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STO

RUDYARD KI
REFERENCE

G 3>*OS NY PUBLIC LIBRARY THE BRANCH LIBRARIES

3 3333 08119 0049


JUST SO STORIES
Just So Stories

for Little Children

By

RUDYARD KIPLING

Illustrated by the Author

New York
Doubleday, Page & Company
1902
Copyright. 1902, by Rudyr\rd Kiplinj;

"
Just So Stories," have also been copy-
righted 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 Rhin-
oceros Got His Wrinkly Skin. Copyright,
1898, by the Century Company. The Ele-
phant'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 Kan-
garoo. Copyright, 1900, by Rudyard Kip-
ling. 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.

Published September, 1901


Second impression Oct., 1902
Third impression Dec., 1902
c H

CONTENTS

How the Whale Got His Throat. ... PAGE


i

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


HOW THE WHALE GOT HIS THROAT

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,
2 Just So Stories
*
Noble and generous Cetacean, have you ever
tasted Man?'
1 '

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 magic), you will find, sitting


is

on a raft, /;/ 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 ship-
wrecked 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 (He had his mummy's leave
the water. to

paddle, or else he would never have done it,


How the Whale got his Throat 3
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 warm, dark, inside cup-
into his
boards, 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 cup-
boards, stumped and he jumped and he
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 creeped,
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 lepped, and he danced hornpipes
where he shouldn't, and the Whale felt most
unhappy indeed. (Have you forgotten the
suspenders ?)
'

So he said to the 'Stute Fish, This man is


THIS is the Whale swallowing the Mariner with his infinite
picture of the
resource-and-sagacity, and the raft and the jack-knife and his suspenders,
which you must not forget. The buttony-things are the Mariner's sus-
penders, and you can see the knife close by them. He is sitting on the raft,
but it has tilted up sideways, so you don't see much of it. The whity
thing by the Mariner's left hand is a piece of wood that he was trying to
row the raft with when the Whale came along. The piece of wood is
called the javvs-of-a-gaff. The Mariner left it outside when he went in.
The Whale's name was Smiler, and the Mariner was called Mr. Henry
Albert Bivvens, A.B. The little 'Stute Fish is hiding under the Whale's
tummy, or else I would have drawn him. The reason that the sea looks
so ooshy-skooshy is because the Whale is sucking it all into his mouth
so as to suck in Mr. Henry Albert Bivvens and the raft and the jack-knife
and the suspenders. You must never forget the suspenders.
How the Whale got his Throat 7
very nubbly, and besides he is making me
hiccough. What shall I do ? '

Tell him to come out,' said


'

the 'Stute Fish.


So the Whale called down his own throat to
'

the shipwrecked Mariner, Come out and be-


have yourself. I've got the hiccoughs/
1 ' '

Nay, nay ! said the Mariner. Not so, but


far otherwise. Take me to my natal-shore and
the white-cliff s-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 hiccoughs and at last he saw the ;

Mariner's natal-shore and the white-cliffs-of-

Albion, and he rushed half-way up the beach,


and opened his mouth wide and wide and
'

wide, and said, Change here for Winchester,


Ashuelot, Nashua, Keene, 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-and-
HERE is the Whale looking for the little 'Stute Fish, who is hiding under
the Door-sills of the Equator. The little 'Stute Fish's name was Pingle.
He is hiding among the roots of the big seaweed that grows in front of
the Doors of the Equator. have drawn the Doors of the Equator.
I They
are shut. They are always kept shut, because a door ought always to be

kept shut. The ropy-thing right across is tn Equator itself ;


and the

things that look like rocks are the two giants Moar and Koar, that keep
the Equator in order. They drew the shadow-pictures on the doors of the
Equator, and they carved all those twisty fishes under the Doors. The
beaky-fish are called beaked Dolphins, and the other fish with the queer
heads are called Hammer-headed Sharks. The Whale never found the
little 'Stute Fish till he got over his temper, and then they became good
friends again.

8
How the Whale got his Throat 1 1

sagacity, had taken and cut up


his jack-knife
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 follow-
!

ing Sloka, which, as you have not heard it, I

will now proceed to relate

By means of a grating
I have stopped your ating.

For the Mariner he was also an Hi-ber-ni-an.


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 hid himself in


the mud under the Door-sills of the Equator.
He was afraid that the Whale might be angry
with him.
12 Just So Stories
The Sailor took the jack-knife 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 wop (with a wiggle between)


And the steward falls into the soup-tureen,
And the trunks begin to slide ;

When Nursey lies on the floor in a heap,


And Mummy tells you to let her sleep,

And you aren't waked or washed or dressed,

Why, then you will know (if you haven't guessed)


You're 'Fifty North and Forty West!'
HOW THE CAMEL GOT HIS HUMP

OW this is the next


tale, and it tells how
the Camel got his big
hump.
In the beginning
of when the
years,
world was so new and
all, and the Animals
were just beginning to
work for Man, there
was a Camel, and he
lived middle of a Howling Desert be-
in the
cause 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 'scruciating idle and when ;

anybody spoke to him he said Humph


'

'

Humph and no more.


