Los cuentos de Tinga Tinga

You see there was a time when Elephant had no nose. He couldn't swat away the flies, or scrub his belly - he couldn't even blow his nose. Then one day snappy Crocodile snapped! Crocodile pulled and he pulled and he pulled - until ker-doing! Crocodile let go and Elephant's nose was all long and wiggly! And that's why Elephant has a trunk. Tales from Africa.

You see there was a time when Snake did have legs - hundreds and hundreds of them. But poor old Snake had no eyes, not a single one. Then on the day of the great Tinga Tinga Festival of Colours, Snake quite literally bumped into Millipede, who was stuck in a hole. They decided to swap eyes and legs just for one day, so that Snake could see all the wonderful colours and Millipede could run all over Tinga Tinga. But when Snake came back to return Millipede's eyes, Millipede couldn't be found anywhere! So to this day, Snake has no legs.

You see there was a time when Hippo did have hair - lots of hair! She was always harrumphingly hot. Then one hot night while Hippo was sleeping, a spark from the fire caught the end of her hairy tail. Hippo was on fire! She ran through the bush until she jumped in the waterhole. From that day on Hippo stayed in the cool waters without a single hair on her hide. Tales from Africa.

You see there was a time when Tortoise's shell was all shiny and smooth. One day Tortoise discovered the birds were having a Feast in the Heavens and he tricked the Birds into making him a pair of wings. Greedy Tortoise raced the birds beyond the clouds and scoffed the whole feast! When the Birds found out Tortoise had to jump off a cloud until - BOOF! He landed on his shiny shell. All the animals pieced Tortoise's shell back together but from that day on Tortoise's shell was all bumpy and broken and he never moved speedily again. Tales from Africa.

You see, there was a time when Hen didn't peck the ground. She was a proud mother who spent all her time looking after and cleaning her chicks. Fancy pancy Peacock upset Mama Hen and made her feel plain.

You see there was a time when Bat didn't hang upside down. He used to fly all over Tinga Tinga, saying 'Boo!' to all the animals and giving them a fright. Nothing could be more fun for Bat. But one day Bat went too far and the animals decided to give Bat a dose of his own medicine. Tales from Africa.