Just So Stories For Little Children

2021 Reprint of the 1913 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition and not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Illustrated by Kipling. Just So Stories for Little Children is a 1902 collection of origin stories by the British author Rudyard Kipling. Considered a classic of children's literature, the book is among Kipling's best-known works. Kipling began working on the book by telling the first three chapters as bedtime stories to his daughter Josephine. These had to be told "just so" (exactly in the words she was used to) or she would complain. The stories illustrate how animals obtained their distinctive features, such as how the leopard got his spots. For the book, Kipling illustrated the stories himself. Most of the Just So Stories tell how particular animals were modified from their original forms to their current forms by the acts of human beings or magical beings. For example, the Whale has a tiny throat because he swallowed a mariner, who tied a raft inside to block the whale from swallowing other men. The Camel has a hump given to him by a djinn as punishment for the camel's refusing to work (the hump allows the camel to work longer between times of eating). The Leopard's spots were painted by an Ethiopian (after the Ethiopian painted himself black). The Kangaroo gets its powerful hind legs, long tail and hopping gait after being chased all day by a dingo, sent by a minor god responding to the Kangaroo's request to be made different from all other animals.

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 armadilloes -- 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.