Speculation on "Nate" from the old cartoon.
In the song in the cartoon, the birds sing that "the uncle of Horton's cousin" (so either another uncle, or his father) was an elephant named Nate, who was delusional and, among other things, believed he was the father-in-law of Catherine the Great. The birds genuinely thought Horton was insane, so they have no reason to slander him, so either:- Sour Kangaroo made Nate up so that Mrs. Toucanella would be further convinced that Horton was crazy.
- One of the birds remembered or heard/read something wrong, and thought Nate was delusional but he really wasn't, or thought he was related to Horton when he really wasn't (maybe he had a nephew or son with the same name). Or...
- Nate really existed, and he was a delusional father or uncle of Horton's, but Horton was lucky and didn't inherit Nate's insanity.
