JUST SO STORIES

By Rudyard Kipling

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

HOW THE WHALE GOT HIS THROAT
HOW THE CAMEL GOT HIS HUMP
HOW THE RHINOCEROS GOT HIS SKIN
HOW THE LEOPARD GOT HIS SPOTS
THE ELEPHANT'S CHILD
THE SING-SONG OF OLD MAN KANGAROO
THE BEGINNING OF THE ARMADILLOS
HOW THE FIRST LETTER WAS WRITTEN
HOW THE ALPHABET WAS MADE
THE CRAB THAT PLAYED WITH THE SEA
THE CAT THAT WALKED BY HIMSELF
THE BUTTERFLY THAT STAMPED

HOW THE WHALE GOT HIS THROAT

Once upon a time, in the sea, O my Best Beloved, there was a Whale, and he ate fish. He ate the starfish and the garfish, the crab and the fish called dab, the plaice and the dace, the skate and its mate, the mackerel and the pickerel, and the twisty, twirly eel. He ate every fish he could find in the whole sea—gulp, just like that! At last there was only one small fish left in the whole sea. This little fish was very clever—so clever that people called him the 'Stute Fish (which means smart, or "astute"). He swam just behind the Whale's right ear, so he would be safe.

Then the Whale stood up on his tail and said, "I'm hungry."

The small 'Stute Fish answered in his smart little voice, "Great and noble Whale, have you ever tasted Man?"

"No," said the Whale. "What is that like?"

"Tasty," said the small 'Stute Fish. "Tasty, but a little lumpy."

"Then bring me some," said the Whale, and he splashed the sea into froth with his tail.

"One at a time is plenty," said the 'Stute Fish. "If you swim to a certain spot in the middle of the ocean (that part is magic), you will find a shipwrecked sailor sitting on a raft. He is wearing only blue canvas pants, a pair of suspenders—don't forget the suspenders, Best Beloved!—and he has a jack-knife. This sailor, I should warn you, is a man full of clever ideas and good sense."

So the Whale swam and swam as fast as he could to that spot in the middle of the sea. There, sitting on a raft with nothing on but his blue canvas pants, his suspenders (remember those suspenders!), and his jack-knife, he found one single shipwrecked sailor, dangling his toes in the water. (He had asked his mother's permission to paddle his feet, since he was a careful, clever man who always did things properly.)

The Whale opened his mouth wider and wider, until it almost touched his own tail, and swallowed the sailor whole—raft, blue pants, suspenders (don't forget them!), and jack-knife too. Down they all went into the Whale's warm, dark insides. Then the Whale smacked his lips and spun around three times on his tail, quite pleased with himself.

But as soon as the clever sailor found himself inside the Whale's warm dark stomach, he began to stomp and jump and thump and bump. He danced and pranced, banged and clanged, hit and bit, leaped and crept, prowled and howled, hopped and dropped. He cried and sighed, crawled and yelled, and even danced jigs where he shouldn't have. The Whale felt terrible. (Have you forgotten about those suspenders? Keep them in mind!)

So the Whale said to the 'Stute Fish, "This man is very lumpy, and worse, he's giving me hiccups. What should I do?"

"Tell him to come out," said the 'Stute Fish.

So the Whale called down his own throat, "Come out and behave yourself! I've got the hiccups!"

"No, no!" said the sailor. "Not so fast. Take me back to my home shore, and I'll think about it." And he danced even harder than before.

"You had better take him home," the 'Stute Fish told the Whale. "I should have warned you—he is a very clever man."

So the Whale swam and swam and swam, using both his flippers and his tail, hiccupping the whole way. At last he spotted the sailor's home shore with its white cliffs. He rushed halfway up onto the beach, opened his mouth wide, and said, "All change here!"—and just as he said it, the sailor walked right out of his mouth.

But while the Whale had been swimming, the clever sailor had used his jack-knife to cut the raft into a small square grating, like a little crisscross fence. He tied it together tightly with his suspenders (now you understand why you were told not to forget them!). Then he shoved that grating deep into the Whale's throat, where it stuck fast. He said a little rhyme:

By means of a grating
I have stopped your eating.

The sailor stepped out onto the beach and went home to his mother, who had given him permission to paddle his toes in the water. He got married and lived happily ever after. So did the Whale—but from that day on, the grating stuck in his throat, and he could not cough it up or swallow it down. Because of this, the Whale could never again eat anything except very, very small fish. And that is why whales today never eat men, or boys, or little girls.

The small 'Stute Fish swam away and hid himself in the mud, because he was afraid the Whale might be angry with him.

The sailor took the jack-knife home with him. He was still wearing his blue canvas pants when he walked onto the beach. But the suspenders were left behind, tying the grating in place—and that is the end of that story.

When the cabin portholes turn dark and green
Because of the waves outside;
When the ship goes wop with a wiggle between
And the steward tips into the soup tureen,
And the trunks begin to slide;
When Nursey lies on the floor in a heap,
And Mummy tells you to let her sleep,
And you aren't washed or dressed or fed,
Why then you'll know, if you haven't guessed,
You're sailing where the Whale once swam!

