Pink lollipops

Pink lollipops are both provisions and practical tools in Elmer Elevator’s rescue of Baby Dragon. Packed for the journey in a quantity of two dozen, they become the bait with which Elmer arranges Crocodiles across a river; their attraction then turns that improvised crossing into a moving diversion for the animals pursuing him. The sweets do not cut Baby Dragon’s rope, but they buy Elmer the opportunity to reach him and complete the rescue.

Preparation and Purpose

Before leaving for Wild Island, Elmer and Old Alley Cat secretly gathered and hid the supplies Elmer would need. In his father’s knapsack, he packed two dozen pink lollipops alongside rubber bands, chewing gum, toothpaste, magnifying glasses, and other equipment. The lollipops were therefore part of a planned kit, not an incidental treat encountered during the journey. Their presence beside the rubber bands matters: Elmer would use the sweets as bait and the bands to attach them to Crocodiles’ tails.

The quantity gives the plan room to accommodate a group rather than a single animal. When Elmer reaches the river, he counts as many as seventeen Crocodiles with their heads above the water. Two dozen lollipops provide enough for him to distribute sweets across that line, even as the river crossing must be improvised in the moment. Their usefulness depends on pairing an appealing reward with a way to secure it above the water, rather than on simply offering a handful of candy.

Making a Crossing

At the river, a Crocodile invites Elmer to swim and admits to wanting something sweet. Elmer declines to enter the water, but offers a lollipop instead, then asks whether the Crocodile has friends who would like one too. The response is immediate: voices from the river welcome the prospect, and Elmer sees a much larger group than the first speaker alone. The exchange converts a dangerous-looking obstacle into a negotiation over candy, allowing Elmer to act without entering the water.

Elmer first places a lollipop on the bank and lets the first Crocodile taste it. Once the animal has accepted the treat, Elmer asks to fasten another lollipop to the tip of its tail with a rubber band. The Crocodile agrees and lifts its tail out of the water, giving Elmer a route along its back to attach the sweet. A second Crocodile comes forward to suck on that lollipop. Elmer then proposes that the animals line up across the river so he can give each one a treat.

The Crocodiles form a row across the water, their tails raised as they wait. The tail of the seventeenth reaches the opposite bank, making the animals themselves into a passage between shores. The lollipops do not create a permanent bridge: Elmer’s arrangement depends on the Crocodiles’ willingness to remain in place while they wait for and eat the sweets. But it gives him a way to cross without swimming, and the last animal’s reach to the far bank marks the moment the improvised route is complete.

Diversion During the Rescue

Elmer is crossing the back of the fifteenth Crocodile, with two more lollipops still to distribute, when he hears the monkeys’ noise stop and a larger uproar approach. The pursuing crowd includes Seven Tigers, a Rhinoceros, two Lion, a Gorilla, monkeys, and two Wild Boars. They believe an invader has come for Baby Dragon and rush toward the river. The lollipops have made a crossing possible, but Elmer must finish it while the threat closes in.

As Elmer fixes the seventeenth lollipop for the last Crocodile, a Wild Boar spots the route and identifies it as a bridge. Elmer leaps to the far bank just as one of the Wild Boars jumps onto the first Crocodile’s back. The sweets have now done more than carry Elmer across: the waiting animals’ attraction to them has made the crossing visible to his pursuers as well. Elmer has only a brief lead, and Baby Dragon is already calling for him to hurry as the crowd follows over the Crocodiles.

The Reversal and Its Significance

While Elmer cuts through the rope restraining Baby Dragon, the Crocodiles begin to leave the bank. The first has finished its lollipop and swims downriver; the second follows while still sucking on its sweet, and the rest go after them in turn. The treat that gathered the Crocodiles into a bridge also gives them a reason to abandon their positions. Their change of direction carries the pursuing animals down the middle of the river, still riding the Crocodiles and still occupied with pink lollipops.

This reversal gives Elmer and Baby Dragon the time to laugh at the absurd sight and lets Elmer finish cutting the rope. The lollipops do not free Baby Dragon by themselves: Elmer uses a sharp jackknife to sever the restraint, and Baby Dragon then runs about excitedly before Elmer climbs onto his back to leave. The sweets instead shape the circumstances around that decisive action, first enabling Elmer to cross and then distracting the animals at the moment of rescue. Their role is characteristic of his resourcefulness: an ordinary packed provision becomes a temporary bridge, and the bridge becomes a moving diversion when the Crocodiles follow their appetites away from the bank.