'

Just !
1 6 Just So Stories
Presently the Horse came to him on
Monday morning, with a saddle on his back and
mouth, and said, Camel, O Camel,
'

a bit in his
come out and trot like the rest of us.'
said the Camel
' '

Humph ! and the Horse ;

went away and told the Man.


Presently the Dog came to him, with a stick
mouth, and said, Camel, O Camel, come
*

in his
and fetch and carry like the rest of us.'
'

said the Camel


'

Humph ! and the Dog ;

went away and told the Man.


Presently the Ox came to him, with the yoke
on his neck and said,
*

Camel, O Camel, come


and plough like the rest of us.'
'

Ox went
:

Humph ! said the Camel ;


and the
away and told the Man.
At the end of the day the Man called the
Horse and the Dog and the Ox together, and
said, Three, O
Three, I'm very sorry for you
(with the world so new-and-all) but that ;

Humph-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,
How the Camel got his Hump 17
and an indaba, and a punchayet, and a pow-wow
on the edge of the Desert and the Camel ;

came chewing milkweed most 'scruciating idle,


Then he said Humph
' '
and laughed at them. !

and went away again.


Presently there came along the Djinn in
charge of All Deserts, rolling in a cloud of dust
(Djinns always travel that way because it is
Magic), and he stopped to palaver and pow-pow
with the Three.
*

Djinn of All Deserts,' said the Horse, is it


right for any one to be idle, with the world so
'

new-and-all ?
*

Certainly not,' said the Djinn.


*

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.'

Whew !
'
said the Djinn, whistling,
'

that's

my Camel, for all the gold in Arabia ! What


'
does he say about it ?
'

He says
'

Humph !
'

said the Dog ;


*
and
he won't fetch and carry.'
' '

Does he say anything else ?


THIS is the picture of the Djinn making the beginnings of the Magic
that brought the Humph to Camel.
the First he drew a line in the air
with his finger, and it became solid and then he made a cloud, and then
;

he made an egg you can see them both at the bottom of the picture
and then there was a magic pumpkin that turned into a big white flame.
Then the Djinn took his magic fan and fanned that flame till the flame
turned into a
magic by itself. It was a good Magic and a very kind Magic

really, though it had to give the Camel a Humph because the Camel was
lazy. The Djinn in charge of All Deserts was one of the nicest of the
Djinns, so he would never do anything really unkind.

18
How the Camel got his Hump 21
* ; "
Only Humph !
;
and he won't plough,'
said the Ox.
'Very good,' said the Djinn. 'I'll humph
7
him if you will kindly wait a minute.
The Djinn 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


*

Djinn, what's this I hear of your doing no


'

work, with the world so new-and-all ?


' '

Humph ! said the Camel.


The Djinn 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
'scruciating idleness,' said the Djinn; and he
went on thinking Magics, with his chin in
his hand.
' '

'
Humph ! said the Camel.
shouldn't say that again if
I I were you,'
'

said the Djinn you might say;


it once too
often. Bubbles, I want you to work.'
And the Camel said
'

Humph !
'

again ;
but
HERE is the picture of the Djinn in charge of All Deserts guiding the

Magic with his magic fan. The camel is eating a twig of acacia, and he
has just finished saying 'humph" once too often (the Djinn told him he
would), and so the Humph is coming. The long towelly-thing growing
out of the thing like an onion is theMagic, and you can see the Humph
on its shoulder. The Humph fits on the flat part of the Camel's back.
The Camel is too busy looking at his own beautiful self in the pool of
water to know what is going to happen to him.
Underneath the truly picture is a picture of the World-so-new-and-all.
There are two smoky volcanoes in it, some other mountains and some
stones and a lake and a black island and a twisty river and a lot of other

things, as well as a Noah's Ark. I couldn't draw all the deserts that the

Djinn was in charge of, so I only drew one, but it is a most deserty desert.

22
How the Camel got his Hump 25
no sooner had he said it than he saw his back,
that he was so proud of, puffing up and puffing

up into a great big lolloping humph.


1

Do you see that ? said the Djinn.'

That's
your very own humph that you've brought upon
your very own self by not working. To-day
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
'

humph on my back ?
'
That's made
a-purpose,' said the Djinn, 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 humph ;

and don't you ever say never did anything for


I

you. Come out of the Desert and go to the


'

Three, and behave. Humph yourself !

And Camel humphed himself, humph


the
and all, and went away to join the Three. And
from that day to this the Camel always wears a
' '

humph (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 begin-


ning of the world, and he has never yet learned
how to behave.
THE hump is an ugly lump
Camel's
Which well you may see at the Zoo ;

But uglier yet is the hump we get


From having too little to do.

Kiddies and grown-ups too-oo-oo,


Ifwe haven't enough to do-oo-oo,
We get the hump
Cameelious hump
The hump that is black and blue !

We climb out of bed with a frouzly head


And a snarly-yarly voice.
We shiver and scowl and we grunt and we growl
At our bath and our boots and our toys ;

And there ought to be a corner for me


(And I know there is one for you)
When we get the hump
Cameelious hump
The hump that is black and blue !

