The Elephant's Trunk and Other Stories is a collection of five stories. The first story describes how the elephant got its long trunk. The second one tells how some clever animals help their human friend win a kingdom, and the third story reveals why the aspen leaves tremble if there is as much as the hint of a breeze. The fourth and fifth stories are about punishment—one about what a cuckoo gets for laying an egg in a crow's nest, and the other about what the dog Dux gets for trying to eat a little bird.