Classic Audiobook Collection - Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling ~ Full Audiobook [folklore]

Episode Date: May 1, 2023

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling audiobook. Genre: folklore Just So Stories is Rudyard Kipling's sparkling collection of origin tales - playful, rhythmic, and full of mischief - that explain how the world got its quirks. In these classic bedtime adventures, curious animals and headstrong people collide with the forces of nature to create the traits we recognize today: an elephant child whose endless questions lead to a life-changing tug-of-war, a camel who learns the cost of saying 'Humph,' a whale outwitted by a clever castaway, and more. Kipling's narrator speaks directly to the listener with a conspiratorial wink, weaving refrains, jokes, and vivid exaggerations that feel like stories told aloud by a master entertainer. Beneath the humor and fantasy is a steady beat of themes: curiosity and consequence, cleverness versus stubbornness, and the unpredictable ways small choices can reshape a life. Inventive, warm, and wonderfully theatrical, this audiobook-friendly classic invites families and longtime fans alike to settle in and hear how the leopard got his spots - and why the stories are told 'just so.' For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:07:54) Chapter 02 (00:15:48) Chapter 03 (00:22:25) Chapter 04 (00:37:44) Chapter 05 (00:56:42) Chapter 06 (01:06:05) Chapter 07 (01:26:02) Chapter 08 (01:49:37) Chapter 09 (02:13:42) Chapter 10 (02:38:30) Chapter 11 (03:05:29) Chapter 12 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, Chapter 1 How the Whale Got His Throat In the sea, once upon a time, oh my best beloved, there was a whale, and he ate fishes. He ate the starfish and the garfish and the crab and the dab, and the place and the dace, and the skate and his mate, and the mackerel and the piquoreal and the really truly tweed twirly, whirly eel. All the fishes he could find in all the sea he ate with his mouth so. Till at last there was only one small fish left in all the sea, and he was a small stute fish, and he swam a little behind the whale's right ear so as to be out of harm's way. Then the whale stood up on his tail and said, I'm hungry, and the small stute fish said

in a small stute voice. Noble and generous cetacean, have you ever tasted man? No, said the whale. What is it like? Nice, said the small stute fish. Nice but nubbly. Then fetch me some, said the whale, and he made the sea froth up with his tail. One at a time is enough, said the stute fish.

If you swim to latitude fifty north, longitude forty west, that is magic, you will find sitting on a raft in the middle of the sea, with nothing on but a pair of blue canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders—you must not forget the suspenders, best beloved, and a jackknife, one ship-wrecked mariner, who it is only fair to tell you is a man of infinite resource and sagacity. So the whale swam, and swayed. to latitude fifty north, longitude forty west, as fast as he could swim, and on a raft in the middle of the sea with nothing to wear except a pair of blue canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders, you must particularly remember the suspenders, best beloved, and a jackknife.

He found one single solitary shipwrecked mariner, trailing his toes in the water. He had his mummies leave to paddle, or else he would never have done it, because he was a man of infinite resource and sagacity. Then the whale opened his mouth back, and back and back, till it nearly touched his tail, and he swallowed the shipwrecked mariner, and the raft he was sitting on, and his blue canvas breeches, and the suspenders, which you must not forget, and the jack-night. He swatted them all down into his warm, dark, inside cupboards, and then he smacked his lips, so, and turned round three times on his tail.

But as soon as the mariner, who was a man of infinite resource and sagacity, found himself truly inside the whale's warm, dark, inside cupboards, he stumped, and he jumped, and he thumped and he bumped, and he pranced, and he danced, and he banged, and he clanged, and he hit, and he bit, and he leaped, and he crept, and he prowled, and he howled, and he hopped, and he dropped. And he cried, and he sighed, and he crawled, and he bawled, and he stepped, and he leapt, and he danced hornpipes where he shouldn't. And the whale felt most unhappy, indeed, have you forgotten these suspenders? So he said to the stute-fish,

This man is very nubbly, and besides he is making me hiccup. What shall I do? Tell him to come out, said the stute-fish. So the whale called down his own throat to the ship-wrecked mariner. Come out and behave yourself. I've got the hiccups. Nay, nay, said the mariner. Not so, but for otherwise.

Take me to my natal shore in the white cliffs of Albion. and I'll think about it. And he began to dance more than ever. You had better take him home, said the stute fish to the whale. I ought to have warned you that he is a man of infinite resource and sagacity. So the whale swam and swam and swam, with both flippers and his tail as hard as he could for the hiccups, and at last he saw the mariners' natal shore

and the white cliffs of Albion, and he rushed halfway up the beach and opened his mouth wide and wide and wide, and said, Change here for Winchester, as chalute, Nashua, keen, and stations on the Fitchburg Road, and just as he said Fitch, the mariner walked out of his mouth. But while the whale had been swimming, the mariner who was indeed a person of infinite resource in sagacity, had taken his jack-knife. and caught up the raft into a little square grating all running criss-cross, and he had tied it firm with his suspenders.

Now you know why you were not to forget the suspenders. And he dragged that grating good and tight into the whale's throat, and there it stuck. Then he recited the following Slocca, which, as you have not heard it, I will now proceed to relate. By means of a grating, I have stopped your a-ting. For the mariner he was also in Hiberian, and he stepped out on the shingle and went home to his mother, who had given him leave to trail his toes in the water, and he married and lived happily ever afterward.

So did the whale. But from that day on, the grating in his throat which he could neither cough up nor swallow down, prevented him eating anything except very, very small fish, and that is the reason why whales nowadays never eat men or boys or little girls. The small stute fish went and hit himself in the mud under the door sills of the equator. He was afraid that the whale might be angry with him. The sailor took the jackknife home. He was wearing the blue canvas breeches when he walked out on the shingle.

The suspenders were left behind, you see, to tie the grating with, and that is the end of that tale. When the cabin-port holes are dark and green, because of the seas outside, when the ship goes whoop with a wiggle between, and the steward falls into the soup tourine, and the trunks begin to slide, when Nersie lies on the floor in a heap, and mummy tells you to let her sleep, and you aren't waked or you. washed or dressed, why then you will know, if you haven't guessed, you're fifty north and forty west.

End of How the Whale Got His Throat. Chapter 2 of Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 2 How the Camel Got His Hump. Now this is the next tale, and it tells how the camel is the camel. got his big hump. In the beginning of years, when the world was so new and all, and the animals were just beginning to work for man, there was a camel, and he lived in the middle of a howling desert, because he did not want to work, and besides he was a howler himself.

So he ate sticks and thorns, and tamarisks and milkweed and prickles, most scruciatingly idle, and when anybody spoke to him he said, Hump! Just hump! And no more. Presently the horse came to him on Monday morning with a saddle on his back and a bit in his mouth, and said,

Camel, O camel, come out and trot like the rest of us. Hum, said the camel, and the horse went away and told the man. Presently the dog came to him with a stick in his mouth, mouth and said, Camel, O camel, come and fetch and carry like the rest of us, hump, said the camel, and the dog went away and told the man. Presently the ox came to him with the yoke on his neck and said, Camel, oh camel, come and plow like the rest of us, hump, said the camel, and the ox went away and told the man. At the end of the day the man called the man, the man called the horse and the dog and the ox together and said,

"'Three, oh, three, I'm very sorry for you, with the world so new and all. But that home-mping thing in the desert can't work, or he would have been here by now. So I am going to leave him alone, and you must work double time to make up for it.' That made the three very angry, with the world so new and all, and they held a palaver, and an indaba and a punch hyatt and a powwow on the edge of the desert, and the camel came chewing on milkweed most scruciatingly idle, and laughed at them. Then he said, hump, and went away again. Presently there came along the genie in charge of all deserts, rolling in a cloud of dust. Genies always traveled that way because it is magic. And he, he came along the genie.

He stopped two palaver and pow-wow with the three. "'Geney of all deserts,' said the horse. Is it right for anyone to be idle with the world so new and all?" "'Certainly not,' said the genie. "'Well,' said the horse, "'there's a thing in the middle of your howling desert, and he's a howler himself, with a long neck and long legs, and he hasn't done a stroke of work since Monday morning. He won't trot, said the genie, whistling.

That's my camel for all the gold in Arabia. What does he say about it? He says, hump, said the dog, and he won't fetch and carry. Does he say anything else? Only hump, and he won't plow, said the ox. Very good, said the genie. I'll hump him if you will kindly wait a minute. The genie rolled himself up in his dust cloak, and took a bearing across the desert and found

the camel, most scruciatingly idle, looking at his own reflection in a pool of water. My long and bubbling friend, said the genie, what's this I hear of your doing no work, with the world so new and all? Hump, said the camel. The genie sat down with his chin in his hand, and he said the camel, and, and the genie sat down with his chin in his hand, and began to think a great magic, while the camel looked at his own reflection in the pool of water. You've given the three extra work ever since Monday morning, all on account of your

excruciating idleness," said the genie, and he went on thinking magics with his chin in his hand. "'Hump!' said the camel. "'I shouldn't say that again if I were you,' said the genie. You might say it once too often. Bubbles, I want you to work. And the camel said, hump again. But no sooner had he said it,

then he saw his back that he was so proud of, puffing up and puffing up into a great big, lolloping hump. Do you see that, said the genie? That's your very own hump that you've brought upon your very own self by not working. Today is Thursday, and you've done no work since Monday when the work began. Now you are going to work.

How can I? said the camel, with this hump on my back. That's made a purpose, said the genie. All because you missed those three days. You will be able to work now for three days without eating, because you can live on your hump. And don't you ever say I never did anything for you. Come out of the desert and go to the three and behave. Hump yourself!

And the camel humped himself, hump and all, and went away to join the three. And from that day to this the camel always wears a hump. We call it hump now, not to hurt his feelings. But he has never yet caught up with the three days that he missed at the beginning of the world, and he has never yet 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. Kitty's and grown-ups, too-oo-oo, if we haven't enough to do, ooh-oo, we get the hump, chameleous hump, the hump that is black and blue.

We climb out of bed with a frowsly head and a snarly early 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 from me, and I know there is one for you, when we get the hump, chameleous hump, the hump that is black and blue. The cure for this ill is not to sit still. Or fraust with a book by the fire, but to take a large hoe and a shovel also, and dig till you gently perspire. And then you will find that the sun and the wind, and the genie of the garden too, have lifted

the hump, the horrible hump, the hump that is black and blue. I get it as well as you, oo-u, if I haven't enough to do o-oo-o-o. We all get the hump, camelius-humm. kiddies and grown-ups too end of chapter two how the camel got his hump chapter three of just so stories by Rudyard Kipling this Libravox recording is in the public domain chapter three how the rhinoceros got his skin once upon a time on an uninhabited island on the shores of the Red Sea there lived a parsee from whose hat the rays of the sun were reflected in more than oriental splendor.

And the Parsi lived by the Red Sea with nothing but his hat and his knife and a cooking stove of the kind that you must particularly never touch. And one day he took flour and water and currents and plums and sugar and things, and made himself one cake which was two feet across and three feet thick. It was indeed a superior combustible. That's magic. And he put it on the stove because he was allowed to cook on the stove. And he baked it, and he baked it till it was all done brown and smelt most sentimental.

But just as he was going to eat it, there came down to the beach from the altogether uninhabited interior, one rhinoceros with a horn on his nose, two piggy-ey-ey-ey-ey-ey-ey-eye, and few manners. In those days, the rhinoceros' skin fitted him quite tight. There were no wrinkles in it anywhere. He looked exactly like a nose-ark rhinoceros, but of course much bigger. All the same, he had no manners then, and he has no manners now, and he never will have any manners. He said, How? And the Parsi left that cake and climbed to the top of a palm-tree, with nothing on but his hat, from which the rays of the sun were always reflected in more than oriental splendor.

And the rhinoceros upset the oil-stove with his nose, and the cake rolled on the sand, and he spiked that cake on the horn of his nose, and he ate it, and he went away waving his tail, the desolate and exclusively uninhabited interior, which abuts on the islands of Mazandaran, Socotra, and promontories of the larger equinox. Then the Parcée came down from his palm-tree, and put the stove on its legs and recited the following Slocca, which, as you have not heard, I will now proceed to relate. him that takes cakes which the Parsi man bakes makes dreadful mistakes." And there was a great deal more in that than you would think.

Because five weeks later there was a heat wave in the Red Sea, and everybody took off all the clothes they had. The Parsi took off his hat, but the rhinoceros took off his skin and carried it over his shoulder as he came down to the beach to bathe. In those days it buttoned underneath with three buttons and looked like a waterproof. He said nothing whatever about the Parcese's cake, because he had eaten it all, and he never had any matters then since or hints forward. He waddled straight into the water and blew bubbles through his nose, leaving his skin

on the beach. Presently the Parsee came by and found the skin, and he smiled. smiled one smile that ran all round his face two times. Then he danced three times round the skin and rubbed his hands. Then he went to his camp and filled his hat with cake crumbs, for the parsee never ate anything but cake, and never swept out his camp. He took that skin, and he shook that skin, and he scrubbed that skin, and he rubbed that skin just as full of old dry stale tickly cape crumbs and some burnt currents as ever it could possibly hold. Then he climbed to the top of his palm tree and waited for the rhinoceros to come out of

the water and put it on. And the rhinoceros did. He buttoned it up with the three buttons, and it tickled like cake crumbs in bed. Then he wanted to scratch, but that made it worse, and then he lay down on the three buttons, and And then he lay down on the sands and rolled and rolled and rolled. And every time he rolled the cake crumbs tickled him worse and worse and worse. Then he ran to the palm tree and rubbed and rubbed himself against it. He rubbed so much and so hard that he rubbed his skin into a great fold over his shoulders

and another fold underneath where the buttons used to be, but he rubbed the buttons. off. And he rubbed some more foals over his legs. And it spoiled his temper, but it didn't make the least difference to the cake crumbs. They were inside his skin, and they tickled. So he went home, very angry indeed and horribly scratchy. And from that day to this, every rhinoceros has great foals in his skin and a very bad temper, all on account of the cake crumbs. inside. But the Parsee came down from his palm tree, wearing his hat, from which the rays of the sun were reflected in more than oriental splendor, packed up his cooking stove, and went away in the direction of Orotavo, Amygdala, the upland meadows of Anatarivo, and the marshes

of Sonaput. This uninhabited island is off Cape Gardefoombo. by the beaches of Socrota and the pink Arabian Sea. But it's hot too hot from Suez for the likes of you and me, ever to go in a P&O, and call on the cake parsee. End of Chapter 3 How the Rhinoceros got his skin. Chapter 4 of Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. This Leibovox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 4 How the Leopard Got His Spots

In the days when everybody started fair, best beloved, the leopard lived in a place called the High Velt. Remember it wasn't the Low Velt or the Bush Belt or the Sower Belt, but the exclusively bare, hot, shiny, high belt, where there was sand and sandy-colored rock and exclusively tufts of sandy yellowish grass. The giraffe and the zebra and the eelland and the kudu and the heart beast lived there, and they were exclusively sandy yellow-brownish all over, but the leopard, he was the exclusivest, sandiest, yellowish, brownest of them all, a grayish-y-shaped kind of beast, and he matched

the exclusively yellowish-grayish-brownish color of the high belt to one hair. This was very bad for the giraffe and the zebra and the rest of them, for he would lie down by exclusively yellowish-grayish-brownish stone or clump of grass. And when the giraffe, or the zebra, or the e-land, or the kudu, or the bush-buck came by, he would surprise them out of their jumpsome lives. He would indeed. And also there was an Ethiopian with bows and arrows, exclusively grayish, and brownish, yellowish man he was then, who lived on the high-veld with the leopard, and the two

used to hunt together, the Ethiopian with his bows and arrows, and the leopard exclusively with his teeth and claws, till the giraffe and the eeland and the kudu and the quagga and all the rest of them didn't know which way to jump, best beloved, they didn't indeed. After a long time things lived forever so long in those days. They learned to avoid anything that looked like a leopard or an Ethiopian. And, bit by bit, the giraffe began it because his legs were the longest, they went away from the high belt. They scuttled for days and days and days till they came to a great forest,

exclusively full of trees and bushes and stripy, speckled, patchy, blotchy shadows, and there they hid. And after another long time what with standing half in the shade and half out of it, and what with the slippery, slighty shadows of the trees falling on them, the giraffe grew blotchy, and the zebra grew stripy, and the eeland and the coodoo grew darker, with little wavy gray lines on their backs like bark on a tree trunk. And so though you could hear them and smell. them, you could very seldom see them, and then only when you knew precisely where to look.