The cure for this ill is not to sit still,

Or frowst 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 Djinn 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-oo


If I haven't enough to do-oo-oo
We all get hump
Cameelious hump
Kiddies and grown-ups too !

27
HOW THE RHINOCEROS GOT HIS
SKIN

NCE 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

splendour. And the


Parsee lived by the Red
Sea with nothing but his
hat and his knife and a
- stove of the
cooking
kind thatyou must particularly never touch.
And one day he took flour and water and cur-
rants 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
29
30 Just So Stories
Comestible (that's magic), and he put it on the
stove because he was allowed to cook on that
stove, and he baked it and he baked it till it
was done brown and smelt most sentimental.
all

But just as he was going to eat it there came


down to the beach from the Altogether Unin-
habited Interior one Rhinoceros with a horn on
his nose, two piggy eyes, and few manners. In
those days the Rhinoceros's skin fitted him
quite tight. There were no wrinkles in it any-
where. He looked exactly like a Noah's 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 Parsee 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-orientalsplendour. 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 and he went
it,

away, waving his tail, to the desolate and Ex-


clusively Uninhabited Interior which abuts on
the islands of Mazanderan, Socotra, and the
Promontories of the Larger Equinox. Then the
How the Rhino got his Skin 31
Parsee came down from his palm-tree and put
the stove on its legs and recited the following
Sloka, which, as you have not heard, I will now
proceed to relate :

Them that takes cakes


Which the Parsee-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 Parsee 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 Parsee's cake, because he had eaten it all ;

and he had any manners, then, since,


never
or henceforward. 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 one smile that ran all round
his face two times. Then he danced three
times round the skin and rubbed his hands.
THIS is the picture of the Parsee beginning to eat his cake on the
Uninhabited Island in the Red Sea on a very hot day; and of the
Rhinoceros coming down from the Altogether Uninhabited Interior,
which, as you can truthfully see, is all rocky. The Rhinoceros's skin
is quite smooth, and the three buttons that button it up are under-
neath, so you can't see them. The squiggly things on the Parsee's
hat are the rays of the sun reflected in more-than-oriental splendour,
because if I had drawn real rays they would have
up all the picture.
filled

The cake has currants in it ;


and the wheel-thing lying on the sand in
front belonged to chariots when he tried to cross the
one of Pharaoh's
Red Sea. The Parsee found it, and kept it to play with. The Parsee's
name was Pestonjee Bomonjee, and the Rhinoceros was called Strorks,
because he breathed through his mouth instead of his nose. I wouldn't
ask anything about the cooking-stove if / were you.
A
~' S
'\. V .-$ .*.'. ^ y*..^ . -^V fT*^

V> \ vti \x
-J f

33
How the Rhino got his Skin 35
Then he went to his camp and filled his hat
with cake-crumbs, for the Parsee never ate any-
thing 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 cake-crumbs
and some burned currants 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 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 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 under-
neath, where the buttons used to be (but he
rubbed the buttons off), and he rubbed some
more folds over his legs. And itspoiled his
temper, but it didn't make the least difference
to the cake-crumbs. They were inside his skin
THIS is the Parsee Pestonjee Bomonjee sitting in his palm-tree and watch-
ing the Rhinoceros Strorks bathing near the beach of the Altogether
Uninhabited Island after Strorks had taken off his skin. The Parsee has
put the cake-crumbs into the skin, and he is smiling to think how they
willtickle Strorks when Strorks puts it on again. The skin is just under
the rocks below the
palm-tree in a cool place that is why you can't see
;

it. The wearing a new more-than-oriental-splendour hat of the


Parsee is

sort that Parsees wear and he has a knife in his hand to cut his name on
;

palm-trees. The
things on the islands out
black at sea are bits of ships
that got wrecked going down the Red Sea but ;
all the passengers were
saved and went home.
The black thing in the water close to the shore is not a wreck at all.

It is Rhinoceros bathing without


Strorks the his skin. He was just as

black underneath his skin as he was outside. I wouldn't ask anything


about the cooking-stove if / were you.
37
How the Rhino got his Skin 39
and they tickled. So he went home, very angry
indeed and horribly scratchy and from that
;

day to this every rhinoceros has great folds 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 splen-
dour, packed up his cooking-stove, and went
away in the direction of Orotavo, Amygdala,
the Upland Meadows of Anantarivo, and the
Marshes of Sonaput.
THIS Uninhabited Island
Is off Cape Gardafui,
By the Beaches of Socotra
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. and O.
And call on the Cake-Parsee !
HOW THE LEOPARD GOT HIS SPOTS

