# The Crocodile — Just So Stories character guide

> The Crocodile in Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0004-the-elephant-s-child

## Snapshot

The musky, tusky Crocodile of the Limpopo, who lures the Elephant's Child close and pulls his nose into a trunk.

## Who they are

He lurks in the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo, promising the curious Elephant's Child a whispered answer about his dinner. His trick is appetite itself: he seizes the little nose and pulls, threshing his tail like an oar, while the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake pulls back. Though he loses the tug-of-war, his bite permanently reshapes the Elephant's Child, making him the unwitting author of the trunk and the tale's most famous transformation.

## In the story

### [The Elephant's Child](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/just_so_stories_se/chapters/the-elephant-s-child)

The antagonist who tricks the Elephant's Child and pulls his nose, initiating the transformation into a trunk.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/just_so_stories_se/characters/the_crocodile
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/just_so_stories_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/just_so_stories_se/characters