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[Illustration: JUST SO STORIES]

[Illustration: How the Whale Got His Throat]

Transcriber's Note: Not being able to ascertain which words were Kipling
being clever and which were his printer's creativity, all spelling
anomalies except the few glaringly obvious ones noted at the end have
been retained. For example, "He married ever so many wifes" was retained
on page 227. For the HTML version, the page images have been included so
that the reader may make comparisons.




JVST SO STORIES

BY RVDYARD KIPLING

[Illustration]

_Pictures by Joseph M. Gleeson_

          Doubleday Page & Company
          1912




          Copyright, 1912, by Rudyard Kipling

          "Just So Stories," have also been copyrighted
          separately as follows: How the Whale Got His Tiny
          Throat. Copyright, 1897, by the Century Company.
          How the Camel Got His Hump. Copyright, 1897, by
          the Century Company. How the Rhinoceros Got His
          Wrinkly Skin. Copyright, 1898, by the Century
          Company. The Elephant's Child. Copyright, 1900, by
          Rudyard Kipling; Copyright, 1900, by the Curtis
          Publishing Company. The Beginning of the
          Armadillos. Copyright, 1900, by Rudyard Kipling.
          The Sing Song of Old Man Kangaroo. Copyright, 1900
          by Rudyard Kipling. How the Leopard Got His Spots,
          Copyright, 1901, by Rudyard Kipling. How the First
          Letter Was Written. Copyright, 1901, by Rudyard
          Kipling. The Cat That Walked by Himself,
          Copyright, 1902, by Rudyard Kipling.

[Illustration]




CONTENTS


                                                     PAGE

          How the Whale Got His Throat                  1

          How the Camel Got His Hump                   15

          How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin              29

          How the Leopard Got His Spots                43

          The Elephant's Child                         63

          The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo            85

          The Beginning of the Armadillos             101

          How the First Letter was Written            123

          How the Alphabet was Made                   145

          The Crab that Played with the Sea           171

          The Cat that Walked by Himself              197

          The Butterfly that Stamped                  225

[Illustration]




HOW THE WHALE GOT HIS THROAT


IN the sea, once upon a time, O 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 plaice and the dace, and the skate and his mate, and the
mackereel and the pickereel, and the really truly 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 jack-knife, one
shipwrecked Mariner, who, it is only fair to tell you, is a man of
infinite-resource-and-sagacity.'

So the Whale swam and swam 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 jack-knife, he found one single, solitary shipwrecked
Mariner, trailing his toes in the water. (He had his mummy's 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-knife--He swallowed 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 pr