The Elephant's Child

From Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, 1902

Rudyard Kipling wrote Just So Stories in 1902, a collection of playful tales explaining how animals came to look the way they do. This story tells how elephants got their trunks. Kipling's tale is full of humour, repetition and curious questions. This text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised. The story celebrates curiosity and shows that asking questions can lead to wonderful, unexpected results.

Band

Yellow · Emerging readers, about 6 to 8

Length

medium · about 552 words in 6 sections · 4 pictures

Source

Just so stories, Rudyard Kipling · Project Gutenberg

First published

1902

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (8 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Colouring page

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.