Rhinoceros

Rhinoceros is a Wild Island animal whose anxiety about his tusk briefly makes him dangerous to Elmer Elevator, then gives Elmer a way to escape that danger without a fight. The encounter turns on a small, specific concern: Rhinoceros remembers his tusk as pearly white and cannot accept its changed color. Toothpaste and a toothbrush answer that concern, redirecting his attention while the wider pursuit of Elmer continues around them.

Identity and Introduction

Rhinoceros enters the story when Elmer stops at a small pool for a drink while moving along a trail. He is not initially visible to Elmer: a sharp object catches Elmer by the seat of his pants and lifts him above the water. The voice belongs to Rhinoceros, who regards the pool as private and resents finding someone using it. Elmer's accidental arrival at this secluded place immediately puts him at the mercy of an animal who claims the pool as his own.

The pool is more than a setting for the encounter. Rhinoceros calls it his private weeping pool, connecting the place to an ongoing sadness. He says he has many reasons to weep, but identifies the state of his tusk as the greatest. His complaint gives the scene its unexpected turn: Elmer has come upon an apparent threat, but the threat is preoccupied with a problem that can be addressed with an ordinary item from Elmer's pack.

Appearance and Distress

Rhinoceros contrasts his present tusk with its appearance when he was young. It was then pearly white; in old age it has become yellow-gray, a change he considers ugly. His distress is not limited to the tusk as an isolated feature. He describes himself as ugly in every other respect and says the bright tusk had once helped him worry less about the rest of his appearance. Now, with the tusk discolored too, he says he cannot sleep and weeps continually.

This account makes Rhinoceros's concern unusually particular: the problem is not simply that he dislikes his appearance, but that a formerly beautiful feature has altered over time and no longer offers him reassurance. His description also explains why Elmer's offer works. Once Elmer claims he can make the tusk white again, Rhinoceros is excited enough to put him down and let him try. The scene shifts from threatened danger to eager cooperation without requiring Elmer to overcome Rhinoceros physically.

Encounter with Elmer Elevator

Elmer answers Rhinoceros's anger by apologizing for using the pool without knowing it was private. When he learns what is troubling Rhinoceros, he offers something that might whiten the tusk. Rhinoceros accepts the possibility with visible enthusiasm, and Elmer takes out a tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush. Their exchange depends on Elmer recognizing that the animal's stated grievance is also an opportunity to distract him.

Elmer wets the brush in the pool, applies a small amount of toothpaste, and scrubs one tiny spot on the tusk. He has Rhinoceros wash it off and then look at the water's reflection. Although the jungle light makes the result difficult to see, the patch appears pearly white. Rhinoceros is pleased by this demonstration and takes the brush, scrubbing with such concentration that he forgets about Elmer. The limited result matters: the text establishes a single bright spot, not that the entire tusk is restored.

The diversion is practical and temporary. Elmer does not resolve Rhinoceros's longer-standing distress, nor does the encounter establish a lasting friendship between them. Instead, he uses a modest promise and a visible first result to redirect Rhinoceros's attention at a moment when he needs to stay out of danger and keep moving. Toothpaste becomes an improvised means of escape because it speaks directly to the concern Rhinoceros has just revealed.

Suspicion and the Pursuit

While Rhinoceros is brushing, a Wild Boar returns from the clearing where the Seven Tigers have been chewing gum. The Wild Boar sees Rhinoceros with the toothbrush and toothpaste and asks where they came from. Rhinoceros is too occupied to answer. The unanswered question adds another consequence to Elmer's tactic: what helps him remain unnoticed also makes the surrounding animals' suspicions of an invasion stronger.

The Wild Boar interprets the scene alongside the Seven Tigers' distraction. Animals who should, in his view, be responding to the suspected invader are instead absorbed in unfamiliar activities. He continues down the trail toward Baby Dragon, muttering about the invasion and the disruption it has caused. Rhinoceros is not shown to understand or participate in this investigation; his attention remains on brushing his tusk. His private concern thus briefly intersects with the animals' collective alarm without becoming the same thing as their search.

Later, as Elmer attempts to cross the river on a bridge formed by Crocodiles, Rhinoceros is among the animals pursuing him. The earlier encounter has not removed him from the wider conflict, and the distraction has not changed the animals' suspicion into trust. This return to the pursuit places Rhinoceros in the danger Elmer is trying to evade, even though the evidence does not describe any further action by him in the rescue scene.

Narrative Role

Rhinoceros's appearance gives Elmer another obstacle that is overcome through attention and improvisation rather than force. His emotional vulnerability is both genuine within the account and consequential to the plot: his worry about the tusk creates the opening Elmer needs, while the toothbrush gives that worry an immediate focus. The shift is compact but clear, from a dangerous interruption at the pool to a brief reprieve for Elmer as the search continues.

The scene also links private distress to the larger disorder on Wild Island. Rhinoceros weeps over his appearance; the Wild Boars read the unusual sight of him brushing as evidence that the suspected invasion is affecting the island's animals. He is therefore shown in two distinct contexts: as an individual absorbed in an intimate concern, and as one of the animals later caught up in the pursuit of Elmer. His role is not to explain or settle the conflict, but to make its movement visible on a small scale: a threat can be diverted, while the larger danger remains in motion.