N the days when everybody started


fair, Best Beloved, the Leopard lived
in a place called the High Veldt.
'Member it wasn't the Low Veldt,
or the Bush Veldt, or the Sour
Veldt, but the 'sclusively bare, hot,
shiny High where there was
Veldt,
sand and sandy -coloured rock and
'sclusively tufts of sandy - yellowish
^ grass. The Giraffe Zebra
and the
and the Eland and the Koodoo and
the Hartebeest lived there and ;

they were 'sclusively sandy yellow-


-

brownish all over; but the Leopard,


he was the 'sclusivest sandiest-

yellowish
- brownest of them all
a greyish-yellowish catty-shaped kind of beast,
and he matched the 'sclusively yellowish -
43
44 Just So Stories
greyish brownish colour of the High Veldt to
-

one hair. This was very bad for the Giraffe


and the Zebra and the rest of them for he ;

would lie down by a 'sclusively yellowish


-

greyish brownish stone or clump of grass, and


-

when the Giraffe or the Zebra or the Eland or


the Koodoo or the Bush -Buck or the Bonte-
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 (a 'sclusively greyish- brownish -
yellowish man he was then), who lived on the
High Veldt with the Leopard and the two ;

used to hunt together the Ethiopian with his


bows and arrows, and the Leopard 'sclusively
with his teeth and claws till the Giraffe and
the Eland and the Koodoo 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 for ever 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 Veldt. They scuttled
How the Leopard got his Spots 45
for days and days and days till they came to a

great forest, 'sclusively full of trees and bushes


and stripy, speckly, patchy -blatchy 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 -slidy
shadows of the trees falling on them, the Giraffe
grew blotchy, and the Zebra grew stripy, and
the Eland and the Koodoo grew darker, with
little wavy grey 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 'sclusively speckly -spickly shadows of the
forest, while the Leopard and the Ethiopian ran
-
about over the 'sclusively greyish- yellowish
reddish High Veldt wondering where all
outside,
their breakfasts and their dinners and their teas
had gone. At last they were so hungry that
they ate rats and beetles and rock -rabbits, the
Leopard and the Ethiopian, and then they had
the Big Tummy-ache, both together and then ;

they met Baviaan the dog -headed, barking


Baboon, who is Quite the Wisest Animal in All
South Africa.
THIS is Wise Baviaan, the dog-headed Baboon, Who is Quite the Wisest
Animal in All South Africa. I have drawn him from a statue that I made
up out of my own head, and I have written his name on his belt and on
his shoulder and on the thing he is sitting on. I have written it in what
is not called Coptic and Hieroglyphic and Cuneiformic and Bengalic and
Burmic and Hebric, all because he is so wise. He is not beautiful, but
he is very wise ; and I should like topaint him with paint-box colours,
but I am not allowed. The umbrella-ish thing about his head is his
Conventional Mane.

46
47
How the Leopard got his Spots 49
Said Leopard to Baviaan (and it was a very
'
hot day), Where has all the game gone ?
''

And Baviaan winked. He knew.


'

Said the Baviaan,


Ethiopian Can you
to
tell me the present habitat of the aboriginal
'
Fauna ? (That meant just the same thing, but
the Ethiopian always used long words. He was
a grown-up.)
And Baviaan winked. He knew.
Then said Baviaan, 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 said, That is all very
fine, but I wish to know whither the aboriginal
Fauna has migrated.'
Then said aboriginal Fauna
Baviaan, The
has joined the aboriginal Flora because it was
high time for a change; and my advice to you,
Ethiopian, change as soon as you can/
is to
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 'sclusively speckled and sprottled and
spottled, dotted and splashed and slashed and
hatched and cross-hatched with shadows. (Say
5o Just So Stories

that quickly aloud, and you will see how very


shadowy the forest must have been.)
'

What is this,' said the Leopard, that is so


sclusively dark, and yet so full of little pieces of
'

light ?
1 '

1 know,' said the Ethiopian, but it


don't
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 'em. Perhaps


we've forgotten what they were like.'
'

remember
'

Fiddle ! said the Leopard. I

them perfectly on the High Veldt, especially


their marrow-bones. Giraffe is about seventeen
feet high, of a 'sclusively fulvous golden-yellow
from head to heel and Zebra is about four ;

and a half feet high, of a 'sclusively grey-fawn


colour from head to heel.'
1

Umm,' said the Ethiopian, looking into


the speckly-spickly shadows of the aboriginal
'

Flora-forest. Then they ought to show up


How the Leopard got his Spots 51
in this dark place like ripe bananas in a smoke-
house.'
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, O you person without any form.


I amgoing 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.
52 Just So Stories
'

Sit on its head till the morning same as me.


They haven't any form any of 'em.'

