ENORMOUS
CROCODILE
ROALD DAHL
Pictures by Quentin Bloke
I n the biggest brownest muddiest river in Africa, two
crocodiles lay with their heads just above the water.
One of the crocodiles was enormous. The other was
not so big.
"Do you know what I would like for my lunch to-
day?" the Enormous Crocodile asked.
"No," the Notsobig One said. "What?"
The Enormous Crocodile grinned, showing hun-
dreds of sharp white teeth. "For my lunch today" he
said, "I would like a nice juicy little child."
"I never eat children," the Notsobig One said. "Only
fish."
"Ho, ho, ho!" cried the Enormous Crocodile. "I'll
bet if you saw a fat juicy little child paddling in the
water over there at this very moment, you'd gulp him
up in one gollop!"
"No, I wouldn't," the Notsobig One said. "Children
Puffin Books are too tough and chewy. They are tough and chewy
and nasty and bitter."
"Tough and chewy!" cried the Enormous Crocodile.
"Nasty and bitter! What awful tommy-rot you talk!
They are juicy and yummy!"
"They taste so bitter," the Notsobig One said. "you
have to cover them with sugar before you can eat
them."
"Children are bigger than fish," said the Enormous
Crocodile. "You get bigger helpings. -
"You are greedy," the Notsobig One said. "You're
the greediest croc in the whole river"
"I'm the bravest croc in the whole river," said the
Enormous Crocodile. "I'm the only one who dares to
leave the water and go through the jungle to the town
to look for little children to eat."
"You've only done that once." snorted the Notsobig
One. "And what happened then? They all saw you
coming and ran away."
1.1!
N
ITS(1 "
-19qC1
YVV"
AVVVV? v
'1%1VV;V4z
\
....,....._1_,___
_ .. .,
._
..........___.t...,
,.
"Ah, but today when I go. they won't see me at all," "I'm the cleverest croc in the whole river," the Enor-
said the Enormous Crocodile. mous Crocodile answered. "For my lunch today I
"Of course they'll see you," the Notsobig One said. shall feast upon a fat juicy little child while you lie
"You're so enormous and ugly, they'll see you from here in the river feeling hungry. Goodbye."
miles away."
The Enormous Crocodile grinned again, and his
terrible sharp teeth sparkled like knives in the sun.
"Nobody will see me," he said, "because this time I've The Enormous Crocodile swam to the side of the
thought up secret plans and clever tricks." river, and crawled out of the water.
"Clever tricks?" cried the Notsobig One. "You've A gigantic creature was standing in the slimy oozy
never done anything clever in your life! You're the mud on the riverbank. It was Humpy-Rumpy the Hip-
stupidest croc in the whole river!" popotamus.
"Hello, hello," said Humpy-Rumpy. "Where on "You don't mean . . ." said Humpy-Rumpy. "You
earth are you off to at this time of day?" don't really mean you're going to eat a little child?"
"I have secret plans and clever tricks," said the "Of course I am," said the Crocodile.
Crocodile. "Oh, you horrid greedy grumptious brute!" cried
"Oh dear," said Humpy-Rumpy. "I'll bet you're Humpy-Rumpy. "I hope you get caught and cooked
going to do something horrid." and turned into crocodile soup!"
The Enormous Crocodile grinned at Humpy- The Enormous Crocodile laughed out loud at
Rumpy and said: Humpy-Rumpy. Then he waddled off into the jungle.
"I'm going to fill my hungry empty tummy
With something yummy yummy yummy
yummy!"
"What's so yummy?" asked Humpy-Rumpy.
"Try to guess," said the Crocodile. "It's something
that walks on two legs."
"I'm off to find a yummy child for lunch.
Keep listening and you'll hear the bones go
crunch!"
"Oh, you wicked beastly beast! " cried Trunky. "Oh,
you foul and filthy fiend! I hope you get squashed and
squished and squizzled and boiled up into crocodile
stew!"
The Enormous Crocodile laughed out loud and dis-
appeared into the thick thick jungle.
Inside the jungle, he met Trunky the Elephant.
Trunky was nibbling leaves from the top of a tall tree,
and he didn't notice the Crocodile at first. So the
Crocodile bit. him on the leg.
"Ow!" said Trunky in his big deep voice. Who did
that? Oh, it's you, is it, you beastly Crocodile. Why
don't you go back to the big brown muddy river
where you belong?"
"I have secret plans and clever tricks," said the
Crocodile.
"You mean you've got nasty plans and nasty tricks."
said Trunky. "You've never done a nice thing in your
life."
The Enormous Crocodile grinned up at Trunky and
said:
"I didn't think there was anything better than
nuts," said Muggle-Wump.
"Ah-ha," said the Enormous Crocodile,
"The sort of things that I am going to eat
Have fingers, toe-nails, arms and legs and
feet!"
Muggle-Wump went pale and began to shake all
over. "You aren't really going to gobble up a little
child, are you?" he said.
"Of course I am, said the Crocodile. "Clothes and
-
all. They taste better with the clothes on."
"Oh, you horrid hoggish croc!" cried Muggle-
Wump. "You slimy creepy creature! I hope the but-
A bit farther on, he met Muggle-Wump the Monkey. tons and buckles all stick in your throat and choke
Muggle-Wump was sitting in a tree, eating nuts. you to death!"
"Hello, Crocky," said Muggle-Wump. "What are
you up to now?"
"I have secret plans and clever tricks," said the
Crocodile.
"Would you like some nuts?" asked Muggle-Wump.
"I have better things to eat than nuts," sniffed the
Crocodile.
"•••3 ▪ ,•••■•-•
The Crocodile grinned up at Muggle-Wump and
said, "I eat monkeys, too." And quick as a flash,
with one bite of his huge jaws, he bit through the
tree that Muggle-Wurnp was sitting in, and down it
came. But just in time, Muggle-Wump jumped into
the next tree and swung away through the branches.
A bit farther on, the Enormous Crocodile met the
Roly-Poly Bird. The Roly-Poly Bird was building a
nest in an orange tree.
"Hello there, Enormous Crocodile!" sang the Roly-
Poly Bird. "We don't often see you up here in the
jungle."
"Ah," said the Crocodile. "I have secret plans and
clever tricks."
"I hope it's not something nasty," sang the Roly-
Poly Bird.
"Nasty!" cried the Crocodile. "Of course it's not
nasty! It's delicious!
"It's luscious, it's super,
It's mushious, it's duper,
It's better than rotten old fish.
You mash it and munch it,
You chew it and crunch it!
It's lovely to hear it go squish!"
"It must be berries," sang the Roly-Poly Bird. "Ber-
ries are my favorite food in the world. Is it raspber-
ries, perhaps? Or could it be strawberries?"
The Enormous Crocodile laughed so much his teeth
rattled together like pennies in a piggy bank. "Croco-
diles don't eat berries," he said. "We eat little boys
and girls. And sometimes we eat Role-Poly Birds, as
well." Very quickly, the Crocodile reached up and
snapped his jaws at the Roly-Poly Bird. He just
missed the Bird, but he managed to catch hold of the
long beautiful feathers in its tail. The R.oly-Poly Bird
gave a shriek of terror and shot straight up into the
air, leaving its tail feathers behind in the Enormous
Crocodile's mouth.
At last, the Enormous Crocodile came out of the
other side of the jungle into the sunshine. He could
see the town not far away