They had a beautiful time in the exclusively speckily, spikily, shadows of the forest, while the leopard and the Ethiopian ran about over the exclusively grayish, yellowish, reddish, high veldt outside, wondering where all their breakfasts and their dinners and their teas had gone. At last they were so hungry that they ate rats and be. beetles and rock rabbits, the leopard and the Ethiopian, and then they had the big tummyache both together, and then they met Bavion, the dog-headed barking baboon, who is quite the wisest animal in all South Africa.

Said leopard to Bavian, and it was a very hot day, where has all the game gone? And Bavian winked. He knew, said the Ethiopian. to Bavian. Can you tell me the present habitat of the aboriginal fauna?" This meant just the same thing, but the Ethiopian always used long words. He was a grown-up. And Bavion winked. He knew. Then said Bavion, the game has gone into other spots, and my advice to you, Leopard, is to go into other spots as soon as you can. And the Ethiopian is to go into other spots as soon as you can. And the Ethiopian said,

That is all very fine, but I wish to know whether the Aboriginal fauna has migrated. Then said Bavian, The Aboriginal fauna has joined the Aboriginal flora because it was high time for a change. And my advice to you, Ethiopian, is to change as soon as you can. That puzzled the leopard and the Ethiopian, but they set off to look for the Aboriginal. flora, and presently, after ever so many days, they saw a great, high, tall forest, full of tree trunks, all exclusively speckled and sprawled and spotted, doddled and splashed and

slashed and hatched and crosshatched with shadows. Say that quickly aloud, and you will see how very shadowy the forest must have been. What is this? said the leopard. That is so exclusively dark and yet so full of little pieces of the light?" "'I don't know,' said the Ethiopian, "'but it ought to be the aboriginal flora. I can smell giraffe, and I can hear giraffe, but I can't see giraffe.' "'That's curious,' said the leopard.

I suppose it is because we have just come in out of the sunshine. I can smell zebra, and I can hear zebra, but I can't see zebra.' Wait a bit, said the Ethiopian. It's a long time since we've hunted them. Perhaps we've forgotten what they were like. Fiddle, said the leopard. I remember them perfectly on the high belt, especially their marrow bones. Giraff is about seventeen feet high, of exclusively fulvis golden yellow from head to heel,

and zebra is about four and a half feet high of exclusively gray fawn, color from head to heel. Hmm, said the Ethiopian, looking into the speckily, spickly shadows of the aboriginal flora forest. Then they ought to show up in this dark place like ripe bananas in a smokehouse. But they didn't, the leopard and the Ethiopian hunted all day, and though they could smell them and hear them, they never saw one of them. For goodness sake, said the leopard. at tea-time?

Let us wait till it gets dark. This daylight hunting is a perfect scandal. So they waited till dark, and then the leopard heard something breathing sniffily in the starlight that fell all stripy through the branches, and he jumped at the noise, and it smelt like zebra, and it felt like zebra, and when he knocked it down it kicked like zebra but he couldn't see it. So he said, Be quiet. Oh, you person without any form, I am going to sit on your head till morning, because there is

something about you that I don't understand." Presently he heard a grunt and a crash and a scramble, and the Ethiopian called out, "'I've caught a thing that I can't see. It smells like giraffe and it kicks like giraffe, but it hasn't any form.' "'Don't you trust it,' said the leopard. Sit on its head till the morning, same as me. They haven't any form, any of them. So they sat down on them hard till bright morning time, and then the leopard said,

What have you at your end of the table, brother? The Ethiopian scratched his head and said, It ought to be exclusively a rich fulvis-orange toney from head to heel, and it ought to be giraffe, but it is covered all over with chestnut. not blotches. What have you at your end of the table, brother?" And the leopard scratched his head and said, "'It ought to be exclusively a delicate grayish fawn, and it ought to be a zebra, but it is covered all over with black and purple stripes.

What in the world have you been doing to yourself, zebra? Don't you know that if you were on the hive-ve-ve-belt I could see you ten miles off? You haven't any form.' Yes, said the zebra, but this isn't the high-belt. Can't you see?" "'I can now,' said the leopard. But I couldn't all yesterday. How is it done?' "'Let us up,' said the zebra, and we will show you." They let the zebra and the giraffe get up, and zebra moved away to some little thorn bushes

where the sunlight fell all strippy, and giraffe moved off to some tallest trees, where the The shadows fell all blotchy. Now watch, said the zebra and the giraffe. This is the way it's done. One, two, three, and where's your breakfast? Leopard stared, and Ethiopian stared, but all they could see were stripy shadows and blotched shadows in the forest, but never a sign of zebra and giraffe. They had just walked off and hidden themselves.

in the shadowy forest." "'Hi, hi!' said the Ethiopian. "'That's a trick worth learning. Take a lesson by it, Leopard. You show up in this dark place like a bar of soap and a coalskuttle.' "'Ho-ho!' said the leopard. "'Would it surprise you very much, to know that you show up in this dark place like a mustard plaster on a sack of coals?'

"'Well, calling names won't catch dinner,' said. the Ethiopian. The long and the little of it is that we don't match our backgrounds. I'm going to take Babian's advice. He told me I ought to change, and as I've nothing to change except my skin, I'm going to change that." What, too? said the leopard tremendously excited. To a nice working blackish-brownish color with a little purple in it and touches of Slady

blue, it will be the very thing for hiding in hollows and behind trees. So he changed his skin then and there, and the leopard was more excited than ever. He had never seen a man change his skin before. But what about me, he said, when the Ethiopian had worked his last little finger into his fine new black skin. You take Bavian's advice, too. He told you to go into sea. spots.

So I did, said the leopard. I went into other spots as fast as I could. I went into this spot with you, and a lot of good it has done me. Oh, said the Ethiopian, Bavion didn't mean spots in South Africa. He meant spots on your skin. What's the use of that? said the leopard. Think of giraffe, said the Ethiopian.

Or if you prefer stripes, think of zebra. They find their spots and stripes give them per feet satisfaction. Hmm, said the leopard. I wouldn't look like zebra, not for ever so. Well, make up your mind, said the Ethiopian, because I'd hate to go hunting without you. But I must if you insist on looking like a sunflower against a tarred fence. I'll take spots then, said the leopard, but don't make them too vulgar big. I wouldn't look like giraffe, not for you.

forever so. I'll make them with the tips of my fingers, said the Ethiopian. There's plenty of black left on my skin still. Stand over. Then the Ethiopian put his five fingers close together. There was plenty of black left on his new skin still, and pressed them all over the leopard, and wherever the five fingers touched they left five little black marks all close together. You can see them on any leopard skin you like,

best beloved. Sometimes the fingers slipped and the marks got a little blurred. But if you look closely at any leopard now, you will see that there are always five spots, off five fat black fingertips. Now you are a beauty, said the Ethiopian. You can lie out on the bare ground and look like a heap of pebbles. You can lie out on naked rocks and look like a piece of pudding stone. You can lie out on a leafy branch and look like sunshine sifting through the leaves, and you can lie right across the center of the path, and look like nothing in particular. Think of that and purr.

But if I'm all this," said the leopard, why didn't you go spotty, too? Oh, plain black's best for a nigger, said the Ethiopian. Now come along, and we'll see if we can't get even with Mr. one, two, three, where you're your breakfast." So they went away and lived happily ever afterward, best beloved. That is all. Oh, now and then you will hear grown-ups say, Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?

I don't think even grown-ups would keep on saying such a silly thing if the leopard and the Ethiopian hadn't done it once, do you? But they will never do it again, best beloved. They are quite contented as they are. I am the most wise Bavion, saying in most wise tones, Let us melt into the landscape just us too by our loans. People have come in a carriage calling, but mummy is there. Yes, I can go if you take me.

Nurse says she don't care. Let us go up to the pig's-eyes and sit on the farm-yard rails. Let us say things to the bunnies and watch him skitter their tails. Oh, anything, Daddy, so long as it's you and me, and going truly exploring and not being in till tea, here's your boots, I've brought them, and here's your cap and stick, and here's your pipe and tobacco. Oh, come along out of it, quick. End of How the Leopard Got His Spots.

Chapter 5 of Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. This Libra Box recording is in the public domain. Chapter 5 The Elephant's Child In the high and far-off times the elephant, O best beloved, had no trunk. He had only a blackish, bulgy nose as big as a boot that he could wriggle about from side to side, but he couldn't pick up things with it. But there was one elephant, a new elephant, an elephant's child, who was full of satiable curtiosity.

And that means he asked ever so many questions. And he lived in Africa, and he filled all Africa with his satiable courtiosities. He asked his tall aunt the ostrich, why her tail feathers grew just so. And his tall aunt the ostrich spanked him with her hard, hard claw. He asked his tall uncle, the giraffe, what made his skin spotty? And his tall uncle the giraffe spanked him with his hard, hard, hard claw. hoof. And still he was full of satiable curtiosity.

He asked his broad aunt, the hippopotamus, why your eyes were red, and his broad aunt, the hippopotamus spanked him with her broad, broad hoof, and he asked his hairy uncle the baboon, why melons tasted just so, and his hairy uncle the baboon spanked him with his hairy, hairy paw. And still he was full of satiable curtis-yote-o. He asked questions about everything that he saw, or heard, or felt, or smelt, or touched, and all his uncles and aunts spanked him. And still he was full of satiable curtiosity.

One fine morning in the middle of the procession of the equinoxes, this satiable elephant's child asked a new fine question that he had never asked before. He asked, What does the crocodile have for dinner? Then everybody said, hush, in a loud and dreadful tone, and they spanked him immediately and directly without stopping for a long time. By and by, when that was finished, he came upon the kolo-kolo bird sitting in the middle of a wait-a-bit thornbush, and he asked, My father has spanked me, and my mother has spanked me, All my aunts and uncles have spanked me for my satiable courteosity, and still I want to know

what the crocodile has for dinner." Then the Kolo Kolo bird said with a mournful cry, "'Go to the banks of the great gray-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever trees and find out.' That very next morning, when there was nothing left of the Echronoxes, because the procession had proceeded, according to precedent. This satiable elephant's child took a hundred pounds of bananas, the little short red kind, and a hundred pounds of sugar-cane, the long purple kind, and seventeen melons, the greeny crackly kind, and said to all his dear families,

Goodbye, I am going to the great gray-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever trees, to find out what the crocodile has for dinner. And they all spanked him once more for luck, though he asked him most politely to stop. Then he went away, a little warm, but not at all astonished, eating melons and throwing the rind about because he could not pick it up. He went from Grams Town to Kimberly, and from Kimberly to Kama's country, and from Kama's country. And from Kama's country he went east by north, eating. melons all the time, till at last he came to the banks of the great gray-green, greasy

Limpopo river, all set about with fever trees, precisely as Kolo Kolo Bird had said. Now you must know and understand, oh, best beloved, that till that very week and day an hour and minute this satiable elephant's child had never seen a crocodile and did not know what one was like. It was all his satiable courteosity. The first thing that he found was a bi-colored python rock snake curl round a rock. Excuse me, said the elephant's child most politely. But have you seen such a thing as a crocodile in these promiscuous parts? Have I seen a crocodile? said the bicolored python rock snake in a voice of dress.

scorn. What will you ask me next?" "'Excuse me,' said the elephant's child, but would you kindly tell me what he has for dinner?' Then the bi-colored python-rock snake uncoiled himself very quickly from the rock, and spanked the elephant's child with his scalsome flailsome tail. That is odd," said the elephant's child, because my father and my mother, and my uncle and my aunt, not to mention my other aunt the hippopotamus, and my other uncle the baboon, have all spanked me for my satiable courteosity, and I suppose this is the same thing.

So he said goodbye very politely to the bi-colored python rock snake, and helped to to curl him up on the rock again, and went on a little warm, but not at all astonished, eating melons and throwing the rind about because he could not pick it up, till he trod on what he thought was a log of wood at the very edge of the great gray-green, greasy Limpopo river, all set about with fever trees. But it was really the crocodile, oh best beloved, and the crocodile winked one eye like this. "'Scus me,' said the elephant's child most politely. "'But do you happen to have seen a crocodile in these promiscuous parts?'

Then the crocodile winked the other eye and lifted half his tail out of the mud, and the elephant's child stepped back most politely because he did not wish to be spanked again. "'Come hither, little one,' said the crocodile. "'Why do you ask such things?' "'Excuse me,' said the elephant's child most politely. "'But my father has spanked me, my mother has spanked me, "'not to mention my tall aunt the ostrich and my tall uncle the giraffe, "'who can kick ever so hard,

"'as well as my broad aunt the hippopotamus, "'and my hairy uncle the baboon, "'and including the bi-colored python rock snake "'with the scalsome flailsome tail, "'just up the bank, "'who spanks harder than any of this, him, and so, if it is quite all the same to you, I don't wish to be spanked any more. Come hither, little one, said the crocodile, for I am the crocodile."

And he wept crocodile tears to show it was quite true. Then the elephant's child grew all breathless and panted, and kneeled down on the bank and said, You are the very person I have been looking for all these long days. Will you please tell me what you have for dinner?" "'Come hither, little one,' said the crocodile, and I'll whisper. Then the elephant's child put his head down close to the crocodile's musky-tusky-mouth, and the crocodile caught him by his little nose, which, up to that very week, day, hour, and minute, had been no bigger than a boot, though much more useful.

I think," said the crocodile, and he said it between his teeth like this. I think today I will begin with Elephant's Child. At this, O best-beloved, the elephant's child was much annoyed, and he said, speaking through his nose like this, let go, you are hearing me. Then the bi-colored python rock snake scuffled down from the bank and said, my young friend, if you do not now immediately instantly pull as hard as ever you can, it is my opinion that your acquaintance in the large-pattern leather ulster, and by this he met the crocodile,

will jerk you into yonder limpid stream before you can say Jack Robinson. This is the way bi-colored python rock snakes always talk. Then the elephant's child sat back on his little haunchy, and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and pulled. And his nose began to stretch. And the crocodile floundered into the water, making it all creamy with great sweeps of his tail, and he pulled and pulled and pulled. And the elephant child's nose kept on stretching.

And the elephant's child spread all his little four legs and pulled, and pulled. and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and his nose kept on stretching. And the crocodile thrashed his tail like an oar, and he pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and at each pull the elephant's child's nose grew longer and longer, and did hurt him heges. Then the elephant's child felt his leg slipping, and he set through his nose, which was now nearly five feet long. This is too much for me."

Then the bi-colored python rock snake came down from the bank and nodded himself in a double clove hitch round the elephant's child's hind legs and said, rash and inexperienced traveler, we will now seriously devote ourselves to a little high attention, because if we do not, it is my impression that yonder, self-propelling man-of-war with the armor-plated upper deck, and by this, O best beloved, he met the crocodile, will permanently vitiate your future career. That is the way all-by-colored python rock snakes always talk. So he pulled, and the elephant's child pulled, and the crocodile pulled, and the crocodile pulled,

but the Elephant's Child and the bi-colored Python Rock Snake pulled hardest, and at last the crocodile let go of the elephant's child's nose with a plop that you could hear all up and down the Limpopo. Then the Elephant's Child sat down most hard and sudden, but first he was careful to say thank you to the bi-colored Python Rock Snake, and next he was kind to his poor-pulled nose, and wrapped it all up in cooled banana leaves, and hung it in the great gray-green, greasy limpope to cool.

What are you doing that for?" said the bi-colored Python Rock Snake. "'Skose me,' said the elephant's child. But my nose is badly out of shape, and I am waiting for it to shrink." "'Then you will have to wait a long time,' said the bi-colored Python Rock Snake. Some people do not know what is good for them." The elephant's child sat there for three days waiting for his nose to shrink, but it never grew any shorter, and besides it made him squint. For, O best beloved, you will see and understand that the crocodile had pulled it out into

a really truly trunk, same as all elephants have today. At the end of the third day a fly came and stung him on the shoulder, and before he knew what he was doing he lifted up his trunk and hit that fly dead with the end of it. Vantage number one, said the bicolored python rock snake. You couldn't have done that with a mere smear nose. Try and eat a little now. Before he thought what he was doing, the elephant's child put out his trunk and plucked a large bundle of grass, dusted it clean against his four legs, and stuffed it into his own mouth.