So they sat down on them hard till bright


morning-time, and then Leopard said, What
'
have you at your end of the table, Brother ?
The Ethiopian scratched his head and said,
'

ought to be 'sclusively a rich fulvous orange-


It

tawny from head to heel, and it ought to be


Giraffe ;
but it is covered all over with chestnut
blotches. What have you at your end of the
'

table, Brother?
And the Leopard scratched his head and said,
1

It ought to be 'sclusively a delicate greyish-


fawn, and it ought to be
Zebra; but it is
covered all over with black and purple stripes.
What world have you been doing to
in the
yourself, Zebra ? Don't you know that if you
were on the High Veldt I could see you ten
miles off? You haven't any form.'
'

Yes,' said the Zebra, but this isn't the


'

High Veldt. 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.'
How the Leopard got his Spots 53
They let the Zebra and the Giraffe get up ;

and Zebra moved away to some little thorn-


bushes where the sunlight fell all stripy, and
Giraffe moved off to some tallish trees where
the shadows fell all blotchy.
4

Now watch/ said the Zebra and the


Giraffe. This is the way it's done. One
two three ! And where's your breakfast ?
'

Leopard and Ethiopian stared, but all


stared,
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 in a coal-scuttle.'
*
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 Baviaan's advice. He told
me I ought to change ;
and as I've nothing
54 Just So Stories
to change except my skin I'm going to change
that.'
'
What to ? said the Leopard, tremend-
ously excited.
To a nice working blackish - brownish
colour, with a littlepurple in it, and touches of
slaty-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 Baviaan's advice too. He told

you to go into 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, Baviaan 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
How the Leopard got his Spots 55
find their
spots and stripes give them per-fect
satisfaction/
'

Umm,' said the Leopard. I wouldn't


look like Zebra not for ever so/
make
'

Well, 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 sun-flower against a tarred fence.'
'

take spots, then,' said the Leopard; 'but


I'll

don't make 'em too vulgar-big. I wouldn't

look like Giraffe not for ever so/


'
I'll make 'em 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 to-
gether. You can see them on any Leopard's
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 finger-tips.
*
Now you are a beauty !
'
said the Ethiopian.
THIS is the picture Leopard and the Ethiopian after they had
of the
taken Wise and the Leopard had gone into other spots
Baviaan's advice
and the Ethiopian had changed his skin. The Ethiopian was really a negro,
and so his name was Sambo. The Leopard was called Spots, and he has
been called Spots ever since. They are out hunting in the spickly-speckly
forest, and they are looking for Mr. One -
Two -
Three -
Where's- your -
Breakfast. you look a little you will see Mr. One
If -
Two -Three not
far away. The Ethiopian has hidden behind a splotchy - blotchy tree
because it matches his skin, and the Leopard is lying beside a spickly-
speckly bank of stones because it matches his spots. Mr. One-Two-
Three-Where's-your-Breakfast is standing up eating leaves from a tall

tree. This is really a puzzle-picture like 'Find the Cat.'


57
How the Leopard got his Spots 59
You can out on the bare ground and look
;

lie

like a heap of pebbles. You can lie out on the


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 centre of a 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's-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 Baviaan, saying in most wise tones,
Let us melt into the landscape just us two by our lones.'
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's go up to the pig-sties and sit on the farmyard rails !

Let's say things to the bunnies, and watch ''em skitter their tails!

Let's long as it's you and me,


oh, anything, daddy, so
And going truly exploring, and not being in till tea !

Here's your boots (I've brought 'em), and here's your cap and
stick,
And here's your pipe and tobacco. Oh, come along out of it

quick.

61
THE ELEPHANT'S CHILD

N 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 But
It.

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 curtiosities.
He asked his tall aunt, the Ostrich, why her
grew just so, and his tall aunt the
tail-feathers
Ostrich spanked him with her hard, hard claw.
63
64 Just So Stories

He asked his tall uncle, the Giraffe, what made


his skin spotty, and his tall uncle, the Giraffe,
spanked him with his hard, hard hoof. And
still he was full of 'satiable curtiosity ! He
asked his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, why
her eyes were red, and his broad aunt, the Hip-
popotamus, 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 curtiosity !

He asked questions about everything that he


saw, or heard, or felt, or smelt, or touched, and
all his uncles and his aunts spanked him. And
still he was full of 'satiable curtiosity !

One fine morning in the middle of the


Precession of
Equinoxes the this 'satiable

Elephant's Child asked a new fine question


that he had never asked before. He asked,
1 '

What does the Crocodile have for dinner ?


Then everybody said, Hush !
'

in a loud and
dretful tone, and they spanked him immediately
and without stopping, for a long time.
directly,
By and by, when that was finished, he came
upon Kolokolo Bird sitting in the middle of a
'

wait-a-bit thorn-bush, and he said, My father


The Elephant's Child 65
has spanked me, and my mother has spanked
me all my aunts and uncles have spanked me
;

for my 'satiable curtiosity; and still I want to


know what the Crocodile has for dinner !
'

Then Kolokolo Bird said, with a mournful


cry, Go to the banks of the great grey-green,
'

greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-


trees, and find out.'
That very next morning, when there was
nothing left of the Equinoxes, because the Pre-
cession had preceded 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, Good-


bye. I am
going to the great grey-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 them 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 Graham's Town to Kimberley,
and from Kimberley to Khama's Country, and
66 Just So Stories

from Khama's Country he went east by north,


eating melons all the time, till at last he came
to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy

Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees,


precisely as Kolokolo Bird had said.
Now you must know and understand, O
Best Beloved, that till that very week, and day,
and 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
curtiosity.
The first thing found was a Bi-
that he
Coloured- Python -Rock -Snake curled round a
rock.
'Scuse 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 Bi-
Coloured- Python -Rock- Snake, in a voice of
dretful scorn. What will you ask me next ? '

