Well, the story goes that there was some sort of magical or extraordinary encounter that led to the elephant getting his trunk. Maybe it was a meeting with a mythical creature or a strange phenomenon.
Well, one version says that the elephant's trunk developed as a way for it to protect itself and interact with its environment. Maybe it started as a small appendage and evolved to become the trunk we know today.
The folk tale of the snake swallowing the elephant was a fable about greed and dissatisfaction. The story was about a farmer who rescued a frozen snake and brought it home to feed it. As time passed, the little snake grew up, and the farmer put it back into the cave. At the entrance of the cave, the snake cultivated a Ganoderma, but because of the snake's protection, no one dared to approach it. When the Emperor learned of this, he issued a notice promising to reward those who could pick Lingzhi. In order to get the reward, the farmer asked the snake to give him Lingzhi, and then presented it to the emperor, and received a reward of gold, silver and treasure. Later, the Empress lost her sight, and only the eyes of a snake could heal her. This story revealed the greed and dissatisfaction in human nature.