An endearing story about how a naughty baby elephant is saved by her big brother after she ends up in her mum’s fresh baked pie. And who are those crocodiles who ordered the birthday pie in the first place?

Narrator: “Elephant Pie by Hilda Offen”

‘What would you like for your birthday, my dearest dear?‘ asked Mr. Snipper Snapper (a crocodile)

‘A party, said Mrs. Snipper Snapper, and a cherry pie, with lots and lots of custard.‘

Narrator: “Mr. Snipper Snapper (‘Pies’, he exclaimed) looked up pies in the telephone book.”

Mr. Snipper Snapper: ‘Ah, (he perused the phone book) Pies…’ (He found Mrs. Elephant’s number and rang her)

Narrator: “Mrs. Elephant answered the phone.” (Jojo excitedly wriggles on her mum’s lap)

 

 

 

Mr. Snipper Snapper: ‘It is my wife’s birthday and she is very fond of cherry pies.’

Mrs. Elephant: ‘The Snipper Snappers want a birthday pie,’ she told her children.

Mr. Snipper Snapper: ‘I do wonder if that is possible.’

Edward (little elephant): ‘Please let me help.’

Mrs. Elephant: ‘Oh no, Edward, you muddle things up. Last time you put pepper in the pastry.’

‘Want some,’ said Baby Jojo (toddling behind her mum who is carrying an overflowing bowl of cherries into the kitchen)

Mrs. Elephant: ‘Now Jojo (baby elephant), go and play with your building bricks.’

“Hmmm,” (Jojo cheekily replied, as she began carrying her alphabet blocks into the kitchen, dropping them noisily under the large table while mum assembled the oversized pie with Edward close by)

 

 

Narrator: “Mrs. Elephant made the pie in her biggest dish (as baby Jojo drops more blocks upon the floor, exclaiming ‘Hey’) and popped it in the oven. When the pie had cooled Mrs. Elephant decorated it with candles and marzipan roses.”

Mrs. Elephant: ‘Now for the washing. You can help me if you like, Edward.’ (Edward left his baby sister Jojo’s side. They had been playing with her blocks under the kitchen table.)

Baby Jojo: ‘Mmmmmm Mmmmmm.’ (clambering onto the table to get to the pie which she promptly fell into)

(As Mrs. Elephant and Edward are outside hanging laundry they do not notice, as we do through the kitchen window, that naughty baby Jojo has managed to reach the pie on the kitchen table by balancing herself atop her building blocks.

 

 

Peering inside the enormous pie, holding the top crust over her head, it is only a matter of moments before the wobbly elephant topples in. (‘Uh, uh, uh,’ cries Jojo as she plops in and the giant crust slams down on top of her.)

Narrator: “But when they came back (‘Oh dear,’ cried Mrs. Elephant as Edward glances under the table for his sister) Jojo had disappeared. Naughty Jojo.”

Mrs. Elephant: ‘Oh dear. Oh dear.’

Narrator: “Where could she be?”

Mrs. Elephant: ‘Oh dear.’ (Edward follows his mum around the house in search of the baby elephant)

Narrator: (They look into the wardrobe) ‘No Jojo.(Mum looks under the bed) No Jojo. (Edward looks inside a large basket) NO JOJO.’ “Mrs. Elephant was frantic.”

Mrs. Elephant: ‘Oh dear. Could Jojo have gone out the gate again?’ (Mrs. Elephant, with Edward following her, goes back and forth across the kitchen again and again.)

Mrs. Elephant: ‘Oh dear. Edward, you will have to deliver the pie. Oh dear. Oh dear. I must not forget the custard.’

Narrator: “But Mrs. Elephant was so flustered she muddled the mustard with the custard.”

‘Mum, said Edward, you have made a mistake.’ (As the custard bubbles in the pot on the stove)

Narrator: “Mrs. Elephant was too hot and bothered to listen. (She removed the pot of hot bubbling custard from the stove with her trunk) She loaded the pie into the wheelbarrow and put the pie into Edward’s rucksack.”

Mrs. Elephant: ‘Keep a lookout for your sister.’

 

To be continued: Animated Storybook: Elephant Pie by Hilda Offen: Part 2

 

 

 

 

Images & transcribed from: CC Animated Video Elephant Pie by Hilda Offen, children’s book