Matilda is an childless elephant who sits patiently on a chickadee egg, enduring the scorn of her fellow animals. She appears in the story, Matilda, the Elephant with a Mother Complex.

Matilda finds an abandoned egg and decides to hatch it and protect it. The moral of this story is the opposite of Horton’s experience. The end of Matilda’s story simply states “Moral: Don’t go around hatching other folks eggs.” Matilda called insane and other animals make fun of her and even her hatchling screams and flies away without so much as a thank you.

* Matilda, the Elephant with a Mother Complex (April 1938)

*The original Judge magazine story of Matilda, the Elephant with a Mother Complex was never renewed. Neither the [https://archive.org/details/catalogofcopy19653191lib/page/n1050/mode/1up?q=Judge+Magazine+April+1938&view=theater 1965 Copyright Records] nor the [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Catalog_of_Copyright_Entries_Third_Serie/AyQhAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA1113&printsec=frontcover&dq=Judge%20Magazine%20April%201938 1966 Copyright Records] contain any renewal for the story.
*The story (with several changes) later served as the basis for the 1940 book, Horton in Horton Hatches the Egg.
**Matilda predates Horton the Elephant by just 2 years. The latter, will enter the public domain in 2036, when copyright for Horton's first appearance,Horton in Horton Hatches the Egg, expires.

* [https://philnel.com/2017/03/02/seuss_matilda/ Philip Nel]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horton_Hatches_the_Egg Wikipedia]
*[https://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-judge-magazine-april-1938.html Mike Lynch Cartoons]

Category:Literary Characters
Category:1938 Debuts
Category:Theodor Seuss Geisel - Creator
Category:Elephant Characters
Category:Non-Powered Characters
Category:Female Characters
Category:Humor Characters
Category:Judge Magazine Characters
Category:Talking Animals
Category:Comic Strip Characters
Category:Protagonists