Vantage number two," said the bi-colored Python Rock Snake. You couldn't have done that with a near-smear nose. Don't you think the sun is very hot here?" It is, said the elephant's child, and before he thought what he was doing, he shlooped up a sloop of mud from the banks of the great gray-green greasy limpopo, and slug Lapt it on his head, where it made a cool, sloopy, slushy mudcap all trickily behind his ears. Vantage number three, said the bi-colored Python Rock Snake. You couldn't have done that with a mere smear nose.

Now how do you feel about being spanked again?" "'Excuse me,' said the elephant's child, but I should not like it at all. How would you like to spank somebody?' said the bi-colored Python Rocksaint. I should like it very much indeed, said the elephant's child. Well, said the bicolored python-rocksnake, you will find that new nose of yours very useful to spank people with. Thank you, said the elephant's child. I'll remember that, and now I think I'll go home to all my dear families and try.

So the elephant's child went home across Africa, frisking and whisking his trunk. When he wanted fruit to eat, he pulled fruit down from a tree instead of waiting for it to fall as he used to do. When he wanted grass, he plucked grass up from the ground, instead of going on his knees as he used to do. When the flies bit him, he broke off the branch of a tree and used it to fly-whisk, and he made himself a new, cool, slushy, squishy mudcap whenever the sun was hot. When he felt lonely walking through Africa, he sang to himself down his trunk, and the noise was louder than several brass bands. He went especially out of his way to find a broad hippopotamus, she was no relation of his, and he spanked her very hard

to make sure that the bicolored python rock snake had spoken the truth about his new trunk. The rest of the time he picked up the melon rinds that he had dropped on his way to the Limpopo, for he was a tidy Pachyderm. One dark evening he came back to all his dear families, and he coiled up his trunk and said, How do you do? They were very glad to see him, and immediately said, Come here and be spanked for your satiable courteosity. Poo! said the elephant's child.

I don't think you peoples know anything about that. spanking, but I do, and I'll show you. Then he uncurled his trunk and knocked two of his dear brother's head over heels. Oh, bananas, said they, where did you learn that trick? And what have you done to your nose? I got a new one from the crocodile on the banks of the great gray-green, greasy Limpopo River, said the elephant's child. I asked him what he had for dinner, and he gave me this to keep. It looks very ugly," said his hairy uncle the baboon. It does, said the elephant's child, but it's very useful, and he picked up his hairy uncle,

the baboon by one hairy leg, and hove him into a hornet's nest. Then that bad elephant's child spanked all his dear families for a long time, till they were very warm and greatly astonished. He pulled out his tall ostrich ant's tail feathers, and he caught his tall uncle the giraffe, by the hind leg, and dragged him through a thornbush, and he shouted at his broad ant, the hippopotamus, and blew bubbles into her ear when she was sleeping in the water after meals, and he never let anyone touch Colo Colo Bird. At last things grew so exciting that his dear families went off one by one in a hurry

to the banks of the great gray-green, greasy Limpopo river, all set about with fever trees, to borrow new noses from the crocodile. When they came back, nobody spanked anybody anymore, and ever since that day, oh, best beloved, all the elephants you will ever see, besides all those that you won't, have trunks precisely like the trunk of the satiable elephant's child.

I keep six honest serving men, they taught me all I knew, their names are what and where and when, and how and why and who. I send them over land and sea, I send them east and west, but after they have worked for me I give them all a rest. I let them rest from nine till five, for I am busy then, as well as breakfast, lunch, and tea, for they are hungry men. But different folk have different views. I know a person small. She keeps ten million serving men who get no rest at all. She sends them abroad on her own affairs, from the second she opens her eyes. One million hows, two million wares, and seven

million whys. End of Chapter 5, The Elephants Child Chapter 6 of Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 6. The Sing Song of Old Man Kangaroo. Not always was the kangaroo as now we do behold him, but a different animal with four short legs.

He was gray and he was woolly, and his pride was inordinate. He danced on an outcrop in the middle of Australia, and he went to the little God Nguwa. He went to Ngua at six before breakfast, saying, Make me different from all other animals by five this afternoon. Up jumped Ngua from his seat on the sand-flat and shouted, Go away! He was gray and he was woolly, and his pride was inordinate. He danced on a rock ledge in the middle of Australia, and he went to the middle god Unquing.

He went to Inquing at eight after breakfast, saying, Make me different from all other animals, make me all so wonderfully popular by five this afternoon. Up jumped Inquing from his burrow in the spiny flex and shouted, Go away! He was gray and he was woolly, and his pride was inordinate. He danced on a sandbank in the middle of Australia, and he went to the big God, Nguang. He went to Nguang at ten before dinner-time, saying, make me different from all other animals, make me popular and wonderfully run after by five this afternoon. Up jumped Nkwang from his bath in the saltpan and shouted,

Yes, I will." Unquang called Dingo, Yellow Dog Dingo, always hungry, dusty in the sunshine, and showed him kangaroo. Nguang said, Dingo, wake up, Dingo. Do you see that gentleman dancing on an ash pit? He wants to be popular and very truly run after. Dingo, make him so. Jumped dingo, yellow dog dingo, and said, What, that cat rabbit?

Off ran dingo, yellow dog dingo, always hungry grinning like a cold scuttle, ran after kangaroo. Off went the proud kangaroo on his four little legs like a bunny. This, O beloved of mine, ends the first part of the tale. He ran through the desert, he ran through the mountains, he ran through the salt pans, he ran through the reed beds, he ran through the blue gums, he ran through the spine effects, he ran until his front legs ached. He had two. Still ran dingo, yellow dog dingo, always hungry, grinning like a rat trap, never getting nearer,

getting farther, ran after kangaroo. He had two. Still ran kangaroo. Old man, kangaroo, he ran through the Thai trees, he ran through the mulga. He ran through the long grass. He ran through the shark grass. He ran through the tropics of capricorn and cancer. He ran till his hind legs ate.

He had two. Still ran dingo. Yellow Dog, dingo, hungrier and hungrier, grinning like a horse-collar, never getting nearer, never getting farther, and they came to the Walgong River. Now there wasn't any bridge and there wasn't any ferry-boat, and kangaroo didn't know how to get over, so he stood on his legs and hopped. He had two. He hopped through the Flinders.

He hopped through the senders, he hopped through the deserts in the middle of Australia, he hopped like a kangaroo. First he hopped one yard, then he hopped three yards, then he hopped five yards, his legs growing stronger, his legs growing longer. He hadn't any time for rest or refreshment, and he wanted them very much. Still ran dingo, yellow dog dingo, very much bewildered. very much hungry, and wondering what in the world or out of it made old man-cangaroo hopp.

For he hopped like a cricket, like a pea in a saucepan, or a new rubber ball on a nursery floor. He had two. He tucked up his front legs, he hopped on his hind legs, he stuck out his tail for balance weight behind him, and he hopped through the darling downs. He had two. Still ran dingo, tired dog dingo, hungrier and hungrier very much bewildered and wondering when in the world or out of it, would old man kangaroo stop?

Then came Nguong from his bath in the saltpans and said, It's five o'clock. Down sat dingo, poor dog dingo, always hungry, dusty in the sunshine, hung out his tongue and howled. Down sat kangaroo, old man, kangaroo, stuck out his tail like a milking stool behind him and said, Thank goodness that's finished. Then said Nguong, who is always a gentleman, Why aren't you grateful to yellow dog dingo? Why don't you thank him for all he has done for you?

Then, said kangaroo, tired old kangaroo, He's chased me out of the homes of my childhood. He's chased me out of my regular meal-times. He's altered my shape, so I'll never get it back, and he's played old scratch with my legs. Then, said Unquang, perhaps I'm mistaken, but didn't you ask me to make you different from all other animals, as well as to make you very truly sought after?

And now it is five o'clock? Yes. said Kangaroo. I wish that I hadn't. I thought you would do it by charms and incantations, but this is a practical joke. Joke? said Unquang from his bath in the blue gums.

Say that again, and I'll whistle up dingo and run your hind legs off. No, said Kangaroo, I must apologize. Legs are legs, and you needn't alter them so far as I'm concerned. I only meant to explain to your heart. Lordliness, that I've nothing to eat since morning, and I'm very empty indeed. Yes, said dingo, yellow dog dingo. I'm in just the same situation. I've made him different from all other animals, but what may I have for my tea?

Then said Unquang from his bath in the saltpan, Come and ask me about it tomorrow, because I'm going to wash. So they were left in the middle of Australia. old man kangaroo and yellow dog dingo, and each said, That's your fault. This is the mouth-filling song of the race that was run by a boomer. Run in the single-burst-only event of its kind, started by Big God Unquang from Warabagora Garuma.

Old man kangaroo first, yellow-dog dingo behind. Kangaroo bounded away his, he was. back legs working like pistons, bounded from morning till dark, twenty-five feet to abound. Yellow Dog-Dingo lay, like a yellow cloud in the distance, much too busy to bark. My, but they covered the ground. Nobody knows where they went, or followed that track that they flew in, for that continent hadn't been given a name. They ran thirty degrees from Torres Straits to the Lewin.

Look at the Atlas, please, and they ran back as they came. Supposing you could trot from Adelaide to the Pacific, for an afternoon's run half of what these gentlemen did, you would feel rather hot, but your legs would develop terrific. Yes, my impartimate son, you'd be a marvelous kid. End of Chapter 6. The Sing Song of Old Man Kangaroo. Chapter 7 of Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. This Libravox recording is in the public domain.

Chapter 7 The Beginnings of the Armadillos This, O Best Beloved, is another story of the high and far-off times. In the very middle of those times was a stickily, prickly hedgehog, and he lived on the banks of the Turbid Amazon, eating, shelly snails in things. And he had a friend, a slow, solid tortoise, who lived on the banks of the Turbid Amazon, eating green lettuces and things, and so that was all right, best beloved, do you see? But also, and at the same time, in those high and far-off times,

there was a painted jaguar, and he lived on the banks of the Turbid Amazon, too, and he ate everything that he could catch. When he could not catch deer or monkeys he would eat frogs and beetles, and when he could not catch frogs and beetles he went to his mother jaguar, and she told him how to eat hedgehogs and tortoises. She said to him ever so many times, graciously waving her tail, My son, when you find a hedgehog, you must drop him in, into the water, and then he will uncoil, and when you catch a tortoise you must scoop him out

of his shell with your paw. And so that was all right, best beloved. One beautiful night on the banks of the Turban Amazon, painted jaguar found stickily, prickly hedgehog, and slow, solid tortoise sitting under the trunk of a fallen tree. They could not run away, and so stickily prickly curled himself up. into a ball, because he was a hedgehog, and slow, solid tortoise drew in his head and feet into his shell as far as they would go, because he was a tortoise. And so that was all right, best beloved, do you see?"

"'Now attend to me,' said painted Jaguar. "'Because this is very important. My mother said that when I meet a hedgehog I am to drop him into the water, and then he will uncoil, and when I meet a tortoise I am to scoop him out of his shell with my paw. Now, which of you is hedgehog and which is tortoise? Because to save my spots I can't tell. Are you sure of what your mummy told you? Said stickily, prickly hedgehog. Are you quite sure?

Perhaps she said that when you uncoil a tortoise, you must shell him out of the water with a scoop. And when you paw a hedgehog, you must drop him on the shell. Are you sure of what your mummy told you? Said slow and solid tortoise. Are you quite sure? Perhaps she said that when you water a hedgehog, you must drop him into your paw,

and when you meet a tortoise, You must shell him till he uncoils." "'I don't think it was at all like that,' said Painted Jaguar, but he felt a little puzzled. But please say it again more distinctly. "'When you scoop water with your paw you uncoil it with a hedgehog,' said stickily-prickly. "'Remember that because it's important.' "'But,' said the tortoise, "'when you paw your meat, you drop it in.

into a tortoise with a scoop. Why can't you understand?" "'You are making my spots ache,' said Painted Jaguar. And besides, I don't want your advice at all. I only wanted to know which of you is Hedgehog and which is tortoise." "'I shan't tell you,' said Stickily-prickly. But you can scoop me out of my shell if you like." "'Ah-ha!' said Painted Jaguar. Now I know your tortoise.

You thought I wouldn't. Now I will. Painted Jaguar darted out his patty paw just as tickly prickly curled himself up. And of course Jaguar's patty paw was just filled with prickles. Worse than that, he knocked stickily prickly away and away into the woods and the bushes where it was too dark to find him. he put his patty paw into his mouth, and of course the prickles hurt him worse than ever. As soon as he could speak he said, Now I know he isn't Tortus at all, but—

Then he scratched his head with his unpricly paw. How do I know that this other is Tartus?" "'Because I am Tartis,' said slow and solid. "'Your mother was quite right. She said that you were to scoop me out of my shell with your paw. Began." "'You didn't say she meant that a minute ago,' said Painted Jaguar, sucking the prickles out of his patty paw.

You said she said something quite different.' "'Well, suppose you say that I said that she said something quite different. I don't see that it makes any difference. if she said what you said I said, she said, it's just the same as if I said what she said she said. On the other hand, if you think she said that you were to uncoil me with a scoop instead of pawing me into drops with the shell, I can't help that, can I? But you said you wanted to be scooped out of your shell with my paw," said painted Jaguar.

If you'll think again, you'll find that I didn't say anything of the kind. I said that your mother said that you were to scoop me out of my shell, said slow and solid. What will happen if I do? said the jaguar, most sniffily and most cautious. I don't know, because I've never been scooped out of my shell before. But I tell you truly, if you want to see me swim away, you've only got to drop me into the water." "'I don't believe it,' said the painted jaguar. "'You've mixed up all the things my mother told me to do with the things that you asked me whether I was sure that she didn't say, till I don't know whether I'm on my head or my painted tail.

And now you come and tell me something I can understand, and it makes me more mixy than before. My mother told me that I was to drop one of you two into the water, and as you seem so anxious to be dropped, I think you don't want to be dropped. So jump into the turbid Amazon and be quick about it. I warn you that your mummy won't be pleased. Don't tell her I didn't tell you," said Slow Solid. If you say another word about what my mother said, the Jaguar answered, but he had not finished the sentence, before Slow and Solid quietly dived into the turbid Amazon, swam underwater

for a long way and came out on the bank where stickily Prickily, Prickly, was waiting for him. That was a very narrow escape, said Stickily Prickly. I don't rib-painted Jaguar. What did you tell him that you were? I told him truthfully that I was a truthful tortoise, but he wouldn't believe it. And he made me jump into the river to see if I was, and I was, and he is surprised. Now he's going to tell his mummy, listen to him.

They could hear Painted Jaguar roaring up and down among the trees and the bushes by the side of the Turban Amazon till his mummy came. Son, son, said his mother ever so many times, graciously waving her tail. What have you been doing that you shouldn't have done? I tried to scoop something that said it wanted to be scooped out of its shell with my paw, and my paw is full of pericles, said Painted Jaguar. "'San, son,' said his mother ever so many times, graciously waving her tail, "'By the prickles in your patty-paw, I see that must have been a hedgehog. You should have dropped him into the water.

I did that to the other thing, and he said he was a tortoise, and I didn't believe him. And it was quite true, and he has dived under the turbid Amazon, and he won't come up again. And I haven't anything at all to eat, and I think we had better find lodgings somewhere else. They are too clever on the turbid Amazon for poor me. Son, son, said his mother ever so many times, graciously waving her tail. Now attend to me and remember what I say. A hedgehog curls himself up into a ball, and his prickles stick out every which way at once. By this you may know the hedgehog."

"'I don't like this old lady one little bit,' said stickily-prickly under the shadow of a large leaf. "'I wonder what else she knows.' "'A tortoise can't curl himself up,' Mother Jaguar went on, ever so many times, graciously waving her tail. He only draws his head and legs into his shell. By this you may know the tortoise. I don't like this old lady at all at all," said slow and solid tortoise. Even painted jaguar can't forget those directions. It's a great pity that you can't swim, stickily-prickly."

"'Don't talk to me,' said stickily-prickly. Just think how much better it would be if you could curl up. This is a mess. Listen to painted jaguar." Painted Jaguar was sitting on the banks of the turbanes. in Amazon, sucking prickles out of his paw, and saying to himself, Can't curl but can swim. Slow, solid, that's him.

Curls up but can't swim. Stickly prickly, that's him. He'll never forget that this month of Sundays, said stickily prickling. Hold up my chin, slow and solid. I'm going to try to learn to swim. It may be useful. Excellent. said slow and solid, and he held up Stickily-Prickly's chin, while Stickily-Pricly kicked in the waters of the turbid Amazon.

