time he stood there fishing. But after a while he got tired of not catching anything. Then he had a bright idea. He rested the pole against the railing of the bridge and held it down with a stone. Now he could go and play with his boat. If a fish nibbled he could see the line bob and run back.
He had great fun with his sailboat, letting it float down the river while holding onto the string. Sometimes he loaded it up with sticks, or he pretended there was a storm at sea. Then he took a big trunk full of water and blew it all over the little boat, until it almost sank.
As he played he walked farther and farther along the bank. He had quite forgotten about his fish pole when suddenly he saw it sail past him down the river. A big fish was swimming away with it!
"Oh, my new fish pole!" he cried.
Just then he heard Mother Elephant trumpeting, "Li-i-ttle E-e-e-le-phant! Li-i-ittle E-e-e-lephant!"
He couldn't go back without his fish pole and it was floating away fast. So he rolled up his nice white trousers and waded after it. The river was deeper than he thought and he was up to his waist before he caught hold of the fish pole. He tugged and tugged, but the fish tugged too. Little Elephant pulled in the line as fast as he could. Then he grabbed the fish with his
