PIPKIN IN A COSY

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVII, Issue 23111, 27 January 1945, Page 7

PIPKIN IN A COSY

There was once a little elephant named Pipkin, who was very proud of his neat, trim looks. Each morning he washed himself twice, first in mud and then in water, and always squirted well behind his ears. One day as he was out for a trot, he saw an old horse having its lunch out of a nosebag. “Oh!” said Pipkin. “Oh, how smart! I must have a cosy like that.” So he ran home and said, “Mama! I saw a horse with its nose in a cosy to keep it warm. Will you please make me a cosy to keep my trunk warm?” “I don’t think you would quite like it, Pip,” said Mrs Elephant. But Pipkin said, “Oh, please, Mama!” so much, that at last she said she would make him a cosy; and what colour would he like?

Pipkin thought a good deal. “I want something smart but not showy,” he said, “something bright but not loud. I could have yellow with blue spots, or green with orange spots, or pale blue with stars, or pink with red cherries on, or little red and black squares.

Yes, I think little red and black squares would be best.” “Red and black check then,” his mother said.

“Yes, please, Mama!” cried Pipkin. So Mrs Elephant went to Mr Giraffe’s shop and bought a yard and a half of best red and black check stuff and a reel of 40 black cotton. Then she took her needle, which was not at all large, because she held it with the tip of her trunk; and, as you know, elephants can pick up even the smallest things with the tips of their trunks. She used a small zinc bucket for a thimble.

Mrs Elephant made Pipkin’s trunkcosy and tied it on, and very smart it looked. Pipkin could hardly wait while his mother ran a pink ribbon into the top to draw it in; but it was done at last, and Mrs Elephant tucked Pipkin’s neat little trunk into it, drew the pink ribbon just tight enough, and tied the end in a neat bow between his eyes. “Do not look at the bow, dear," she said. “It makes you look cross-eyed, and that does not become you.” Pipkin felt very smart as he went for his morning trot. He was very clean, as he had squirted behind his ears twice, and the cosy looked even more beautiful than he had expected. Pipkin trooted along. The sun was getting rather warm, and he would have liked to fan himself with a palm leaf; but of course he could not, because the end of his little trunk was in the cosy. But he forgot all about that when he met a deer. “Dear! dear!” said the deer. “How smart you do look, Pipkin!” Pipkin smiled and waved his trunk politely (and of course the cosy waved politely too). Then he trotted on again. He met an ostrich, and a gnu, and an ape, and an emu, and a cassowary, and zebra, and an opossum with five babies on her back holding on by their tails, and many other things, and they all said, “Dear! dear! How smart you do look, Pipkin!” and Pipkin smiled each time and waved his trunk politely (and of course the cosy waved as well).

He had never felt so smart in his life before.

The sun grew hotter and hotter and Pipkin grew hotter and hotter too. He tried to blow in his ear, but the cosy stopped that. Then he came to a little stream.

“I think a drink would do me good,” Pipkin thought; but the cosy stopped that; for, as you know, elephants suck up a trunkful of water and then squirt it into their mouths. “Never mind,” said Pipkin. “I will have an orange, or a lemon, or a banana or two, or some grapes, or some green and juicy leaves. They will do just as well.”

But of course the cosy stopped that. He could not pick them. There were plenty on every side. Indeed, Pipkin thought he had never seen so much fruit before—oranges, lemons, bananas and grapes, and green and juicy leaves as well, but not a one could he pick. The sun grew hotter and hotter and hotter, and so did Pipkin. "I know what I will do,” he said at last. “I will take my cosy off for a little while.”

So he peeped at the bow, and looked a sad sight with his eyes like that. Then he curled his trunk up to undo it; but of course the cosy stopped that. Pipkin stared at the bow and looked worse.

Then he GLARED at it and looked so dreadful that one hundred and seventeen or eighteen birds flew away screaming. That was too much for Pipkin. He took to his heels and set off home at full gallop. On the way he passed—the opossum with its five babies all holding on, and the zebra, and the cassowary, and the emu, and the ape. and the gnu, and the ostrich, and the deer, and all the other things.

None of them had cosids on, and they were all drinking and eating oranges, lemons, bananas, grapes and green leaves as hard as they could go, and getting their noses very damp and juicy. But they all .stopped and said “Dear! dear! Pipkin. How smart you do look!” But Pipkin did not stop. He did not smile. He did not wave his trunk politely (and so of course the cosy did not wave politely either). He just galloped straight home; and when he got there he called “Mama! Mama! Please open the door.” But Mama was out, and he had to wait till she came back and found her little hot Pipkin on the step glaring at the pink bow. "Oh, please, Mama'” cried Pipkin. “Take it off.” “J thought you wouldn't like it,” said Mrs Elephant as she undid the bow. “Thank you, Mama!” said Pipkin. Then he trotted off to the stream and had a good cool wash and a good long drink, and blew in his ear. Then he went and ate one orange, two lemons, three bananas, 47 grapes and 199 green leaves, stalks and all. Mrs Elephant used the cosy for a work-bag, and a very good work-bag it made.