You'll make a fine swimmer yet, said slow and solid. Now if you can unlace my backplates a little, I'll see what I can do towards curling up. It may be useful. Stickily-prickly helped to unlace tortoise tortoise's backplates. so that by twisting and straining, slow and solid, actually managed to curl up a titi-wee bit. "'Excellent,' said Stickily-Prickily. "'But I shouldn't do any more just now. It's making you black in the face. Kindly lead me into the water once again, and I'll practice that side-stroke, which you say is so easy. And so stickily-prickly-prickly practiced, and slow, solid swam alongside.

"'Excellent,' said slow and solid. "'A little more practice will make you a regular whale. Now if I may trouble you to unlace my back and front plates two holes more, I'll try that fascinating bend that you say is so easy. Won't painted jaguar be surprised?' "'Excellent,' said stickily-prickly, all wet from the turbid Amazon. I declare, I shouldn't know you from one of my own family, two holes, I think you said. A little more expression, please, and don't grunt quite so much, or painted jaguar may hear us.

When you've finished, I want to try that long dive, which you say is so easy. Won't painted jaguar be surprised? And so stickily-prickly dived, and slow and solid dived alongside. "'Excellent,' said slow and solid. "'A little more attention to holding your breath, and you will be able to keep house at the bottom of the turbid Amazon. Now I'll try that exercise of putting my hind legs round my ears, which you say is particularly comfortable. Won't paint the Jaguar be surprised?' "'Excellent,' said Sticker.

prickly, prickly, but it's straining your back plates a little. They're all overlapping now, instead of lying side by side. "'Oh, that's the result of exercise,' said slow and solid. "'I've noticed that your prickles seem to be melting into one another, and that you're growing to look rather more like a pine-cone, and less like a chestnut-bur than you used to.' "'Am I?' said stickily-pickly. Prickly, that comes from my soaking in the water.

Oh, won't paint a jag-warp be surprised." They went on with their exercises, each helping the other till morning came, and when the sun was high they rested and dried themselves. Then they saw that they were both of them quite different from what they had been. "'Dickly, prickly,' said Tortus after breakfast. I am not what I was yesterday, but I think that I may yet amuse, Painted Jaguar." That was the very thing I was thinking just now," said Stickily Prickly. I think scales are a tremendous improvement on Prickles.

To say nothing of being able to swim. Oh, won't Painted Jaguar be surprised? Let's go and find him." By and by they found Painted Jaguar. still nursing his patty paw that had been hurt the night before. He was so astonished that he fell three times backward over his own painted tail without stopping. "'Good morning,' said Stickily-prickly.

"'And how is your dear gracious mummy this morning?' "'She is quite well, thank you,' said Painted Jaguar, "'but you must forgive me if I do not at this precise moment recall your name.' "'That's unkind of you,' said Stickily-prickly. seeing that this time yesterday you tried to scoop me out of my shell with your paw. But you hadn't any shell. It was all prickles, said Painted Jaguar. I know it was. Just look at my paw. You told me to drop into the Turban-Amazon and be drowned, said slow, solid. Why are you so rude and forgetful today?

Don't you remember what your mother told you? said Stickily, prickly. Can't curl, Bacan swim, stickily prickly, that's him. Curls up but can't swim, slow, solid, that's him. Then they both curl themselves up and rolled round and round painted jaguar, till his eyes turned, truly caught wheels in his head. Then he went to fetch his mother. "'Mother,' he said, "'there are two new animals in the woods today, and the one that you said couldn't swim, swims. And the one that you said couldn't curl up, curls. And they've

gone shares in their prickles, I think, because both of them are scaly all over, instead of one being smooth and the other very prickly. And besides that, they are rolling round and round in circles, and I don't feel comfy. "'Son, son,' said Mother Jaguar, ever so many times, graciously waving her tail A hedgehog is a hedgehog and can't be anything but a hedgehog. And a tortoise is a tortoise, and can never be anything else. But it isn't a hedgehog. And it isn't a tortoise.

It's a little bit of both. And I don't know its proper name. Nonsense, said Mother Jaguar. Everything has its proper name. I should call it Armadillo till I found out the real one, and I should leave it alone. So, painted Jaguar did as he was told, especially about leaving them alone.

But the curious thing is that from that day to this, O best beloved, no one on the banks of the turbid Amazon has ever called stickily prickly and slow solid, anything except Armadillo. There are hedgehogs and tortoises in other places, of course, There are some in my garden, but the real old and clever kind with their scales lying lippity lepity one over the other, like pine-cone scales, that lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon

in the high and far-off days, are always called armadillos because they were so clever. So that. All right, best beloved, do you see? I've never sailed the Amazon, I've never reached Brazil, but the Don and Magdalena they can go there when they will. Yes, weekly from Southampton, great steamers white and gold, go rolling down to Rio, roll down, roll down to Rio, and I'd like to roll to Rio some day before I'm old. I've never seen a jaguar, nor yet an armadillo.

Deloying in his armor, and I suppose I never will. Unless I go to Rio, those wonders to behold, roll down, roll down to Rio, roll really down to Rio. Oh, I love to roll to Rio some day before I'm old." End of Chapter 7, the beginning of the Armadillos. Chapter 8 of Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. This Libra Fox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 8 How the First Letter Was Written

Once upon a most early time was a Neolithic man. He was not a jute or an angle or even a Dravidian, which he might well have been best beloved but never mind why. He was a primitive, and he lived cavally in a cave, and he wore very few clothes, and he couldn't read, and he couldn't write, and he didn't want to, and except when he was hungry, he was quite happy. His name was Togumai Bapsuli, and that means, man who does not put his foot forward in a hurry.

But we, O best beloved, will call him Tegumai for short. And his wife's name was Tishumai, to Widrow, and that means, lady who asks a very many questions. But we, O best beloved, will call her to Shumai for short. And his little girl daughter's name was, Tofemai, Methalumai, and that means, small person without any manners who ought to be spanked. But I'm going to call her Taffy. And she was Tegu Mai Bapshuli's best beloved, and her own mummy's best beloved, and

she was not spanked half as much as was good for her. And they were all three very happy. As soon as Taffy could run about she went everywhere with her daddy Tegumai, and sometimes they were not home to the cave till they were hungry. And then Tishu Mai Tawindra would say, Where in the world have you two been to, to get so shocking dirty? Really, my Tegumai, you're no better than my Taffy. Now attend and listen.

One day Tegu-mai, Up Shulai went down through the beaver swamp to the Wagai River to Spear carp fish for dinner, and Tappy went too. Tegumai's spear was made of wood with shark's teeth at the end, and before he had caught any fish at all, he accidentally broke it clean across by jabbing it down too hard on the bottom of the river. They were miles and miles from home. Of course they had their lunch with him in a little bag.

and Tegumai had forgotten to bring any extra spears. Here's a pretty kettle of fish, said Tegumai. It will take me half the day to mend this. There's your big black spear at home, said Taffy. Let me run back to the cave and ask Mommy to give it me. It's too far for your little fat legs, said to Goumai. Besides, you might fall into the beaver swamp and be drowned. We must make the best of my own.

a bad job. He sat down and took out a little leather-mendi bag, full of reindeer sinews and strips of leather, and lumps of bees waxen resin, and began to mend the spear. Tappy sat down, too, with her toes in the water, and her chin in her hand, and thought very hard. Then she said, I say, Daddy, it's an awful nuisance that you and I don't know how to write, isn't it? if we did we could send a message for the new spear taffy said tgumai how often have i told you not to use slang awful isn't a pretty word but it could be a convenience now you mentioned it if we could write home just then a stranger man came along the river but he belonged to a far tribe the tuara's and he did not understand one word of tigumai's language He stood on the bank and smiled at Taffy, because he had a little girl daughter of his own at home. Togumai drew a hank of dear sinews from his mendi bag and began to mend his spear.

"'Come here,' said Taffy. "'Do you know where my mummy lives?' And the stranger man said, "'Muh, being, as you know, a to-a-a-a-wara.' "'Silly,' said Taffy, and she stamped her foot because she saw a shoulder. a very big carp going up the river just when her daddy couldn't use his spear. Don't bother grown-ups, said to Gumai, so busy with his spear-mending, that he did not turn round.

I aren't, said Taffy. I only want him to do what I want him to do, and he won't understand. Then don't bother me, said to Gumai, and he went on pulling and straining at the dear sinews with his mouth full of loose ends. The stranger man, a genuine towar he was, sat down on the grass, and Taffy showed him what her daddy was doing. The stranger man thought, this is a very wonderful child. She stamps her foot at me and she makes faces.

She must be the daughter of that noble chief who was so great that he won't take any notice of me. So he smiled more politely than ever. Now," said Taffy, I want you to go to my mummy because your legs are longer than mine, and you won't fall into the beaver swamp, and ask for Daddy's other spear, the one with the black handle that hangs over our fireplace." The stranger man, and he was, Tohara, thought, this is a very, very wonderful child.

She waves her arms and she shouts at me, but I don't understand the word of what she says. if I don't do what she wants, I greatly fear that that haughty chief, man who turns his back on colors, will be angry. He got up and twisted a big flat piece of bark off a birch tree and gave it to Tabby. He did this, best beloved, to show that his heart was as white as the birch bark and that he meant no harm. But Tappy didn't quite understand. Oh, said she, now I see.

Do you want my mummy's living address? Of course I can't write. But I can draw pictures if I've anything sharp to scratch with. Please let me the shark's tooth off your necklace." The stranger man, and he was a to-wara, didn't say anything. So Taffy put up her little hand and pulled at the beautiful bead and seed and shark-tooth necklace round his neck. The stranger man, and he was a to-wara, thought,

This is a very, very, very wonderful child. The shark's tooth on my necklace is a magic shark's tooth, and I was always told that if anybody touched it without my leave, they would immediately swell up or burst. But this child doesn't swell up or burst, and that important chief, man who attends strictly to his business, who has not yet taken any notice of me at all, doesn't seem to be afraid that she will swell up her burst.

I had better be more polite. So he gave Taffy the shark's tooth, and she lay down flat on her tummy with her legs in the air, like some people on the drawing-room floor when they want to draw pictures, and she said, Now I'll draw you some beautiful pictures. You can look over my shoulder, but you mustn't joggle. First I'll draw Daddy fishing.

It isn't very like him, but Mummy will know, because I've drawn his spear all broken. Well, now I'll draw the other spear that he wants, the black-handle spear. It looks as if it was sticking in Daddy's back, but that's because the shark's tooth slipped and this piece of bark isn't big enough. That's the spear I want you to fetch. So I'll draw a picture of me, myself, explaining to you. My hair doesn't stand up like I've drawn, but it's easier to draw that way. Now, I'll draw you.

I think you're very nice, really, but I can't make you pretty in the picture, so you mustn't be fended. Are you fended? The stranger man, and he was a to-wara, smiled. He thought, there must be a big battle going to be fought somewhere, and this extraordinary child, who takes my magic shark's tooth, but who does not swell up or burst, is telling me to call all the great chief's strive to help him. He is a great chief, or he would have noticed me. Look, said Taffy, drawing very hard and rather scratchily, now I've drawn you, and I put the spear

that Daddy wants into your hand, just to remind you that you're to bring it. Now I'll show you how to find my mummy's living address. You go along till you come to two trees, those are trees, and then you go over a hill, that's a hill, and then you come into a beaver swamp all full of beavers. I haven't put in all the beavers because I can't draw beavers, but I've drawn their heads, and that's all you'll see of them when you cross the swamp. Mind you, don't fall in. Then our cave is just beyond the beaver swamp.

It isn't as high as the hills, really, but I can't draw things very small. That's my mummy outside. She is beautiful. She is the most beautifulest mummy there ever was, but she won't be fended when she sees I've drawn her so plain. She'll be pleased of me because I can draw. Now, in case you forget, I've drawn the spear that Daddy wants outside our cave. It's inside, really, but you show the picture to my mummy and she'll give it to you. I've made her holding up her hands, because I know she'll be so pleased to see you.

Isn't it a beautiful picture? And do you quite understand, or shall I explain again? The stranger man, and he was a Tuara, looked at the picture and nodded very hard. He said to himself, If I do not fetch this great chief's tribe to help him, he will be slain by his enemies, who are coming up on all six. sides with spears. Now I see why the great chief pretended not to notice me. He feared that his enemies were hiding in the bushes and would see him. Therefore he turned to me his back,

and let the wise and wonderful child draw the terrible picture showing me his difficulties. I will away and get help for him from his tribe. He did not even ask Taffy the road, but raced off into the bushes like the wind, with the birch bark in his sea. hand, and Taffy sat down, most pleased. Now this is the picture that Taffy had drawn for him. "'What have you been doing, Taffy?' said Tukumai. He had mended his spear and was carefully waving it to and fro. "'It's a little barangement of my own, Daddy, dear,' said Taffy.

"'If you won't ask me questions, you'll know all about it in a little time, and you'll be surprised. You don't know how surprised you'll be, Daddy. Promise you'll be surprised. Very well, said to Goumae, and went on fishing. The stranger man, did you know he was a towarah? Hurried away with the picture and ran for some miles, till quite by accident he found, Tushu-mai, to Widrow at the door of her cave, talking to some other Neolithic ladies who had come into a primitive lunch. Tappy was very like Tushumai, especially about the upper part of the face and the eyes, so the stranger man, always a pure towarah, smile politely and handed to Shumai the birch bark.

He had run hard so that he panted, and his legs were scratched with brambles, but he still tried to be polite. As soon as Tishumai saw the picture, she screamed like anything. and flew at the stranger man. The other Neolithic ladies that once knocked him down and sat on him in a long line of six, while Tushumai pulled his hair.

It's as plain as the nose on this stranger man's face, she said. He has stuck my Tugami full of spears and frightened poor Tappy so that her hair stands all on end, and not content with that. He brings me a hard picture of how it was done. Look!

She showed the picture to all the Neolithic ladies, sitting patiently on the stranger man. Here is my tigumai with his arm broken. Here is a spear sticking into his back. Here is a man with a spear ready to throw. Here is another man throwing a spear from a cave. And here are a whole pack of people. They were tapy spevers, really, but they did look rather like people. Coming up behind Tegumai, isn't it shocking?

Most shocking, said the Neolithic ladies, and they fill the stranger man's hair with mud, at which he was surprised, and they beat upon the reverberating tribal drums, and called together all the chiefs of the tribe of Tegumai, with their het-mans and dogmins and Nogus's wounds and Akhouns of the organization, in addition to the warlocks, Ejilocks, Angelok's, Jujumen, Banzas, and the rest, who decided that before they chopped the stranger man's head off, he should instantly lead them down to the river and show them where he had hidden, poor Taffy. By this time, the stranger man, in spite of being a Tuara, was really annoyed.

They had filled his hair quite solid with mud. They had rolled him up and down on knobbly pebbles. They had sat upon him in a long line of six. They had thumped him and bumped him till he could hardly breathe. And, though he did not understand their language, he was almost sure that the names the Neolithic ladies called him were not ladylike. However, he said nothing till all the tribe of Tegumai were assembled,

and then he led them back. back to the bank of the Wagai River, and there they found Tappy making daisy chains, and Tegumai carefully spearing small carp with his mended spear. "'Well, you have been quick,' said Tappy. But why did you bring so many people? Daddy dear, this is my surprised. Are you surprised, Daddy?' "'Very,' said Togumai, "'but it has ruined all my fishing for the day.'

Why, the whole dear kind, nice, clean, quiet tribe is here, Taffy. And so they were. First of all, walked to Shumai to Widrow, and the Neolithic ladies, tightly holding on to the stranger man whose hair was full of mud, although he was a towarah. Behind them came the head chief, the vice-chief, the deputy and assistant chiefs, all armed to the upper teeth. They had mans and heads of hundreds, Platofs and their platoons with their detachments, wounds, Nogus, and Akhouns, ranking in the rear, still armed to the teeth.

Behind them was the tribe in hierarchical order, from owners of four caves, one for each season, a private reindeer run, and two salmon leaps, two feudal and prognathos villains, semi-entitled to half a bare-skinned of winter nights, seven yards from the fire, and at script serfs holding the reversion of a scraped marrow bone under Harriet. Aren't those beautiful words, best beloved? They were all there prancing and shouting, and they frightened every fish for twenty miles, and Tegu Mai thanked them in a fluid Neolithic oration. Then, Tishu-Mai Tawydro ran down and kissed and hugged Taffy very much indeed, but the head chief

of the tribe of Tegumai took Tegumai by the top-knot feathers and shook him severely. Explain, explain, explain, exclaimed, cried all the tribe of Tegumai. Goodness sakes alive, said Tegumai, let go of my top-knot. Can't a man break his carp's spear without the whole countryside descending on him? You're a very interfering people." I don't believe you've brought my daddy's black-handled spear after all," said Tappy. And what are you doing to my nice stranger man? They were thumping him by twos and threes and tins, till his eyes turned round and round.

