Why Elephants Have Trunks

The legend behind the song.  Elephant walked on the path toward the river.  Giraffe walked on the same path away from the river.   They met. They stopped. They stared at each other. 

Elephant spoke: “I will go first!”

Giraffe replied, “Yield, you must go reverse!”

Neither moved.  It was a standoff.

Then Giraffe bit Elephant’s small little nose. It grew and grew as Giraffe pulled and pulled. Giraffe’s neck stretched and grew as Elephant pulled and pulled

When giraffe finally let go of Elephant’s small little nose, it hung down to his toes.  And the giraffe’s neck was very long.

And that is why Giraffes have a long necks and Elephants have trunks to this very day.

After playing “tug of war” for several minutes, Elephant and Giraffe both stepped to the side of the path and squeezed past each other.

The right thing to do: A compromise is when two people each give up a little so that together they can achieve a goal. Elephant and Giraffe made a compromise when the both stepped to different sides of the path and squeezed past each other. Making a compromise is a good way of avoiding conflict.

The song was performed by Martingale, a local band in Portland, Oregon.

To view the first page of this sheet music or to purchase the sheet music, click this button to go to SheetMusicPlus.com: