of it.

''Vantage number one!' said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake. 'You
couldn't have done that with a mere-smear nose. Try and eat a little
now.'

Before he thought what he was doing the Elephant's Child put out his
trunk and plucked a large bundle of grass, dusted it clean against his
fore-legs, and stuffed it into his own mouth.

''Vantage number two!' said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake. 'You
couldn't have done that with a mear-smear nose. Don't you think the sun
is very hot here?'

'It is,' said the Elephant's Child, and before he thought what he was
doing he schlooped up a schloop of mud from the banks of the great
grey-green, greasy Limpopo, and slapped it on his head, where it made a
cool schloopy-sloshy mud-cap all trickly behind his ears.

''Vantage number three!' said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake. 'You
couldn't have done that with a mere-smear nose. Now how do you feel
about being spanked again?'

''Scuse me,' said the Elephant's Child, 'but I should not like it at
all.'

'How would you like to spank somebody?' said the
Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake.

'I should like it very much indeed,' said the Elephant's Child.

'Well,' said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake, 'you will find that new
nose of yours very useful to spank people with.'

'Thank you,' said the Elephant's Child, 'I'll remember that; and now I
think I'll go home to all my dear families and try.'

So the Elephant's Child went home across Africa frisking and whisking
his trunk. When he wanted fruit to eat he pulled fruit down from a tree,
instead of waiting for it to fall as he used to do. When he wanted grass
he plucked grass up from the ground, instead of going on his knees as h