He could only gasp and point at Tappy. Where are all the bad people who speared you, my darling?" said to Shumai to Widrow. There weren't any," said to Guma. My only visitor this morning was the poor fellow that you are trying to choke. Aren't you well, or are you ill, O tribe of Togumai?' "'He came with a horrible picture,' said the head chief. "'A picture that showed you were full of spears.' "'Well, or perhaps I'd better explain that I gave him that picture,' said Tappy.

But she did not feel quite comfy. "'Yo?' said the tribe of Tugumai. altogether? Small person with no manners who ought to be spanked? You? Taffy dear, I'm afraid we're in for a little trouble, said her daddy, and put his arm round her so she didn't care. Explain, explain, explain, explain, said the head chief of the tribe of Togumai, and he hopped on one foot. I wanted the stranger man to fetch daddy's spear, So I drawded it, said Tappy. There wasn't lots of spears that was only one spear.

I drawed it three times to make sure. I couldn't help it looking as if it stuck into Daddy's head. There was a room on the birch park. And those things that Mummy called bad people were my beavers. I drawed them to show him the way through the swamp. And I drawed Mommy at the mouth of the cave looking pleased, because he is a nice stranger man, and I think you are just the stupidest people in the world, said Tappy.

He is a very nice man. Why have you filled his hair with mud? Wash him. Nobody said anything for a long time till the head chief laughed. Then the stranger man, who was at least a towarah, laughed. Then Togumai laughed till he fell down flat on the bank. Then all the tribe laughed more and worse and louder. The only people who did not laugh were to Shumai to Widrow and all the Neolithic ladies.

They were very polite to all their husbands and said idiot ever so often. Then the head chief of the tribe of Togomai cried and sang and said, O small person without any manners who ought to be spanked, you hit upon a great invention. I didn't intend to. I only wanted Daddy's black-handle spear. said Tappy. Never mind. It is a great invention, and some day men will call it writing. At present it is only pictures, and as we have seen today,

pictures are not always properly understood, but a time will come, O babe, of Togumai. When we shall make letters, all twenty-six of them, and when we shall be able to read as well as write, then we shall always say exactly what we mean without any mistakes. Let the Neolithic ladies wash the mud out of the stranger's hair. I shall be glad of that, said Tapie, because after all, though you've brought every single other spear in the tribe of Togumai, you've forgotten my daddy's black-handled spear.

Then the head chief cried and said and sang, Tappy dear, the next one of the next one, time you write a picture letter, you'd better send a man who can talk our language with it to explain what it means. I don't mind it myself because I am a head chief, but it's very bad for the rest of the tribe of Tegumai, and as you can see, it surprises the stranger. Then they adopted the stranger man, a genuine Tawara of Tawar, into the tribe of Tegumai, because he was a gentleman and did not make a fuss about the mud that the Neolithic ladies had put into his hair. But from that day to this, and I suppose it is all Tappy's fault,

very few little girls have ever liked learning to read or write. Most of them prefer to draw pictures and play about with their daddies, just like Tappy. There runs a road by Morrowdown, a grassy track today it is, an hour out of Guilford town above the river way it is. Here, when they heard the horse bells ring, the ancient Britons dressed and rode, to watch the dark Phoenician spring their goods along the western road. And here, or hereabouts, they met,

To hold their racial talks and such, To barter beads for Whitbyjet, And tins for gay-shell-torks and such. But long and long before that time, when bison used to roam on it, did Taffy and her daddy climb that down and had their home on it? Then Beaver built in broad stone brook and made a swamp where Bromley stands. And here's from Shere we come and look for Tafimai where Shambly stands. The way that Tappy called Wagi was more than six times bigger then,

and all the tribe of Tegumai they cut a noble figure then. end of chapter eight how the first letter was written chapter nine of just so stories by rudyard kipling this lebravox recording is in the public domain chapter nine how the alphabet was made the week after taffimi metalumai we will still call her taffy best beloved made that little mistake about her daddy's spear and the stranger man and the the picture letter and all, she went carp fishing again with her daddy. Her mummy wanted her to stay at home and helped hang up hides to dry on the big drying poles outside their neolithic cave, but Taffy slipped away down to her daddy quite early, and they fished. Presently she began to giggle, and her daddy said, don't be silly, child. But wasn't it inciting, said Taffy? Don't you remember how the head chief puffed out his cheeks, and how funny the nice

stranger man looked with the mud in his hair?" "'Well, do I?' said to Goumi. "'I had to pay two deerskins, soft ones with fringes, to the stranger man for the things we did to him.' "'We didn't do anything,' said Taffy. "'It was mummy and the other Neolithic ladies, and the mud.' "'We won't talk about that,' said her daddy. Let's have lunch."

Taffy took a marrow bone and sat mousy quiet for ten whole minutes, while her daddy scratched on pieces of birch bark with the shark's tooth. Then she said, Daddy, I've think of a secret surprise. You make a noise, any sort of noise. Ah, said Tagumai, will that do to begin with? Yes, said Taffy. You look just like a car. with its mouth open.

Say it again, please. Ah, ah, ah, said her, Daddy. Don't be rude, my daughter. I'm not meaning rude, really and truly, said Taffy. It's part of my secret surprise, think. Do say ah, Daddy, and keep your mouth open at the end and lend me that tooth. I'm going to draw a carpfish's mouth wide open. What for?

her daddy. "'Don't you see?' said Taffy, scratching away on the bark. That will be our little secret surprise. When I draw a carp-fish with his mouth open in the smoke at the back of our cave, if mummy doesn't mind, it will remind you of that ah noise. Then we can play that it was me jumped out of the dark and surprised you with that noise, same as I did in the Beaver Swamp last winter." "'Really?' said her daddy.

in the voice that grown-ups use when they are truly attending. Go on, Taffy. Oh, bother, she said I can't draw all of a carpfish, but I can draw something that means a carpfish's mouth. Don't you know how they stand on their heads rooting in the mud? Well, here's a pretence, carpfish. We can play that the rest of him is drawn. Here's just his mouth, and that means ah!

and she drew this. That's not bad, said Togomai, and scratched on his own piece of bark for himself. But you've forgotten the feeler that hangs across his mouth. But I can't draw, Daddy. You needn't draw anything of him, except just the opening of his mouth and the feeler across. Then we'll know he's a carp-fish,

because the perches and trouts haven't got feelers. Look here, Taffy. And he drew this. Now I'll copy it, said Taffy. Will you understand this when you see it? Perfectly, said her daddy. And she drew this. And I'll be quite surprised when I see it anywhere,

as if you had jumped out from behind a tree and said, Ah. Now make another noise, said Taffy, very proud. Yaw, said her daddy, very loud. Hmm, said Taffy. That's a mixy noise. The end part is Ah-carp fish-mouth, but what can we do about the front part? Yer, yur, and ah, ya.

It's very like the carp-fish-mouth noise. Let's draw another bit of the carp-fish and join him, said her daddy. He was quite incited, too. No, if they're joined, I'll forget. Draw it separate. Draw his tail! If he's standing on his head, the tail will come first. Sides, I think I can draw tails easiest, said Taffy.

A good notion, said Togomai. Here's a carp-fish tail for the yur-noise, and he drew this. I'll try now, said Taffy. Remember I can't draw like you, Daddy. Will it do if I just draw the split part of the tail and the sticky-down line for where it joins? and she drew this. Her daddy nodded, and his eyes were shiny bright with sightment. That's beautiful, she said.

Now make another noise, Daddy. Oh, said her daddy very loud. That's quite easy, said Taffy. You make your mouth all around like an egg or a stone, so an egg or a stone will do for that. You can't always find eggs or stones, we'll have to scratch around something like one, and he drew this. "'My gracious,' said Taffy,

"'what a lot of noise pictures we've made. "'Carpmouth, carp-tail, and egg. "'Now, make another noise, Daddy.' "'Shh!' said her daddy and frowned to himself, "'but Taffy was too incited to notice. "'That's quite easy,' she said, scratching on the bark. "'Eh, what?' said her daddy.

"'I mean I was thinking and didn't want to be disturbed. "'It's a noise just the same. "'It's the noise a snake makes Daddy "'when it is thinking and doesn't want to be disturbed. "'Let's make the sh-h-noise a snake. "'Will this do?' "'And she drew this.' "'There,' she said,

"'that's another surprise secret. "'When you draw a hissy snake by the door of your little back cave where you mend the spears, I'll know you're thinking hard, and I'll come in most mousy quiet, and if you draw it on a tree by the river when you are fishing, I'll know you want me to walk most, most mousy quiet, so is not to shake the banks." Perfectly true, said Togumai, and there's more in this game than you think. Tapy dear, I have a notion that your daddy's daughter has hit a upon the finest thing that there ever was since the tribe of Tagumai took to using Shark's

teeth instead of flints for their spearheads. I believe we found out the big secret of the world. Why? said Taffy, and her eyes shone to with incitement. I'll show, said her daddy. What's water in the Tagumai language? Yeah, of course, and it means rare too, like Wagaya, the Wagai River. What is bad water that gives you fever if you drink it?

Black water, swamp water. Yo, of course. Now look, said her daddy. Suppose you saw this scratched by the side of a pool in the beaver swamp, and he drew this. Carp tail and round egg, two noises mixed. Yo, bad water, said Tappy. Of course I wouldn't drink that water, because I wouldn't drink that water,

"'because I'd know you said it was bad. "'But I needn't be near the water at all. "'I might be miles away, hunting, and still—' "'And still it would be just the same as if you stood there and said, "'Go away, Taffy, or you'll get fever. "'All that in a corp-fish-tail and a round-egg. "'Oh, Daddy, we must tell Mummy quick.' And Taffy danced all round him.

"'Not yet,' said Tugamai. not till we've gone a little further. Let's see. Yo is bad water, but so is food cooked by the fire, isn't it? And he drew this. Yes, snake and egg, said Tappy. So that means dinner's ready. If you saw that scratched on a tree, you'd know it was time to come to the cave, so did I.

"'My winky,' said Tukumai, "'that's true, too, but wait a minute. "'I see a difficulty. "'S-O means come and have dinner, "'but show means the drying-poles where we hang our hides.' "'Hawid old drying-poles,' said Taffy. "'I hate helping to hang heavy, hot hairy hides on them. "'If you drew the snake and egg

"'and I thought it meant dinner, and I came in from the wood and found that it meant I was to help mummy hang the two hides on the drying poles. What would I do? You'd be cross, so'd mummy. We must make a new picture for show. We must draw a spotty snake that hisses sh, sh, sh, sh, and we'll play that the plain snake only his says s. I wouldn't be sure how to put in the spots, said Taffy, and perhaps if you were in a hurry, You might leave them out.

And I think it was so when it was show, and then Mommy would catch me just the same. No, I think we'd better draw a picture of the horrid high drying-poles their very selves and make sure. I'll put them in just after the hissy snake. Look, and she drew this. Perhaps that's safest. It's very like our drying-poles, anyhow, sent her daddy laughing. Now I'll make a new noise with a snake and drying-pulls sound in it. I'll say, shy.

That's Degu-bye for spear, Taffy. And he laughed. Don't make fun of me, said Taffy, as she thought of her picture-letter and the mud in the stranger-man's hair. You draw it, Daddy. We won't have Bieber as a-Hills this time, eh? Said her, Daddy. I'll just draw a straight line for my spear,

and he drew this. Even Mummy couldn't mistake that for me being killed. Please don't, Daddy. It makes me uncomfied. Do some more noises. We're getting on beautifully. Ahem, said Tagumai, looking up, We'll say shoe.

That means sky. Taffy drew the snake and the drying pole. Then she stopped. We must make a new picture for that end to sound. mustn't we? Sh-sh-shu-shoe, said her daddy. Why, it's just like the round-egg sound made thin.

Then suppose we draw a thin round-egg and pretend it's a frog that hasn't eaten anything for years. No, no, said her daddy. If we drew that in a hurry, we might mistake it for the round egg itself. Shoo-shoe-shoe. Shoo, I tell you what we'll do.

We'll open a little hole at the end of the round egg to show how the O noise runs out all thin. Oh, like this. And he drew this. Oh, that's lovely. Much better than a thin frog. Go on, said Tappy, using her shark's tooth. Her daddy went on drawing, and his hand shook with incitement. He went on till he had drawn this.

Don't look up, Taffy, he said. Try if you can make out what that means in the Tegu My language. If you can, we found the secret. Snake, pole, broken egg, carp, tail, and carp mouth, said Taffy. Shooya, sky water, rain. Just then a drop fell on her hand. for the day he clouded over. "'Why, Daddy, it's raining.

Was that what you meant to tell me?' "'Of course,' said her, Daddy. "'And I told it you without saying a word, didn't I?' "'Well, I think I would have known it in a minute. But that raindrop made me quite sure. I'll always remember now, Shoo-ya means rain, or it is going to rain.' "'Why, Daddy!'

She got up and danced around him. suppose you went out before i was awake and drawed shoo ya in the smoke on the wall i'd know it was going to rain and i'd take my beaver skin hood wouldn't mommy be surprised tigoumi got up and danced daddies didn't mind doing those things in those days more than that more than that he said suppose i wanted to tell you it wasn't going to rain much and you must come down to the river what would we draw say the words in tigoumi talk first shoo yah loss yamaru sky water ending river come to what a lot of new sounds i don't see how we can draw them but i do but i do said to guma just attend a minute tapie and we won't do any more today we've got shu ya all right haven't we but this loss is a teaser. La, la, la, and he waved his shark-tooth. There's the hissy snake at the end, and the carp-mouthed before the snake. As, ass, ass.

We only want la-la, said Taffy. I know it, but we have to make Lala, and we're the first people in all the world who've ever tried to do it, Taffymy. Well, said Taffy, yawning. for she was rather tired. Loss means breaking or finishing as well as ending, doesn't it? So it does, said Tegumai. To-Loss means that there's no water in the tank for mummy to cook with, just when I'm going hunting, too.

And she-loss means that your spear is broken. If I'd only thought of that instead of drawing silly beaver pictures for the stranger. La-la-la, la, said Tug-Gumai, said to Goumi. waving his stick and frowning. Oh, bother. I could have drawn she quite easily, Tappy went on. Then I'd have drawn your spear all broken, this way. And she drew this.

The fairy thing, said it to Gumai. That's law all over. It isn't like any of the other marks either, and he drew this. Now for, yeah. Oh, we've done that before. Now for Maru. "'M-mm-mm-mm,' "'M-shuts one's mouth up, doesn't it?

"'We'll draw a shut-mouth like this, and he drew this. "'Then the carp-mouth open, that makes ma-ma-ma, ma. "'But what about this er-thing, Taffy?' "'It sounds all rough and edgy, like your shark-tooth saw "'when you're cutting out a plank for the canoe,' said Tappy.' You mean all sharp at the edges like this? said to Gumai, and he drew this. Exactly, said Taffy, but we don't want all those teeth. Only put two. I'll only put in one, said to Gumai. If this game of ours is going to be what I think it will, the easier we make

our sound pictures the better for everybody. And he drew this. Now we've got it, said it. to Gu-mai, standing on one leg, I'll draw them all in a string like fish. Hadn't we better put a little bit of stick or something between each word, so's they won't rub up against each other and jostle, same as if they were corpse? Oh, I'll leave a space for that, said her daddy. And very incitedly he drew them all without stopping on a big new bit of birch-bork. Shou y'alas yamaru, said Taffy, reading it out sound by sound.

That's enough for today, said Togomai. Besides, you're getting tired, Taffy. Never mind, dear. We'll finish it all tomorrow, and then we'll be remembered for years and years after the biggest trees you can see are all chopped up for firewood. So they went home and all that evening. Tagumai sat on one side of the fire and taffy on the other, drawing yas and yoes and shoes and shees in the smoke on the wall and giggling together, till her mummy said, really, Tagmi, you're worse than my taffy. Please don't mind, said Taffy. It's only our secret surprise, mummy dear, and we'll tell you all about it the very minute it's done.