'

'Scuse me,' said the Elephant's Child, but


could you kindly tell me what he has for dinner?
'

Then the Bi -
Coloured -
Python - Rock -

Snake uncoiled himself very quickly from the


rock, and spanked the Elephant's Child with his
scalesome, flailsome tail.
The Elephant's Child 67
'That is odd,' said the Elephant's Child,
1

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
curtiosity and I suppose this is the same thing.'
So he said good-bye very politely to the Bi-
Coloured - Python - Rock - Snake, and helped to
coil him up on the rock again, and went on, a
littlewarm, 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 grey-green, greasy Limpopo River,
all set about with fever-trees.
But it was really the Crocodile, O Best Beloved,
and the Crocodile winked one eye like this !

'Scuse 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 stepped back most politely,


Child
because he did not wish to be spanked again.
'

Come hither, Little One,' said the Croco-


'

dile. Why do you ask such things ?


68 Just So Stories
4

'Scuse me,' said the Elephant's Child most


my
;

politely, but my
has spanked me,father
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, Hippopotamus, and my
the
hairy uncle, the Baboon, and including the
Bi - Coloured - Python - Rock- Snake, with the
scalesome, flailsome tail, just up the bank, who
spanks harder than any of them and so, if it's ;

quite all the same to you, I don't want to be


spanked any more.'
'

Come hither, Little One,' said the Croco-


dile,
'

for I am the Crocodile,' and he wept


crocodile-tears to show
was quite true. it

Then the Elephant's Child grew all breath-


less, 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 Croco-


'

dile, 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,
The Elephant's Child 69
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 to-day I


'

willbegin 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, Led go ! You are hurtig be !

Then the Bi- Coloured- Python -Rock -Snake


'

scuffled down from the bank and said, My


young friend, if you do not now, immediately
and 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 meant the


'

Crocodile) will jerk you into yonder limpid


stream before you can say Jack Robinson.'
This is the way Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-
Snakes always talk.

Then the Elephant's Child sat back on his


little haunches, 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's Child's nose kept on
stretching ;
and the Elephant's Child spread all
70 Just So Stories
his little four legs and pulled, and pulled, and
pulled, nose kept on stretching
and his and ;

the Crocodile threshed his tail like an oar, and


he pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and at each

pull Elephant's Child's nose grew


the longer
and longer and it hurt him hijjus !

Then the Elephant's Child felt his legs slip-

ping, and he said through his nose, which was now


" '

nearly five feet long, This is too butch for be !

Then the Bi- Coloured -Python -Rock -Snake


came down from the bank, and knotted himself
in double - clove -hitch round the Elephant's
a
'

Child's hind legs, and said, Rash and inexperi-


enced traveller, we will now seriously devote
ourselves to high tension, because if we
a little

do not, it is my impression that yonder self-


propelling man-of-war with the armour-plated
(and by this, O Best Beloved, he
'

upper deck
*
meant the Crocodile), will permanently vitiate

your future career.'


That is the way all Bi- Coloured- Python -
Rock -Snakes always talk.
So he pulled, and the Elephant's Child
pulled, and the Crocodile pulled but the
;

Elephant's and the Bi-Coloured-Python-


Child
Rock-Snake pulled hardest and at last the ;
The Elephant's Child 71
Crocodile go of the Elephant's Child's nose
let

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
Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock- the
Snake and next he was kind to his poor pulled
;

nose, and wrapped it all up in cool banana


leaves, and hung it in the great grey-green,
greasy Limpopo to cool.
'What are you doing that for?' said the Bi-

Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake.
' *

'Scuse me,' said the Elephant's Child, but


my nose is badly out of shape, and I am waiting
for it to shrink.'
'

Then you willhave to wait a long time/


said the Bi - Coloured - Python - Rock - Snake.
Some people do not know what
'
is good for
them.'
The Child sat there for three
Elephant's
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 out into a really truly trunk same as


it

all Elephants have to-day.


THIS is the Elephant's Child having his nose pulled by the Crocodile.
He is much surprised and astonished and hurt, and he is talking through
his nose and saying,
'

Led go ! You are hurtig be He is pulling very


!
'

hard, and so is the Crocodile ;


but the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake is
hurrying through the water to help the Elephant's Child. All that black
stuff is the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River (but I am
not allowed to paint these pictures), and the bottly-tree with the twisty
roots and the eight leaves is one of the fever trees that grow there.
Underneath the truly picture are shadows of African animals walking
into an African ark.There are two lions, two ostriches, two oxen, two
camels, two sheep, and two other things that look like rats, but I think
they are rock-rabbits. They don't mean anything. I put them in
because I thought they looked pretty. They would look very fine if I
were allowed to paint them.

72
73
The Elephant's Child 75
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 Bi-


!

Coloured - 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 fore-legs, and stuffed it into his own mouth.
'

number two!
'Vantage said the Bi-
Coloured- Python -Rock -Snake. You couldn't
have done that with a mear-smear nose. Don't
'

you think the sun is very hot here ?


