The Enormous Crocodile
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''The Enormous Crocodile'' is the title character in a British 1978 children's story, written by
Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...
and illustrated by
Quentin Blake Sir Quentin Saxby Blake, (born 16 December 1932) is an English cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and children's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written by Roald Dahl, which are among his most popular works. For his ...
. The story was adapted into a '90s TV special.


Synopsis

The story begins in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
in a big, deep, muddy
river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
, where the big crocodile (the title character) is telling a slightly smaller crocodile, called the "not-so-big one", that he wants to leave his dirty home and eat some real children for his
lunch Lunch is a meal eaten around the middle of the day. It is commonly the second meal of the day, after breakfast, and varies in size by culture and region. Etymology According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the etymology ...
. The small crocodile objects, because real children taste "tough and chewy and nasty and bitter" in his opinion compared to real
fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
, and because of what happened the very last time the big crocodile ever tried to eat real children. The bigger crocodile leaves the big, deep,
mud A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-bas ...
dy river anyway, and announces his intention to first Humpy-Rumpy the
hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...
on the river bank, then Trunky the
elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...
in the
jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...
, then Muggle Wump the
monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...
, and finally the Roly-Poly Bird in an orange tree. The four jungle animals are all feeling horrified and disgusted with the big crocodile, thereby insulting him on the spot, hoping that he will fail miserably and will himself be killed permanently, after which the reptile himself briefly and unsuccessfully attacks first Muggle-Wump the
Monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...
in his tree (filled with
nut Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Co ...
s) and Roly Poly Bird himself in his (newly-built) nest. First of all, the big crocodile walks to a quiet forest, not far away from an empty African
town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...
, where he disguises himself as a small
coconut tree The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...
using several fallen tree branches as well as coconuts, hoping to eat Toto and Mary, a brother and a sister from the town itself, but is annoyingly caught by Humpy-Rumpy the Hippopotamus from the river bank, who catches the crocodile with his head and sends him "tumbling and skidding over the ground". Later on, the big crocodile walks to a children's playground located outside an old school. Using only an abandoned tree branch, the crocodile disguises himself as a "see-saw", hoping to eat an entire class of children who want to ride on what they think is the new see-saw itself, but, despite the school children's teacher telling the children themselves that it is "a rather knobbly sort of a see-saw", he is disturbed on the spot by Muggle-Wump the Monkey, who tells the whole class of children to "run, run, run" and that the big crocodile is not really a see-saw and that he just wants to eat them up. Fearing that he might get caught and then killed, the big crocodile walks to a busy funfair where he sees a roundabout, operated by a human man who he doesn't at all know. When nobody is nearby, the crocodile himself quickly puts himself between a brown lion and a yellow dragon (with a red tongue sticking out of its mouth) hoping to eat a young girl called Jill who wants to ride on him, but is confronted by Roly-Poly Bird from the
jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...
. Refusing to give up on his task, the big crocodile finally goes to "the picnic place" located in a tropical woodland just outside the town which has trees and bushes all around it. When nobody is looking, however, the crocodile picks a bunch of beautiful flowers with his front legs, and then he arranges it on top of one of the tables in the area. From exactly the same table, the crocodile sneakily takes away one of the place's long benches and hides the long bench itself in one of the clumps of bushes in the area before disguising himself as a wooden four-legged bench using all four of his legs, hoping to eat four children, ("two boys and two girls") who are all going out on a picnic together, but is annoyingly discovered by Trunky the Elephant. With a chance to save the day, Trunky the Elephant marches through the jungle to the Picnic Place. Once Trunky is standing beside the table with the flowers on top of it, he crossly picks the big crocodile himself up by his tail before telling him that he, Roly-Poly Bird, Humpy-Rumpy and Muggle-Wump have "all had quite enough of isclever tricks". Then Trunky swings the big crocodile around in the air by his tail, slowly at first, then a bit faster, then a lot faster, and finally very fast, before eventually throwing him into the air with his trunk. The dizzy enormous crocodile flies diagonally through the sky, past Earth's stratosphere, and through the Universe. The crocodile zooms past the
Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
, past all the other planets, and then past the many twinkling stars. The story ends as, with a tremendous bang, the flying Enormous Crocodile crashes headfirst into the hot, dazzling
Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
at the middle of the Solar System where he becomes "sizzled up like a sausage", killing him once and for all.


Style and publication date

''The Enormous Crocodile'' is in the style of a picture book in contrast to Roald Dahl's other story books, illustrated by
Quentin Blake Sir Quentin Saxby Blake, (born 16 December 1932) is an English cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and children's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written by Roald Dahl, which are among his most popular works. For his ...
. It was published on 1 November 1978.


Home Media

In the 2005 UK ''Four Enchanting Stories by Roald Dahl''
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
release, the story was narrated by
Roger Blake Roger Donald Blake (born 21 December 1957 in Neath, Glamorgan) is a Welsh people, Welsh actor, impressionist and entertainer. He is best known for his portrayal of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip in ''Spitting Image'' and ''The Bi ...
, who also provided the characters'
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
voices, whilst on the 1990 stand-alone VHS release, the story was narrated by
Dave Benson Phillips Dave Benson Phillips (born 3 February 1965) is a British entertainer, comic, children's television presenter and wrestler, best known for his work presenting ''Playhouse Disney'' (1998–2006) and '' The Fun Song Factory'' (1994–1999). He ...
(from the
Fun Song Factory Fun Song Factory is a British preschool children's television series. It was originally created in 1994 by Will Brenton and Iain Lauchlan, who at the time, were part of the '' Playdays'' production team. The series was produced through their st ...
) and on the stand-alone audio cassette and
compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...
releases by
Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...
, as well as in the accompanying '' Jackanory Junior'' episode by
Lenny Henry Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer. Henry gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in ''The Lenn ...
. The story will be adapted by
Magic Light Pictures Magic Light Pictures (founded in 2003 by producers Martin Pope and Michael Rose) is a London-based independent production company, which produces films and manages the children's brand ''The Gruffalo''. Productions Since 2009, ''Magic Light ...
, and shown at 7:30pm on Christmas Eve 2022 on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
UK.