But please don't ask me what it is now, or else I'll have to tell. So her mummy most carefully didn't, and bright and early next morning, Togomai went down to the river to think about new sound pictures, and when Tappy got up, she saw Yala's water is ending or running out, chalked on the side of the big stone water tank outside the cave. Hmm, said Tappy. These picture sounds are rather a bother. Daddy's just as good as come here himself and told me to get more water from Mummy to cook with.

She went to the spring at the back of the house and filled the tank from a bark bucket, and then she ran down to the river and pulled her Daddy's left ear, the one that belonged to her to pull when she was good. Now come along and we'll draw all the leftover sound pictures, said her daddy, and they had a most inciting day of it, and a beautiful lunch in the middle and two games of romps. When they came to tea, Taffy said that, as her name and her daddies and her mummies all began with that sound, they should draw a sort of family group of themselves holding hands. That was all very well to draw once or twice.

But when it came to drawing it six or seven times, Taffy and to go. Gumai drew it scratchier and scratchier. Till at last the T-Sound was only a long thin tigumai, with his arms out to hold Taffy and Tushu-Mai. You can see from these three pictures, partly how it happened. Many of the other pictures were much too beautiful to begin with, especially before lunch, but as they were drawn over and over again on Birchburg,

They became plainer and easier, till at last even Tegumai said he could find no fault with them. They turned the hissy snake the other way round for the Z sound, to show it was hissing backwards in a soft and gentle way. And they just made a twiddle for E because it came into the picture so often, and they drew pictures of the sacred beaver of the Togumais for the B sound, because it was a nasty, noisy noise. they just drew noses for the end sound till they were tired, and they drew a picture of the big Lake Pike's mouth for the greedy gaw sound.

And they drew the pike's mouth again, with a spear behind it for the scrunchy, hurdy, cah sound. And they drew pictures of a little bit of the winding Wagai River for the nice windy, windy wah sound. And so on and so far. forth and so, following till they had done, and drawn all the sound pictures that they wanted, and there was the alphabet all complete. And after thousands and thousands and thousands of years,

and after hieroglyphics and demotics and nilotics and cryptics and coophics and runics and durex and ionics, and all sorts of other ricks and ticks, because the wounds and the wounds and the and the Ngooses and the Akhouns and the repositories of tradition would never leave a good thing alone when they saw it. The fine, old, easy, understandable alphabet, A, B, C, D, E, and the rest of them, got back into its proper shape again for all best beloveds to learn when they are old enough. But I remember Tgumai Boptsumai and Tafi. my, Metalumai, and Tishu-Mai, Towindro, her dear mummy, and all the days gone by, and it was so,

just so, a little time ago, on the banks of the big Wagai. Of all the tribe of Togumai who cut that figure none remain, on it merrowed down the cuckoo's cry, the silence and the sun remain. But as the faithful years return, and hearts unwounded sing again, comes Taffy dancing through the fern to lead the Surrey spring again. Her brows are bound with bracken fronds, and golden elf-locks fly above, her eyes are bright as diamonds and bluer than the skies above. In moccasins and dear-skin cloak, unfearing free and fair, she, she flits, and lights her little damp wood smoke to show her daddy where she flits. For far, oh, very far behind, so far she cannot call to him, comes to Guamai alone to find

the daughter that was all to him. End of How the Alphabet Was Made. Chapter 10 of Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 10 The Crab That Played with the Sea Before the high and far-off times, oh my best beloved, came the time of the very beginnings. And that was in the days when the eldest magician was getting things ready.

First he got the earth ready, then he got the sea ready, and then he told all the animals that they could come out and play. And the animal said, Oh, well, this magician, what shall we play at? And he said, I will show you. He took the elephant, all the elephant there was, and said, play at being an elephant. And all the elephant there was played.

He took the beaver, all the beaver there was, and said, play at being a beaver. And all the beaver there was, played. He took the cow. All the cow there was, and said, play at being a cow. And all the cow there was played. He took the turtle, all the turtle there was, and said, Play at being a turtle, and all the turtle there was played.

One by one, he took all the beasts and the birds and the fishes, and told them what to play at. but towards evening when people and things grow restless and tired there came up the man with his own little girl daughter yes with his own best-beloved little girl-daughter sitting upon his shoulder and he said what is this play eldest magician and the eldest magician said oh son of adam this is the play of the very beginning But you were too wise for this play, and the man saluted and said, Yes, I am too wise for this play, but see that you make all the animals obedient to me. Now, while the two were talking together, Pao Amma, the crab, who was next in the game, scuttled off sideways, and stepped into the sea, saying to himself,

I will play my play alone in the deep waters, and I will never. never be obedient to this son of Adam. Nobody saw him go away except the little girl-daughter, where she leaned on the man's shoulders. And the play went on till there were no more animals left without orders, and the eldest magician wiped the fine dust off his hands and walked about the world to see how the animals were playing. He went north, best beloved, and he found all the elephant there was. digging with his tusks and stamping with his feet in the nice new clean earth that had been made ready for him.

"'Coon?' said all the elephant there was, meaning, is this right?' "'Paya-Koon,' said the eldest magician, meaning that is quite right. And he breathed upon the great rocks and lumps of earth that all the elephant there was had thrown up, and they became the great Himalayan mountains. and you can look them out on the map. He went east, and he found all the cow there was, feeding in the field that had been made ready for her, and she licked her tongue round a whole forest at a time, and swallowed it and sat down to chew her cud.

"'Coon?' said all the cow there was. "'Paya-kun,' said the eldest magician, and he breathed upon the bare patch where she had Eden, and upon the place where she had sat down, and one became the great Indian desert, and the other became the desert of Sahara, and you could look them out on the map. He went west, and he found all the beaver there was, making a beaver dam across the mouths of broad rivers that had been got ready for him. Kun! said all the beaver there was. Paya-kun! said the eldest magician, and he breathed upon the fallen tree,

and the still water, and they became the Everglades in Florida, and you may look them out on the map. Then he went south and found all the turtle there was, scratching with his flippers in the sand that had been got ready for him, and the sand and the rocks whirled through the air, and fell far off into the sea. Coon! said all the turtle there was. Paya-kun, said the eldest magician. and he breathed upon the sand and the rocks where they had fallen in the sea,

and they became the most beautiful islands of Borneo, Selibis, Sumatra, Java, and the rest of the melee archipelago, and you can look them out on the map. By and by the eldest magician met the man on the banks of the Perak River, and said, "'Ho, son of Adam, are all the animals obedient to you?' Yes, said the man. Is all the earth obedient to you? Yes, said the man.

Is all the sea obedient to you? No, said the man. Once a day and once a night, the sea runs up the Perak River and drives the sweet water back into the forest. So that my house is made wet, once a day and once a night it runs down the river and draws all the water after it

so that there is nothing left but mud, and my canoe is upset. Is that the play you told it to play?' "'No,' said the eldest magician. "'That is a new and bad play.' "'Look,' said the man, and as he spoke, the great sea came up the mouth of the Perak River, driving the river backwards till it overflowed all the dark forests from miles and miles, and flooded the man's house. This is wrong.

Launch your canoe, and we will find out who is playing with the sea, said the eldest magician. They stepped into the canoe. The little girl daughter came with him, and the man took his criss, a curving, wavy dagger with the blade like a flame, and they pushed out on the Perak River. Then the sea began to run back and back, and the canoe was sucked out of the mouth of the Perak River, past Selangor, past Malacca, past Singapore, out and out to the island of Bing-Tang, as though it had been pulled by a string. Then the eldest magician stood up and shouted,

Ho! beasts, birds and fishes that I took between my hands at the very beginning, and taught the play that you should play, which one of you is playing with a sea? Then all the beasts, birds, and fishes, said together, Eldest magician, we play the plays that you taught us to play. We and our children's children, but not one of us plays with the sea. Then the moon rose big and full over the water, and the eldest magician said to the hunchbacked old man who sits in the moon, spinning a fishing line with which he hopes one day to catch the world.

"'Ho, fisher of the moon! Are you playing with the sea?' "'No,' said the fisherman. "'I am spinning a line with which I shall one day catch the world, but I do not play with the sea.' And he went on spinning his line. Now there is also a rat up in the moon, who always bites the old fisherman's line as fast as it has made. And the eldest magician said to him,

"'Ho, rat of the moon! Are you playing with the sea?' And the rat said, "'I am too busy biting through the line that this old fisherman is spinning. I do not play with a sea!' And he went on biting the line. Then the little girl-daughter put up her little soft brown arms with the beautiful white-shell bracelets and said, "'Oh, eldest magician, when my father here talked to you at the very beginning,

and I leaned upon his shoulder while the beasts were being taught their plays. One beast went away nautily into the sea before you had taught him his play. And the eldest magician said, How wise are little children who see and are silent? What was the beast like? And the little girl-daughter said, He was round and he was flat, and his eyes grew upon stalks,

and he walked sideways like this. and he was covered with strong armor upon his back. And the eldest magician said, How wise are little children who speak truth! Now I know where Pao Amma went. Give me the paddle. So he took the paddle, but there was no need to paddle, for the water flowed steadily past all the islands,

till they came to the place called Pusat Tasek, the heart of the sea, where the great hollow is that leads down to the heart of the world, and in that hollow grows the wonderful tree, Pao Jongi, that bears the magic twin nuts. Then the eldest magician slid his arm up to the shoulder through the deep warm water, and under the roots of the wonderful tree he touched the broad back of Pao Ama the crab. And Pao Ama settled down at the touch, and all the sea rose up. as water rises in a basin when you put your hand into it.

Ah, said the eldest magician, now I know who has been playing with the sea. And he called out, What are you doing, Paoama? And Paoama, deep below, answered, Once a day and once a night, I go out to look for my food. Once a day and once a night, I return. Leave me alone.

Then the eldest magician said, Listen, Pao Amma, when you go out from your cave, The waters of the sea pour down into Pusat Tasek, And all the beaches of all the islands are left bare, and the little fish-tieh. And Raja Moyang Kaban, the king of the elephants, his legs are made muddy. When you come back and sit in, Pusat Tasek, The waters of the sea rise, and half the little island. islands are drowned, and the man's house is flooded, and Raja Abdullah, the king of the

Crocodiles, his mouth is filled with salt water. Then Paoamah deep down below laughed and said, I did not know why was so important. Henceforward, I will go out seven times a day, and the waters shall never be still. And the eldest magician said, I cannot make you play the play you were meant to play, Pao Amma, because you escaped me at the very beginning. But if you are not afraid, come up and we will talk about it. I am not afraid, said Pao Amma, and he rose to the top of the sea in the moonlight.

There was nobody in the world so big as Pao Ama, for he was the king crab of all crabs. Not a common crab, but a king crab. One side of his great shell touched the beach at Sarawak. The other touched the beak at Pahang, and he was taller than the smoke of three volcanoes. As he rose up through the branches of the wonderful tree, he tore off one of the great twin fruits, the magic double-kerneled nuts that make people young, and the little girl daughter saw it Bobby. alongside the canoe, and pulled it in, and began to pick out the soft eyes of it with her little golden scissors.

Now, said the magician, make a magic, Paoama, to show that you are really important. Powama rolled his eyes and waved his legs, but he could only start up to sea, because, though he was a king crab, he was nothing more than a crab, and the eldest magician laughed. You are not so important, after all, Paoama, he said. Now let me try. And he made him magic with his left hand, with just the little finger of his left hand, and lo and behold, best beloved,

Paoama's hard, blue-green black shell fell off him as a husk falls off a coconut. And Powama was left all soft. Soft as the little crabs that you sometimes find on the beach, best beloved." Indeed, you are very important, said the eldest magician. Shall I ask the man here to cut you with Chris? Shall I send for Raja Moyang Kaban, the king of the elephants, to pierce you with his tusks? Or shall I call Raja Abdullah the king of the crocodiles to bite you?

And, Pao Amma said, I am ashamed. Give me back my hard shell and let me go to Pusatasek, and I will only start out once a day and once a night to get my food. And the eldest magician said, No, Paoama, I will not give you back your shell, for you will grow bigger and prouder and stronger, and perhaps you will forget your promise, and you will play with the sea once more. Then Paoama said, What shall I do?

I am so big that I can only hide in Pusat Tasek, and if I go anywhere else all soft as I am now, the sharks and the dogfish will eat me. And if I go to Pusat Tasek, all soft as I am now, though I may be safe, I can never stir out to get my food and so I shall die. Then he waved his legs and lamented. "'Listen, Pao Amma,' said the eldest magician, I cannot make you play the play you were meant to play, because you escaped me at the very beginning.

But if you choose, I can make every stone and every hole and every bunch of weed and all the seas, a safe pussat-tasek for you and your children for always. Then Pao-A-ma said, That is good, but I do not choose yet. Look, there is that man who talked to you. at the very beginning. If he had not taken up your attention, I should not have grown tired of waiting and run away, and all this would never have happened. What will he do for me? And the man said, If you choose, I will make a magic so that both the deep water and the dry ground will be a home for you and your children, so that you shall be able to hide both on the land

and in the sea. And Paoamov said, I do not choose yet. Look, there is the girl who saw me running away at the very beginning. If she had spoken then, the eldest magician would have called me back, and all this would never have happened.

What will she do for me? And the little girl daughter said, This is a good nut that I am eating. If you choose, I will make a match. and I will give you this pair of scissors, very sharp and strong, so that you and your children can eat coconuts like this all day long when you come up from the sea to the land, or you can dig a pussat tasek for yourself, with the scissors that belong to you when there is no stone or hole nearby.

And when the earth is too hard, by the help of these same scissors, you can run up a tree. And Paolama said, I do not choose yet. For all soft as I am, these gifts would not help me. Give me back my shell, O eldest magician, and then I will play your play. And the eldest magician said, I will give it back, Paolama, for eleven months of the year. But on the twelfth month of every year, it shall grow soft again to remind you and all your children, that I can make magics, and to keep you humble, Pao Amma. For I see that if you can run both under the water and on land, you will grow too bold.

And if you can climb trees and crack nuts and dig holes with your scissors, you will grow too greedy, Pao Amma. Then Pao Ama thought a little and said, I have made my choice. I will take all the gifts. Then the eldest magician made a magic with the right hand, with all five fingers of his right hand, and lo and behold, best beloved, Paul Amma grew smaller, and smaller, and smaller, till at last there was only a little green crab, swimming in the water alongside the canoe,

crying in a very small voice, give me the scissors! And the girl-daughter picked him up on the palm of her little brown hand, and sat him in the bottom of the canoe and gave him her scissors, and he waved them in his little arms, and opened them and shut them and snapped them, and said, I can eat nuts, I can crack shells, I can dig holes, I can climb trees, I can breathe in the dry air, and I can find a safe pussot. Tasek, under every stone. I did not know why was so important, Coon? Is this right? Paya Coon, said the eldest magician, and he laughed and gave him his blessing, and little Paoama scuttled over the side of the canoe into the water,

and he was so tiny that he could have hidden under the shadow of a dry leaf on land or of a dead shell at the bottom of the sea. Was that well done? said the eldest magician. Yes, said the man, but now we must go back to Parak, and that is a weary way to paddle. If we had waited to Paoama had gone out of Pusak-Tasek and come home, the water would have carried us there by itself. You are lazy, said the eldest magician. So your children shall be lazy.

They shall be the laziest people. in the world. They shall be called the malaysi, the lazy people. And he held up his finger to the moon and said, O fisherman, here is the man, too lazy to row home. Pull his canoe home with your line, fisherman. No, said the man. If I am to be lazy all my days, let the sea work for me twice a day forever. That will save paddling." And the eldest magician laughed and said, Paya Kuhn, that is right. And the rat of the moon stopped biting the line,

and the fisherman let his line down till it touched the sea, and he pulled the whole deep sea along, past the island of Bintang, past Singapore, past Malacca, past Salangor, till the canoe whirled into the mouth of the Perak River again. "'Coon,' said the fisherman of the moon, "'Paya Coon,' said the eldest magician, "'See now that you pull the sea twice a day and twice a night forever,

so that the Malaisei fishermen may be saved paddling. But be careful not to do it too hard, or I shall make a magic on you as I did to Powama. Then they all went up the Perak River and went to bed, best beloved. Now listen and attend. From that day to this, the moon has always pulled the sea up and down and made what we call the tides. Sometimes the fissure of the sea pulls a little too hard, and then we get spring tides, and sometimes he pulls a little too softly, and then we get what are called neap tides,

but nearly always he is careful, because of the eldest magician. And, Paoama? You can see when you go to the beach, how all Pao Amas babies make little Pusatossacks for themselves under every stone and bunch of weed on the sands. You can see them waving their little scissors, and in some parts of the world they truly live on the dry land, and run up the palm trees and eat coconuts, exactly as the girl-daughter promised. But once a year all Pao Amas must shake off their hard armor and be soft to remind them of what the eldest magician could do. And so it isn't fair to kill or hunt Pao Amas babies

just because old Pao Amma was stupidly rude a very long time ago. Oh, yes, and Pao Amas babies hate being taken out of their little Pusat Tasex and brought home in pickle-bottle That is why they nip you with their scissors, and it serves you right. China-going P&Os pass Powama's playground clothes, and his Pusat Tasek lies near the track of most B-I's. U-Y-K and NDL know Pao-Ama's home as well, as the Fisher of the Sea knows, Ben's M-M's and Rubatinos. But, and this is rather queer,

ATLs cannot come here. O-N-O-N-D-O-A must go round another way. Orient, Anchor, Bibi, Hull, never go that way at all. U.S. would have a fit if it found itself on it. And if beavers took their cargoes to Penang instead of Lagoes, or a fat Shaw, Savile Boar, passengers to Singapore, Or a white star were to try a little trip to Sarabay, or a BSA went on past Natal to Cherubon, then great Mr. Lloyd's would come with a wire and drag them home.