1

It is,' said the Elephant's Child, and before


he thought what he was doing he schlooped up
a schloop of mud from the banks of the great
grey-green, greasy Limpopo, and slapped it on
his head, where it made a cool schloopy-sloshy
mud-cap all trickly behind his ears.
number three
'Vantage !
'

said the Bi -

Coloured Python - Rock - Snake.


- You couldn't
have done that with a mere-smear nose. Now
'
how do you feel about being spanked again ?
76 Just So Stories
'

'Scuse me,' said the Elephant's Child, but


I should not like it at all.'
How would you
spank somebody ?
like to
'

said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake.


1

1 should like it very much indeed,' said the


Elephant's Child.
'Well,' said the Bi- Coloured -Python -Rock -
'

Snake, 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 as a fly-whisk and ;

he made himself a new, cool, slushy-squshy


mud-cap 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.
The Elephant's Child 77
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 Bi-Coloured-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 curtiosity.'


1 '

Pooh,' said the Elephant's Child. I don't

think you peoples know anything about spank-


ing but / do, and I'll show you.'
;

Then he uncurled his trunk and knocked


two of his dear brothers head over heels.
*
O Bananas !
'

said they,
*
where did you
learn that trick, and what have you done to
'

your nose ?
'

got a new one from the Crocodile on the


I

banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo


'

River,' said the Elephant's Child. I asked

him what he had for dinner, and he gave me


this to keep.'
THIS is just a picture of the Elephant's Child going to pull bananas
off a banana-tree after he had got his fine new long trunk. I don't think

it is a very nice picture ;


but I couldn't make it any better, because
elephants and bananas are hard to draw. The streaky things behind the
Elephant's mean squoggy marshy country somewhere in Africa.
Child
The Elephant's Child made most of his mud-cakes out of the mud that
he found there. I think it would look better if you painted the banana-
tree green and the Elephant's Child red.
79
The Elephant's Child 81

'It looks very ugly,' said his hairy uncle,


the Baboon.
1 '

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 bad Elephant's Child spanked all
that
his dear families for a long time, till they were

very warm and greatly astonished. He pulled


out his tall Ostrich aunt's tail-feathers and he ;

caught his tall uncle, the Giraffe, by the hind-


leg, and dragged him through a thorn-bush ;

and he shouted at his broad aunt, the Hippo-


potamus, and blew bubbles into her ear when
she was sleeping in the water after meals but ;

he never let any one touch Kolokolo Bird.


At things grew so exciting that his dear
last

families went off one by one in a hurry to the


banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo
River, all set about with fever-trees, to borrow
new noses from the Crocodile. When they came
back nobody spanked anybody any more; and
ever since that day, O 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 Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,

I send them east and west ;

But after they have worked for me,


/ give them all a rest.

7 let them rest from nine till five,


For I ambusy 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 'em abroad on her own affairs,


From the second she opens her eyes-
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys !

8.1
THE SING-SONG OF OLD MAN
KANGAROO

OT always was theKan-


garoo as now we do
behold him, but a
Different Animal with
four short legs. He
was grey and he was
woolly, and his pride
was inordinate he :

danced on an outcrop
in the middle of Aus-
and he went to the
tralia, Little God Nqa.
He went to Nqa at six before breakfast,
saying,
'

Make me different from all other


animals by five this afternoon.'

Up jumped Nqa from his seat on the sand-


flat and shouted, Go away
'

!
'

He was grey and he was woolly, and his


85
86 Just So Stones
pride was inordinate : he danced on a rock-
ledge in the middle of Australia, and he went
to the Middle God Nquing.
He went to Nquing at eight after breakfast,
Make me different from all other
'

saying,
animals make me, also, wonderfully popular
;

by five this afternoon.'

Up jumped Nquing from his burrow in the

spinifexand shouted, 'Go away!'


He was grey 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 Nqong.


He Nqong at ten before dinner-
went to

time, saying, Make me different from all other


'

animals make me popular and wonderfully run


;

after by five this afternoon.'

Up jumped Nqong from his bath in the


'

salt-pan and shouted, Yes, I will !

Nqong called Dingo- -Yellow-Dog Dingo


always hungry, dusty in the sunshine, and
showed him Kangaroo. Nqong said, Dingo !

Wake up, Dingo! Do you see that gentleman


dancing on an ashpit ? He wants to be popular
and very truly run after. Dingo, make him
so!'
Old Man Kangaroo 87
Up jumped Dingo Yellow-Dog Dingo
'
'
and said, What, that cat-rabbit ?
Off ran Dingo
-
Yellow - Dog Dingo
-

like a -
always hungry, grinning coal-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 spinifex


; ;

he ran till his front legs ached.


He had to ! .