Voice Cast (UK)

*
Chantal Strand Chantal Strand (born October 15, 1987) is a Canadian voice and stage actress as well as former stunt performer known for her vocal roles in animation, anime and video games. Her vocal role credits include those for little female human character ...
as the
Narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the a ...
*
Timothy Spall Timothy Leonard Spall (born 27 February 1957) is an English actor and presenter. He became a household name in the UK after appearing as Barry Spencer Taylor in the 1983 ITV comedy-drama series ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet''. Spall performed in '' S ...
as The Enormous Crocodile (the title character) *
Hugh Bonneville Hugh Richard Bonneville Williams (born 10 November 1963) is an English actor. He is best known for portraying Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in the ITV historical drama series ''Downton Abbey''. His performance on the show earned him a nom ...
as the Not-So-Big One (the smaller crocodile) *
Lenny Henry Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer. Henry gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in ''The Lenn ...
as Humpy-Rumpy the
Hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...
*
Michael Rosen Michael Wayne Rosen (born 7 May 1946) is a British children's author, poet, presenter, political columnist, broadcaster and activist who has written 140 books. He served as Children's Laureate from 2007 to 2009. Early life Michael Wayne Ro ...
as Trunky the
Elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...
*
Maria Darling Maria Darling is a British voice actress who has provided many character voices for children's television programmes in the United Kingdom and the United States. Television and film *Dr Otter - Some of the Rabbit Children, Mrs. Canny Body and a ...
as Muggle-Wump the
Monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...
*
David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little B ...
as the Roly-Poly Bird *
Rob Rackstraw Robert Rackstraw (born 31 October 1965) is a British voice actor who has worked in various animated films, television shows and video games. Career Rackstraw has an extensive voiceover career over 20 years. He voiced the main villain Pew in ' ...
as Toto, Mary's brother *
Kate Harbour Kate Harbour is an English voice actress who provides many voices for the television series ''Bob the Builder'', including Wendy, Dizzy, Mrs. Potts, Mrs. Broadbent, Mrs. Percival, and Pilchard. Biography She is the daughter of actor Michael ...
as Mary, Toto's sister *
Sally Hawkins Sally Cecilia Hawkins (born 27 April 1976) is an English actress who began her career on stage and then moved into film. She has received several awards including a Golden Globe Award and the Berlin International Film Festival's Silver Bear for ...
as the School Girl *
Josie Lawrence Josie Lawrence (born Wendy Lawrence; 6 June 1959) is an English actress and comedian. She is best known for her work with the Comedy Store Players improvisational troupe, the television series ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' and as Manda Best in '' ...
as Jill, the Girl at the Funfair *
Adjoa Andoh Adjoa Andoh Hon. FRSL (born 14 January 1963) is a British actress. On stage, she has played lead roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre and the Almeida Theatre. On television, she appeared in two ...
as the First Child in the Funfair *
Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. H ...
as the Second Child in the Funfair *
Hugh Skinner Hugh William Skinner (born 6 January 1985) is an English actor. He is best known for starring in sitcoms W1A (TV series), ''W1A'' (2014–2017) and ''The Windsors'' (2016–2020), and his appearances in musical films Les Misérables (2012 film) ...
as the Third Child in the Funfair *
Rob Brydon Robert Brydon Jones (; born 3 May 1965) is a Welsh actor, comedian, impressionist, presenter, singer and writer. He played Dr Paul Hamilton in the Australian/British comedy series ''Supernova'', Bryn West in the BBC sitcom ''Gavin & Stacey'' a ...
as the Boy in the Picnic Place *
Alexandra Roach Alexandra Elizabeth Roach (born 20 August 1987) is a Welsh actress best known for her roles as Becky in ''Utopia'' and DS Joy Freers in ''No Offence''. She has also made appearances in series including '' Being Human'', ''Inside No. 9'', ''Blac ...
as the Girl in the Picnic Place


Connections to other Roald Dahl Stories

* Muggle-Wump the monkey also appears in ''
The Twits ''The Twits'' is a humorous children's book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. It was written in 1979, and first published by Jonathan Cape in 1980. The story features The Twits (Mr. and Mrs. Twit), a spiteful, idle unke ...
'' in which he is accompanied by a whole family of Muggle-Wumps. A monkey which looks like Blake's illustration of exactly the same character also appears in ''
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me ''The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me'' is a 1985 children's book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. The plot follows a young boy named Billy who meets a giraffe, a pelican, and a monkey, who work as window cleaners. Although ...
''. * The Roly-Poly Bird makes a surprising appearance in ''The Twits'' and he can also be seen in ''
Dirty Beasts ''Dirty Beasts'' is a 1983 collection of Roald Dahl poems about unsuspecting animals. Intended to be a follow-up to ''Revolting Rhymes'', the original Jonathan Cape edition was illustrated by Rosemary Fawcett. In 1984, a revised edition was p ...
''. * A recipe outlining how to make your own edible Enormous Crocodile appears in Roald Dahl's ''Revolting Recipes''.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Enormous Crocodile, The 1978 children's books Animal tales British picture books Children's books by Roald Dahl Children's short stories Fiction set in the 1970s Fictional crocodilians Jonathan Cape books