You'll know what my riddle means when you eat mangostines. Or if you can't wait till then, ask them to let you have the outside page of the times, turn over the page to where it is marked. shipping on the top left hand. Then take the Atlas, and that is the finest picture book in the world, and see how the names of the places that the steamers go to fit into the names of the places on the map. Any steamer kitty ought to be able to do that, but if you can't read, ask someone to show it to you. End of The Crab That Played with the Sea. Chapter 11 of Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling.

This Libra Vox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 11 The Cat That Walked by Himself Hear and attend and listen. For this befell and be happened and became, and was, oh my best beloved, When the tame animals were wild. The dog was wild and the horse was wild and the cow was wild, and the sheep was wild and the pig was wild as wild as wild could be, and they walked in the wet wild woods by their wild loans.

But the wildest of all the wild animals was the cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him. Of course the man was wild too. He was dreadfully wild. He didn't even begin to be tame till he met the woman, and she told him that she did not like living in his wild ways. She picked out a nice dry cave instead of a heap of wet leaves to lie down in, and she strewed clean sand on the floor, and she lit a nice fire of wood at the back of the cave,

and she hung a dried wild horse-skin tail down across the opening of the cave, and she said, Wipe your feet, dear, when you come in, and now we'll keep house. That night, best beloved, they ate wild sheep roasted on the hot stones and flavored with wild garlic and wild pepper, and wild duck stuffed with wild rice and wild fidegric, and wild coriander and marrow bones of wild oxen, and wild cherries, and wild grenadias. Then the man went to sleep in front of the fire ever so happy, but the woman sat up combing her hair. She took the bone of the shoulder of mutton, the big fat blade bone, and she looked at the wonderful

marks on it, and she threw more wood on the fire, and she made a magic. She made the first singing magic in the world. Out in the wet wild woods saw the wild animals gathered together where they could. could see the light of the fire a long way off, and they wondered what it meant. Then Wild Horse stamped with his wild foot and said, Oh, my friends and my enemies, why have the man and the woman made that great light in that great cave, and what harm will it do us? Wild Dog lifted up his wild nose and smelled the smell of roast mutton and said,

I will go up and see and look and say, for I think it is good. Cat, come with me. Nanny, said the cat. I am the cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me. I will not come. Then we can never be friends again, said the wild dog, and he trotted off to the cave. But when he had gone a little way, the cat said to himself, All places are alike to me.

Why should I not go to and see and look and come away at my own liking? So he slipped after Wild Dog softly, very softly, and hid himself where he could hear everything. When Wild Dog reached the mouth of the cave, he lifted up the dried horse skin with his nose and sniffed the beautiful smell of the roast mutton, and the woman, looking at the blade bone, heard him and laughed and said,

Here comes the first, wild thing out of the wild woods. What do you want? Wild Dog said, Oh, my enemy and wife of my enemy, What is this that smells so good in the wild woods? Then the woman picked up a roasted mutton bone And threw it to Wild Dog and said, Wild Thing out of the wild woods, taste and try.

Wild Dog gnawed the bone, and it was more delicious than anything he had ever tasted. And he said, Oh, my enemy and wife of my enemy, give me another. The woman said, Wild thing out of the wild woods. Help my man to hunt through the day and guard this cave at night, and I will give you as many roast bones as you need.

Ah, said the cat listening, This is a very wise woman, But she is not so wise as I am." Wild Dog crawled into the cave and laid his head on the woman's lap and said, Oh, my friend and wife of my friend, I will help your man hunt through the day, and at night I will guard your cave. Ah, said the cat listening, that is a very foolish dog, and he went back through the wet wild woods, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild loan, but he never told anybody.

When the man waked up he said, What is wild dog doing here? And the woman said, His name is not wild dog anymore, but the first friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always. Take him with you when you go hunting. Next night the woman cut great green,

armfuls of fresh grass from the water meadows, and dried it before the fire so that it smelt like new moan hay, and she sat at the mouth of the cave and plaited a halter out of horse-hide, and she looked at the shoulder of mutton bone, at the big, broad blade-bone, and she made a magic. She made the second singing magic in the world. Out in the wild woods all the wild animals wondered what had happened to wild dog, and at last wild horse stamped with his foot and said, I will go and see why wild dog has not returned. Cat, come with me.

Nanny, said the cat. I am the cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me. I will not come. But all the same he followed wild horse softly, very softly, and hid himself where he could hear everything. When the woman heard wild horse tripping and stumbling on his long mane, she laughed and said, Here comes the second.

Wild Thing, out of the wild woods, what do you want? Wild Horse said, Oh, my enemy and wife of my enemy, where is wild dog? The woman laughed and picked up the blade bone and looked at it and said, wild thing out of the wild woods, you do not come here for wild dog, but for the sake of this good grass. And wild horse, tripping and stumbling on his long mane,

said, that is true, give it to me to eat. The woman said, Wild thing out of the wild woods, bend your wild head and wear what I give you, and you shall eat the wonderful grass three times a day. Ah, said the cat, listening, this is a clever woman, but she is not so clever as I am. Wild Horse bent his wild head, and the woman slipped the plaited hide halter over it, and while a horse breathed on the woman's feet and said,

Oh, my mistress and wife of my master, I will be your servant for the sake of the wonderful grass. "'Ah,' said the cat, listening, "'that is a very foolish horse!' And he went back through the wet wild woods, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild loan, but he never told anybody. When the man and the dog came back from hunting, the man said,

"'What is wild horse doing here?' And the woman said, his name is not wild horse anymore, but the first servant, because he will carry us from place to place, for always and always and always. Ride on his back when you go hunting. Next day, holding her wild head high that her wild horns should not catch in the wild trees, Wild cow came up to the cave, and the cat followed, and hid himself just the same as before, and everything happened just the same as before, and the cat said the same things as before, and when the wild cow had promised to give her milk to the woman every day in exchange for the wonderful grass, the cat went back through the wet wild woods, waving his wild tail, and walking by his

wild alone, just the same as before. But he never told anybody. And when the man and the horse and the dog came home from hunting and asked the same questions same as before, the woman said her name is not wild cow anymore, but the giver of good food. She will give us the warm white milk for always and always and always, and I will take care of her while you and the first friend and the first servant go hunting.

Next day the cat waited to see if any other wild thing would go up to the cave, but no one moved in the wet wild woods, so the cat walked there by himself, and he saw the woman milking the cow, and he saw the light of the fire in the cave, and he smelt the smell of the warm white milk. Cat said, Oh, my enemy and wife of my enemy, where did wild cow go? The woman laughed and said, Wild thing out of the wild woods, go back to the woods again, for I have braided up my hair, and I have put away the magic blade bone,

and we have no more need of either friends or servants in our cave. Kat said, I am not a friend, and I am not a servant. I am the cat who walks by himself, and I wish to come into your cave. Woman said, then why did you not come with the first friend on the first night? Cat grew very angry and said, Has wild dog told tales of me? Then the woman laughed and said, You are the cat who walks by himself.

And all places are alike to you. You are neither a friend nor a servant. you have said it yourself, go away and walk by yourself in all places alike. Then Cat pretended to be sorry and said, Must I never come into the cave? Must I never sit by the warm fire? Must I never drink the warm white milk? You are very wise and very beautiful.

You should not be cruel, even to a cat. Woman said, I knew I was wise, but I did not know I was beautiful. So I will make a bargain with you. If ever I say one word in your praise, you may come into the cave. And if you say two words in my praise, said the cat. I never shall, said the woman. But if I say two words in your praise, you may sit by the fire in the cave.

And if you say three words, said the cat. I never shall, said the woman. But if I say three words in your praise, you may drink the warm white milk three times a day for always and always and always. Then the cat arched his back and said, Now let the curtain at the mouth of the cave, and the fire at the back of the cave and the milk-pots that stand beside the fire, remember what my enemy and the wife of my enemy has said,

and he went away through the wet wild woods, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild loan. That night, when the man and the horse and the dog came home from hunting, the woman did not tell them of the bargain that she had made with a cat, because she was afraid that they might not like it. Cat went far and far away, and hid himself in the wet wild woods, by his wild loan for a long time, till the woman forgot all about him. Only the bat, the little upside-down bat,

that hung inside the cave, knew where the cat hid, and every evening bat would fly to cat with news of what was happening. One evening, Bat said, There is a baby in the cave. He is new and pink and fat and small, and the woman is very fond of him. "'Ah,' said the cat, listening. "'But what is the baby fond of?'

"'He is fond of things that are soft and tickle,' said the bat. "'He is fond of warm things to hold in his arms when he goes to sleep. He is fond of being played with. He is fond of all those things.' "'Ah,' said the cat, listening, "'then my time has come.' "'Next night. Cat walked through the wet wild woods and hid very near the cave till morning time, and man and dog and horse went hunting.

The woman was busy cooking that morning, and the baby cried and interrupted. So she carried him outside the cave and gave him a handful of pebbles to play with, but still the baby cried. Then the cat put out his patty paw and patted the baby on the cheek. And it cooed, and the cat rubbed against its fat knees and tickled it under its fat chin with his tail. And the baby laughed. And the woman heard him, and smiled. Then the bat, the little upside-down bat that hung in the mouth of the cave, said, Oh, my hostess and wife of my host and mother of my host's son,

a wild thing from the wild woods is most beautifully playing with your baby. A blessing on that wild thing, whoever he may be, said the woman, straightening her back, for I was a busy woman this morning, and he has done me a service. That very minute and second, best beloved, the dried horse-skin curtain that was stretched tail down at the mouth of the cave fell down, whoosh, because it remembered the bargain she had made with the cat, and when the woman went to pick it up, lo and behold! the cat was sitting quite comfy inside the cave. "'Oh, my enemy and wife of my enemy, and mother of my enemy,' said the cat,

"'it is I, for you have spoken a word in my praise, and now I can sit within the cave for always and always and always. But still I am the cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.' The woman was very angry and shut her lips tight, and took up her spinning wheel, and began to spin. But the baby cried because the cat had gone away, and the woman could not hush it, for it struggled and kicked and grew black in the face. Oh, my enemy, and wife of my enemy, and mother of my enemy, said the cat, Take a strand of the wire that you are spinning, and tie it to your spinning whirl, and drag it

along the floor, and I will show you a magic that shall make your baby laugh as loudly as he is now crying. I will do so, said the woman, because I am at my wits' end, but I will not thank you for it. She tied the thread to the little clay spindle whorl, and drew it across the floor, And the cat ran after it, and patted it with his paws and rolled head over heels, and tossed it backward over his shoulder, and chased it between his hind legs, and pretended to lose it, and pounced down upon it again, till the baby laughed as loudly as it had been crying, and scrambled after the cat and frolicked all over the cave till it grew tired and settled out to sleep with the cat in its arms. Now, said the cat, I will sing the baby a song that shall keep him asleep for an hour, and he began to purr, loud and low, low and loud, till the baby fell fast asleep. The woman smiled as she looked down upon the two of them and said,

That was wonderfully done, no question, but you are very clever, oh cat. That very minute and second best bit. beloved, the smoke of the fire at the back of the cave came down in clouds from the roof, Poof, because it remembered the bargain she had made with the cat. And when it had cleared away, lo and behold, the cat was sitting quite comfy close to the fire. O enemy and wife of my enemy and mother of my enemy, said the cat, It is I, for you have spoken a second word in my praise, and now I can sit by the warm fire at the back of the cave for always and always and always. But still I am the cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.

Then the woman was very, very angry, and let down her hair and put more wood on the fire, and brought out the broad blade-bone of the shoulder of mutton, and began to make a magic that should prevent her from saying a third word in praise of the cat. It was not a singing magic, best beloved, it was a still magic, and by and by the cave grew so still that a little wee-mouse crept out of a corner and ran across the floor. Oh, my enemy, and wife of my enemy, and mother of my enemy, said the cat. Is that little mouse part of your magic? Oh, gee, no indeed, said the woman, and she dropped the blade bone and jumped upon the footstool

in front of the fire, and braided up her hair very quick, for fear that the mouse should run up it. Ah, said the cat, watching. Then the mouse will do me no harm if I eat it. No, said the woman, braiding up her hair. Eat it quickly, and I will ever be grateful to you. Cat made one jump and caught the little mouse, and the woman said, Hey, hundred thanks.

Even the first friend is not quick enough to catch little mice of you have done. You must be very wise. That very moment and second, oh best beloved, the milk-pot that stood by the fire cracked in two pieces, because it remembered the bargain she had made with the cat. And when the woman jumped down from the footstool, lo and behold, the cat was lapping up the warm white milk that lay in one of the broken pieces. Oh, enemy and wife of my enemy, and mother of my enemy, said the cat, it is I. For you have spoken three words in my praise, and now I can drink the warm white milk three times a day for always and always and always.

But still I am the cat, who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me. Then the woman laughed and set the cat a bowl of warm white milk and said, Oh, cat, you are as clever as a man, but remember that your bargain was not made with the man or the dog, and I do not know what they will do when they come home. What is that to me? said the cat. If I have my place in the cave by the fire and my warm white milk three times a day, I do not care what the man or the dog can do. That evening when the man and the dog came into the cave,

the woman told them all the story of the bargain while the cat sat by the fire and smiled. Then the man said, Yes, but he has not made a bargain with me. or with all proper men after me. Then he took off his two leather boots, and he took up his little stone axe that makes three, and he fetched a piece of wood and a hatchet that is five altogether, and he set them out in a row, and he said, Now we will make our bargain. If you do not catch mice when you are in the cave for always and always and always, I will

throw these five things at you whenever I see you, and so shall all proper men do after me." "'Ah,' said the woman, listening, "'this is a very clever cat, but he is not so clever as my man.' The cat counted the five things, and they looked very knobby, and he said, "'I will catch mice when I am in the cave for always and always and always, but still I am the cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me. "'Not when I am near,' said the man. "'If you had not said that last I would have put all these things away, for always and always and always, but I am now going to throw my two boots and my little stone axe

that makes three at you whenever I meet you, and so shall all proper men do after me.' Then the dog said, Wait a minute. He has not made a bargain with me or with all proper dogs after me. And he showed his teeth and said, If you are not kind to the baby, while I am in the cave, for always and always and always, I will hunt you till I catch you, and when I catch you, I will bite you. And so shall all proper dogs do after me.

Ah, said the woman, listening, this is a very clever cat, but he is not so clever as the dog. Cat counted the dog's teeth, and they looked very pointed, and he said, I will be kind to the baby while I am in the cave, as long as he does not pull my tail too hard, for always and always and always. But still, I am the cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to me. Not when I am near, said the dog. If you had not said that last, I would have shut my mouth for always and always and always, but now I am going to hunt you up a tree whenever I meet you, and so shall all proper dogs do after me. Then the man. threw his two boots and his little stone axe, that makes three, at the cat, and the cat ran

out of the cave and the dog chased him up a tree, and from that day to this best beloved, three proper men out of five will always throw things at a cat whenever they meet him, and all proper dogs will chase him up a tree. But the cat keeps his side of the bargain too. He will kill mice, and he will be kind to babies when he is in his own. in the house, just as long as they do not pull its tail too hard. But when he has done that, and between times, and when the moon gets up and night comes, he is a cat that walks by himself.