HOW THE CAMEL GOT HIS HUMP

Now here is the next story, and it tells how the Camel got his big hump.

Long ago, when the world was still new, and the Animals were just beginning to work for Man, there lived a Camel. He lived out in the middle of a hot, dry desert because he did not want to work, and besides, he liked to complain loudly. He spent his days eating sticks and thorns and weeds, being terribly lazy, and whenever anyone spoke to him, he only said, "Humph!" Just "Humph!" and nothing more.

On Monday morning, the Horse came to him wearing a saddle and a bit in his mouth, and said, "Camel, oh Camel, come out and trot like the rest of us."

"Humph!" said the Camel, and the Horse went away and told the Man.

Next the Dog came to him, carrying a stick in his mouth, and said, "Camel, oh Camel, come and fetch and carry like the rest of us."

"Humph!" said the Camel, and the Dog went away and told the Man.

Then the Ox came to him, wearing his yoke, and said, "Camel, oh Camel, come and plow like the rest of us."

"Humph!" said the Camel, and the Ox went away and told the Man.

At the end of the day, the Man called the Horse, the Dog, and the Ox together and said, "I'm sorry, but that Humph-thing out in the desert won't work, so I'll leave him be. You three will just have to work extra hard to make up for it."

This made the three animals very angry. They held a big meeting at the edge of the desert, and the Camel came along, chewing on weeds, terribly lazy, and laughed at them. Then he said "Humph!" again and walked away.

Soon a Djinn—a kind of magic spirit—who was in charge of all deserts came rolling by in a cloud of dust (Djinns always travel that way, because it's magic). He stopped to talk with the three animals.

"Djinn of All Deserts," said the Horse, "is it right for anyone to be lazy, with the world so new and all?"

"Certainly not," said the Djinn.

"Well," said the Horse, "there's a creature out in the middle of your desert—he's a great complainer too—with a long neck and long legs, and he hasn't done a single bit of work since Monday morning. He won't trot."

"Whew!" whistled the Djinn. "That's my Camel! What does he say about it?"

"He just says 'Humph!'" said the Dog, "and he won't fetch or carry."

"Does he say anything else?"

"Only 'Humph'—and he won't plow," said the Ox.

"Very well," said the Djinn. "I'll fix his humphing, if you'll just wait a moment."

The Djinn wrapped himself in his cloud of dust and headed across the desert. He found the Camel being extremely lazy, staring at his own reflection in a pool of water.

"My tall and bubbly friend," said the Djinn, "what's this I hear about you doing no work, with the world so new and all?"

"Humph!" said the Camel.

The Djinn sat down, rested his chin on his hand, and began to think up a great piece of magic, while the Camel kept staring at his reflection.

"You've made the other three animals do extra work ever since Monday, all because of your laziness," said the Djinn, still thinking his magic thoughts.

"Humph!" said the Camel.

"I wouldn't say that again if I were you," warned the Djinn. "You might say it once too often. Bubbles, I want you to get to work."

The Camel said "Humph!" once more anyway—but no sooner had he said it than he saw his own back, which he had always been so proud of, swelling up and up into a great big lump.

"Do you see that?" said the Djinn. "That is your very own hump, and you've brought it on yourself by refusing to work. Today is Thursday, and you haven't worked since Monday, when work first began. Now you are going to work. That hump will let you go three days without eating, since you can live off of it. And don't ever say I never did anything for you. Now go join the other three and behave yourself!"

So the Camel—hump and all—went off to join the Horse, the Dog, and the Ox. And from that day to this, the Camel has always worn a hump (we call it "hump" now, so as not to hurt his feelings). But he has never caught up on those three days of work he missed at the very beginning of the world, and he still hasn't learned how to behave.

The Camel's hump is an ugly lump
Which well you may see at the zoo;
But uglier yet is the hump we get
From having too little to do.

Kiddies and grown-ups too-oo-oo,
If we haven't enough to do-oo-oo,
We get the hump—
Camelious hump—
The hump that is black and blue!

We climb out of bed with a grumpy head
And a snarly, growly voice.
We shiver and scowl and we grunt and we growl
At our bath and our boots and our toys;

And there ought to be a corner for me
(And I know there is one for you)
When we get the hump—
Camelious hump—
The hump that is black and blue!

The cure for this trouble is not to sit still,
Or sulk with a book by the fire;
But to grab a big shovel and dig in the soil
Until you're all hot and tired;

And then you will find that the sun and the wind,
And the Djinn of the Garden too,
Have lifted the hump—
That horrible hump—
The hump that is black and blue!

I get it as well as you-oo-oo—
If I haven't enough to do-oo-oo—
We all get the hump—
Camelious hump—
Kiddies and grown-ups too!

HOW THE RHINOCEROS GOT HIS SKI