Chapter 3 — Golu Grows a Nose

Chapter 3 of the Class 7 English NCERT textbook (An Alien Hand), "Golu Grows a Nose", is a simplified, abridged story by Rudyard Kipling about Golu, a baby elephant famous for asking endless curious questions. He travels to the great, grassy Limpopo river to learn what a crocodile eats for dinner, where a crocodile grabs his nose and a tug-of-war stretches it into a long trunk. Golu's new trunk proves more useful than his old bulgy nose, showing that curiosity leads to unexpected gain.

• Curiosity as the driving force — The story celebrates endless curiosity: Golu's relentless questioning, which annoys his relatives, is exactly what sends him on his journey and ultimately rewards him — a playful origin-myth suggesting that asking 'why' leads to discovery and growth.
• The journey and the danger at the Limpopo — Golu's quest to the grassy Limpopo river to learn what the crocodile eats becomes a tale of adventure and peril, as the disguised crocodile lures and traps him — the classic hero-leaves-home structure with a threatening trickster figure.
• Transformation into unexpected gain — The stretched nose, won through a painful tug-of-war aided by the python, turns into an advantage — swatting flies, plucking grass, cooling his head with mud — teaching that hardship and change can bring gifts the old self never had.

1. 01Long ago all elephants had only a bulgy nose and could not pick up things with it.
2. 02Golu is a baby elephant whose endless curiosity annoys his relatives — the ostrich, giraffe, hippopotamus, and baboon — none of whom can answer his questions.
3. 03The mynah bird advises Golu to visit the great, grassy Limpopo river to find out what the crocodile has for dinner.
4. 04At the river a crocodile, disguised as a log of wood, lures Golu close and grabs his nose, saying it plans to eat a baby elephant for dinner.
5. 05The python, who has been quietly following Golu, urges him to pull hard; together they stretch the nose into a five-foot trunk before it breaks free.
6. 06Golu cools his new trunk in the river for two days; it grows cool but does not shrink back.
7. 07The python points out three advantages of the trunk: swatting flies, plucking and eating grass, and scooping mud to cool the head — none of which the old bulgy nose could do.