And all places are alike to him. Then he goes out to the wet wild woods, or up the wet wild trees, or on the wet wild roofs, waving his wild tail, and walking by his wild loan. Pussy can sit by the fire and sing Pussy can climb a tree, or play with a silly old corkin string, to muse himself, not me. But I like Binky, my dog, because he knows how to behave. So Binky's the same as the first friend was, and I am the man in the cave. Pussy will play Man Friday till it's time to wet her paw and make her walk on the window

sill for the footprint Crusoe saw. she fluffs her tail and muse, and scratches and won't attend, but Binky will play whenever I choose, for he is my true first friend. Pussy will rub my knees with her head, pretending she loves me hard, but the very minute I go to bed Pussy runs out in the yard, and there she stays till the morning light, so I know it is only pretend, but Binky he snores at my feet all night. and he is my firstest friend. End of, the cat that walked by himself.

Chapter 12 of Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 12, The Butterfly That's Stamped. This, oh my best beloved, is a story, a new and wonderful story. A story quite different from the other stories. A story about the most wise sovereign Solomon bin Daoud, Solomon the son of David. There are 355 stories about Solomon bin Daoud,

but this is not one of them. It is not the story of the Lapwing who found the water, or the hoopoe who shaded Suleiman Daub from the heat. It is not the story of the glass pavement or the ruby with the crooked hole, or the gold bars of Balkis, it is the story of the butterfly that stamped. Now attend all over again and listen. Suleiman bin Daud was wise.

He understood what the beast said, what the birds said, what the fishes said, and what the insects said. And he understood what the trees said when they rustled in the middle of the morning. He understood everything, from the bishop on the bench to the hyssop on the wall, and Balkas, his head queen, the most beautiful queen, Bulkas, was nearly as wise as he was. Suleiman bin Daoud was strong. Upon the third finger of the right hand he wore a ring. When he turned it once, Afritz and genies came out of the earth to do whatever he,

he told them. When he turned it twice, fairies came down from the sky to do whatever he told them. And when he turned it three times, the very great angel Azrael of the sword came dressed as a water-carrier, and told him the news of the three worlds above, below, and here. And yet Suleiman bin Daoud was not proud. He very seldom shone. showed off, and when he did he was sorry for it. Once he tried to feed all the animals in the world in one day, and when the food was ready, an animal came out of the deep sea and ate it up in three mouthfuls. Solomon bin Daoud was very surprised and said,

"'Oh, animal, who were you?' And the animal said, "'Oh, king, live forever. I am the smallest of the thirty thousand brothers, and our home is at the bottom of the sea. We heard that you were going to feed all the animals in the world, and my brothers sent me to ask when dinner would be ready. Suleiman bin Doud was more surprised than ever, and said, Oh, animal, you have eaten all the dinner that I made ready for all the animals in the world. And the animal said, O King, live forever, do you really call that a dinner?

Where I come from we eat twice as much as that between me. Then Suleiman bin Daoud fell flat on his face and said, Oh, animal, I gave that dinner to show what a great and rich king I was, and not because I really wanted to be kind to the animals. Now I am ashamed, and it serves me right. Suleiman bin Daoud was a really, truly wise man, best beloved. And after that he never forgot that it was silly to show off. And now the real story part of my story begins.

He married ever so many wives. He married 99 wives, besides the most beautiful Baucus, and they all lived in a great golden palace in the middle of a lovely garden with fountains. He didn't really want 99 wives, but in those days everybody married ever so many wives and And, of course, the king had to marry ever so many more just to show that he was the king. Some of the wives were nice, but some were simply horrid, and the horrid ones quarreled with the nice ones and made them horrid, and then they would all quarrel with Solomon bin Daoud, and that was horrid for him.

But Balchus the most beautiful never quarreled with Solomon bin Daoud. She loved him too much. She sat in her rooms in the Golden Palace, or walked in the palace garden, and was truly sorry for him. Of course, if he had chosen to turn his ring on his finger and call up the genies and the Afritz, they would have magiced all those nine hundred and ninety-nine quarrelsome wives into white mules of the desert or greyhounds or pomegranate seeds, but Suleiman Vindhoud thought that that would be showing off. So when they quarreled too much, he only walked by himself in one part of the beautiful palace gardens and wished he had never been born.

One day when they had quarreled for three weeks, all 99 wives together, Suleiman Vindalud went out for peace and quiet as usual, And among the orange trees he met Balkis the most beautiful, very sorrowful because Suleiman bin Daoud was so worried, and she said to him, O my lord and light of my eyes, turn the ring upon your finger and show these queens of Egypt and Mesopotamia and Persia and China that you are the great and terrible king. But Suleiman bin Daoud shook his head and said, Oh, my lady, and delight of my life, remember the animal that came out of the sea and made

me ashamed before all the animals in the world, because I showed off? Now if I showed off before these queens of Persia and Egypt and Abyssinia and China, merely because they worry me, I might be made even more ashamed than I have been. And Balkas, the most beautiful, said, Oh, my lord and treasure of my soul, What will you do?" And Suleiman bin Daoud said, "'Oh, my lady, and content of my heart, I shall continue to endure my fate

at the hands of these nine hundred and ninety-nine queens who vexed me with their continual quarreling.' So he went on between the lilies and the loquots and the roses and the cannas and the heavy-scented ginger plants that grew in the garden, till he came to the great camphor tree that was called the camphor tree of Suleiman bin Daoud, but Balkas hid among the tall irises and the spotted bamboos and the red lilies behind the camphor tree, so as to be near her own true love, Suleiman bin Daoud.

Presently two butterflies flew under the tree quarreling. Suleiman bin Daoud heard one say to the other, I wonder at your presumption in talking like this to me. Don't you know that if I stamped with my foot, all Suleiman Vendadood's palace and this garden here would immediately vanish in a clap of thunder? Then Suleiman Vendadood forgot his nine hundred and ninety-nine bothersome wives and laughed till the camphor tree shook at the butterflies boast.

And he held out his finger and said, little man, come here." The butterfly was dreadfully frightened, but he managed to fly up to the hand of Solomon bin Daoud, and clung there fanning himself. Solomon bin Daoud bent his head and whispered very softly, "'Little man, you know that all your stamping wouldn't bend one blade of grass. What made you tell that awful fib to your wife? for doubtless she is your wife.

The butterfly looked at Suleiman bin Daoud and saw the most wise king's eyes twinkle like stars on a frosty night, and he picked up his courage with both wings, and he put his head on one side and said, O king, live forever, she is my wife and you know what wives are like. Suleiman bin Daoud smiled in his beard and said,

Yes, I know, little brother. "'One must keep them in order somehow,' said the butterfly. "'And she has been quarrelling with me all the morning. I said that to quiet her. And Suleiman bin Daoud said, "'May ye quiet her. Go back to your wife, little brother, and let me hear what you say.' Back flew the butterfly to his wife, who was all of a twitter behind a leaf,

and she said, "'He heard you! "'Suliman Bendaoud himself heard you?' "'Heard me,' said the butterfly. "'Of course he did. "'I meant him to hear me.' "'And what did he say? "'Oh, what did he say?'

"'Well,' said the butterfly, fadding himself most importantly, "'between you and me, my dear, of course I don't blame him, "'because his palace must have cost a great deal "'and the oranges are just ripening. "'He asked me not to stay. and I promised I wouldn't. Gracious, said his wife and sat quite still, but Suleiman bin Daoud laughed till the tears ran down his face

at the impudence of the bad little butterfly. Balkis the most beautiful stood up behind the trees among the red lilies and smiled to herself, for she had heard all this talk. She thought, If I am wise, I can yet save my lord from the person. of these quarrelsome queens. And she held out her finger and whispered softly to the butterfly's wife,

Little woman, come here. Up flew the butterfly's wife, very frightened, and clung to Balchus's white hand. Balkas bent her beautiful head down and whispered, Little woman, do you believe what your husband has just said? The butterfly's wife looked at Balchus and saw the most beautiful queen's eyes, shining like deep pools with starlight on them. And she picked up her courage with both wings, and said, "'Oh, Queen, be lovely forever!

You know what menfolk are like.' And the Queen Bulkus, the wise Bulkis of Sheba, put her hand to her lips to hide a smile and said, "'Little sister, I know.' "'They get angry,' said the butterfly's wife, banding herself quickly, over nothing at all, and we must humor them, O Queen. They never mean, half they say. If it pleases my husband to believe that I believe he can make Suleiman bin Daoud's palace disappear by stamping his foot, I'm sure I don't care.

He'll forget about it tomorrow. Little sister," said Balkas, you are quite right. But next time he begins to boast, take him at his word, ask him to stamp and see what will happen. We know what men folk are like, don't we? He'll be very much ashamed." Away flew the butterfly's wife to her husband, and in five minutes they were quarreling worse than ever. "'Remember,' said the butterfly, "'remember what I can do if I stamp my foot.

I don't believe you one little bit,' said the butterfly's wife. "'I should very much like to see it done. Suppose you stamp now." "'I promised Suleiman bin Daoud that I wouldn't,' said the butterfly, "'and I don't want to break my promise.' "'It wouldn't matter if you did,' said his wife. "'You couldn't bend a blade of grass with your stamping. I dare you to do it,' she said.

Stamp, stamp, stamp, stamp!' "'Suliman bin Daoud sitting under the camper tree, heard every word of this, and he laughed as he had never laughed in his life before. He forgot all about his queens, he forgot all about the animal that came out of the sea, he forgot about showing off. He just laughed for joy, and Balkus on the other side of the tree,

smiled because her own true love was so joyful. Presently the butterfly, very hot and puffy, came whirling back under the shadow of the camphor tree, and said to Suleiman, She wants me to stamp. She wants to see what will happen. Oh, Suleiman bin Daoud, you know I can't do it. And now she'll never believe a word I say.

She'll laugh at me to the end of my days. No little brother, said Suleiman bin Daoud. She will never laugh at you again. And he turned the ring on his finger, just for the little butterfly's sake, not for the sake of showing off, and lo and behold, four huge genies came out of the earth. Slaves, said Suleiman bin Daud, when this gentleman on my finger, that was where the impudent butterfly was sitting, stamps his left front forefoot, you will make my palace and these gardens

disappear in a clap of thunder. When he stamps again, you will bring them back carefully. Now, little brother, he said, Go back to your wife and stamp all you may mind to. Away flew the butterfly to his wife who was crying, I dare you to do it. I dare you to do it. Stamp, stamp now, stamp. Balchus saw the four vast genies

stoop down to the four corners of the gardens with the palace in the middle. And she clapped her hands softly and said, At last, Suleiman bin Daoud will do for the sake of a butterfly what he ought to have done long ago for his own sake, and the quarrelsome queens will be frightened. The butterfly stamped. The genies jerked the palace and the gardens a thousand miles into the air. There was a most awful thunder-clap,

and everything grew inky black. The butterfly's wife fluttered about in the dark, crying, Oh, oh, I'll be good. I'm so sorry I spoke. Only bring the gardens back, my dear darling husband, and I'll never contradict again. The butterfly was nearly as frightened as his wife, and Suleiman bin Daud laughed so much that it was several minutes before he found breath enough to whisper to the butterfly, "'Stamp again, little brother. Give me back my palace, most great magician.'

"'Yes, give him back his palace,' said the butterfly's wife, still flying about in the dark like a moth. Give him back his palace, and don't let's have any more horrid magic.' "'Well, my dear,' said the butterfly as bravely as he could, You see what your nagging has led to? Of course it doesn't make any difference to me. I'm used to this kind of thing. But as a favor to you and to Suleiman bin Daoud, I don't mind putting things right.

So he stamped once more. And at that instant, the genies let down the palace and the gardens without even a bump. The sun shone on the dark green-orange-loor. leaves, the fountains played among the pink Egyptian lilies. The birds went on singing, and the butterfly's wife lay on her side under the camphor tree, waggling her wings and panting, oh, I'll be good, I'll be good." Suleiman bin Dowd could heartily speak for laughing.

He leaned back all week and hiccubby, and shook his finger at the butterfly and said, Oh, great wizard, what is the sense of returning to me my palace, if at the same time you slay me with mirth? Then came a terrible noise. For all the nine hundred and ninety-nine queens ran out of the palace shrieking and shouting and calling for their babies. They hurried down the great marble steps below the fountain, one hundred abreast. And the most wise Balchus went stately forward to me. meet them, and said,

What is your trouble, oh, queens? They stood on the marble steps one hundred abreast and shouted, What is our trouble? We were living peacefully in our golden palace, as is our custom, when upon a sudden the palace disappeared. And we were left sitting in a thick and noisome darkness, and it thundered, and genies and effreeds moved about in the darkness. That is our trouble, oh, head.

Queen, and we are most extremely troubled on account of that trouble, for it was a troublesome trouble, unlike any trouble we have known. Then Balkas, the most beautiful queen, Suleiman bin Daoud's very best beloved, queen that was of Shiba and Sable and the rivers of the gold of the south, from the desert of Zinn to the towers of Zimbabwe. Balkis, almost as wise as the most wise Solomon bin Daoud himself said, it is nothing o queens a butterfly has made a complaint against his wife because she quarreled with him and it has pleased our lord suleiman bin dode to teach her a lesson in low speaking and humbleness for that is counted a virtue among the wives of the butterflies then up and spoke an egyptian queen the daughter of a pharaoh and she said our palace cannot be plucked up by the roots like a leak for

for the sake of a little insect? No, Suleiman bin Daoud must be dead. And what we heard and saw was the earth thundering and darkening at the news. Then Balchus beckoned that bold queen without looking at her, and said to her and to the others, come and see. They came down the marble steps one hundred abreast, and beneath his camphor tree, still weak with laughing, they saw the most wise king Suleiman bin Daoud rocking back and forth with a butterfly on either hand,

and they heard him say, Oh, wife of my brother in the air! Remember after this to please your husband in all things, lest he be provoked to stamp his foot yet again, for he is said that he is used to this magic, and he is most eminently a great magician, one who steals away the very palace of Suleiman bin Daoud himself, Go in peace, little folk.

And he kissed them on the wings, and they flew away. Then all the queens except Bulkis, the most beautiful and splendid Bulkis, who stood apart smiling, fell flat on their faces, for they said, If these things are done when a butterfly is displeased with his wife, What shall be done to us who have vexed our king with our loud speaking and open quarrelling through many days? Then they put their veils over their heads, and they put their hands over their mouths, and they tiptoed back to the palace most mousy quiet. Then Balchus, the most beautiful and excellent Balkus, went forward through the red lilies into the shade of the camphor tree,

and laid her hand upon Suleiman bin Daoud's shoulder and said, O my lord and treasure of my soul, rejoice, for we have taught the queens of Egypt and Ethiopia and Abyssinia and Persia and India and China with a great and memorable teaching. And Suleiman bin Daoud, still looking after the butterflies where they played in the sunlight, said, Oh, my lady and jewel of my felicity! When did this happen? For I have been jesting with a butterfly ever since I came into the garden. And he told Bulkis what he had done.

Bulkis the tender and most lovely Bulkis said, Oh, my lord and regent of my existence! I hid behind the camphor tree and saw it all. It was I who told the butterfly's wife to ask the butterfly to stamp, because I hoped that for the sake of the jest my lord would make some great magic, and that the queens would see it and be frightened. And she told him what the queens had said, and seen, and thought. Then Suleiman bin Daoud rose up from his seat under the camphor tree, and stretched his

arms and rejoiced, and said, Oh, my lady, and sweetener of my days! Know that if I had made a magic against my queens for the sake of pride or anger, as I made that feast for all the animals, I should certainly have been put to shame. But by means of your wisdom I made the magic for the sake of a jest and for the sake of a little butterfly, and behold, it has delivered me from the vexations of my vexatious wives. Tell me, therefore, O my lady and heart of my heart, How did you come to be so wise? And Balkas the queen, beautiful and tall, looked up into Suleiman bin Daoud's eyes,

and put her head a little on one side just like the butterfly, and said, First, O my lord, because I loved you, and secondly, oh my lord, because I know what women-folk are. Then they went up to the palace and lived happily ever afterwards. But wasn't it clever of Balkus? There never was a queen like Balchus, from here to the wide world's end. But Balkas talked to a butterfly as you would talk to a friend. There was never a king like Solomon, not since the world began. But Solomon talked to a butterfly as a man would talk to a man.

She was queen of Sabia, and he was Asia's lord. But they both of them talked to Butterfly. when they took their walks abroad. End of The Butterfly That Stamped. End of Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling.