Mandla was out walking one day when he saw Elephant splashing himself in the river. Elephant looked very happy. His big ears flapped and he sprayed water high into the air using his long trunk.

“Hello,” said Mandla, waving to Elephant.

Elephant looked down at Mandla and lifted his trunk.

“Hello, Mandla,” he said, in his big voice.

“That trunk of yours is amazing,” said Mandla.

“Oh, this?” Elephant looked at his trunk. “I suppose it is, isn’t it?” “It must be nice to spray yourself on a hot day,” said Mandla.

“Oh, that’s not all I can do,” said Elephant.

“I can also use my trunk to pick fruit from the trees and pull down branches. I can even use it to make a big noise if I want to. We call that trumpeting! Here let me show you.”

Elephant stretched out his trunk. Brrrrpprumph! The most marvellous, loud noise came out. It thundered through the forest and some birds flew away from a nearby tree. Mandla danced on the spot and laughed.

“That’s amazing,” he said. “I wish I had a trunk like you.”

Mandla left Elephant playing in the river and went on through the forest. He held his arm up in front of his nose, bent his arm and curled his hand so that it looked as if he had an elephant’s trunk. Then he tried to pick a bunch of berries from a bush. But he was not looking where he was going and … THUMP! He bumped into something.

“Ow,” he said, falling over.

The thing he had bumped into was brown and orange. It seemed to reach from the sandy ground all the way up through the trees.

“What’s happening down there?” said a voice from high above.

“Giraffe!” said Mandla looking up.

“What?” asked Giraffe.

“It’s me. Mandla!”

“Who?” asked Giraffe.

A great big head on the end of the long neck came down through the trees.

“Oh, hello, Mandla,” said Giraffe.

“Hello, Giraffe, I am sorry I bumped into you. I was pretending to have a trunk like Elephant and I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“A trunk like Elephant?” asked Giraffe.

“Elephant’s trunk is marvellous,” said Mandla. “He can spray himself with water and pick fruit from the trees and make a great big noise.”

“Well,” said Giraffe, “that’s quite clever I suppose, but I can do much more with this long neck of mine.”

“Like what?” asked Mandla.