Still ran Dingo Yellow -


Dog Dingo
always hungry, grinning rat-trap, never like a

getting nearer, never getting farther, ran after


Kangaroo.
He had to!
Still ran Kangaroo
Kangaroo. Old Man
He ran through the ti-trees he ran through ;

the mulga he ran through the long grass


;
he ;

ran through the short grass he ran through ;

the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer; he ran


till his hind legs ached.
THIS is a picture of Old Man Kangaroo when he was the Different
Animal with four short legs. I have drawn him grey and woolly, and
you can see that he is very proud because he has a wreath of flowers in his
hair. He is dancing on an outcrop (that means a ledge of rock) in the
middle of Australia at six You can see that it is
o'clock before breakfast.
six o'clock, because the sun is
just getting up. The thing with the ears
and the open mouth is Little God Nqa. Nqa is very much surprised,
because he has never seen a Kangaroo dance like that before. Little God

Nqa is just Go away,'


saying,
'

but the Kangaroo is so busy dancing


that he has not heard him yet.
The Kangaroo hasn't any real name except Boomer. He lost it

because he was so proud.


89
Old Man Kangaroo 91
He had to !

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 Wollgong River.

Now, thereany bridge, and there


wasn't
wasn't any ferry-boat, and Kangaroo didn't
know how to get over so he stood on his legs
;

and hopped.
He had to !

He hopped through the Flinders he hopped ;

through the Cinders; 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 Kangaroo hop.
For he hopped like a cricket; like a pea in
a saucepan; or a new rubber ball on a nursery
floor.
THIS is the picture of Old Man Kangaroo at five in the afternoon, when
he had got his beautiful hind legs just as Big God Nqong had promised.
You can see that it is five o'clock, because Big God Nqong's pet tame
clock so.
says That is Nqong, in his bath, sticking his feet out. Old
Man Kangaroo is being rude to Yellow Dog Dingo.
- Yellow - Dog
Dingo has been trying to catch Kangaroo all across Australia. You can
see the marks of Kangaroo's big new feet running ever so far back over
the bare hills. Yellow-Dog Dingo is drawn black, because I am not
allowed to paint these pictures with real colours out of the paint-box ;

and besides, Yellow Dingo got dreadfully black and dusty after
-
Dog
running through the Flinders and the Cinders.
I don't know the names of the flowers growing round Nqong's bath.
The two little squatty things out in the desert are the other two gods
that Old Man Kangaroo spoke to early in the morning. That thing with
the letters on it is Old Man Kangaroo's pouch. He had to have a pouch
just as he had to have legs.
93
Old Man Kangaroo 95
He had to !

Hetucked up his front legs he hopped ;

on his hind legs; he stuck out his tail for a


balance-weight behind him and he hopped ;

through the Darling Downs.


He had to!
-
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 Nqong from his bath in the salt-
pans, and said, 'It's five o'clock.'
Down sat Dingo Poor Dog Dingo always
hungry, dusky in the sunshine ; hung out his

tongue and howled.


Down sat Kangaroo Old Man Kangaroo-
stuck out his tail like a milking-stool be-
hind him, and said, Thank goodness that's
'

finished !

Then said Nqong, who is always a gentle-


man, '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


;
96 Just So Stories
meal-times ;
he's altered my
shape so I'll never
get it back ;
and he's played Old Scratch with
my legs.'
'

Then Perhaps I'm mistaken,


said Nqong,
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 Nqong from his bath in the


blue gums. 'Say that again and I'll whistle up
Dingo and run your hind legs off.'
4

No, 'said the Kangaroo. 'I must apologise.


Legs are legs, and you needn't alter 'em so far
as I am concerned. I only meant to explain

to Your Lordliness that I've had nothing


to eat since morning, and I'm very empty
indeed.'
Yes,' said Dingo- -Yellow -Dog Dingo, -
I am just in the same situation. I've made
him different from all other animals ;
but what
may I have for my tea?'
Then said Nqong from his bath in the salt-
Old Man Kangaroo 97
pan,
'

Come and ask me about it to-morrow>


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 a single burst only event of its kind
Started by big God Nqong from Warrigaborrigarooma,
Old Man Kangaroo first :
Yellow-Dog Dingo behind.

Kangaroo bounded away,


His back-legs working like pistons
Bounded from morning till dark,
Twenty-five feet to a bound.
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 the track that they flew in,

For that Continent


Hadn't been given a name.
They ran thirty degrees,
From Torres Straits to the Leeuwin
(Look the Atlas, please),
at

And they ran back as they came.

S'posing you could trot


From Adelaide to the Pacific,
For an afternoon's run
Half what these gentlemen did
You would feel rather hot,

But your legs would develop terrific-

Yes, my
importunate son,
You'd be a Marvellous Kid !

99
THE BEGINNING OF THE
ARMADILLOS

HIS, O Best Beloved, is


another story of the
High and Far - Off
Times. In the very
middle of those times
was a Stickly
-
Prickly
Hedgehog, and he lived
on the banks of the
turbid Amazon, eating
shelly snails and things.
And he had a friend, Slow-Solid Tortoise,
a
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
101
102 Just So Stories

Amazon too; and he ate everything that he


could catch. When he could not catch deer
or monkeys he would and beetles and
eat frogs ;

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 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 night on the banks of the
beautiful
turbid Amazon, Painted Jaguar found Stickly-
Prickly Hedgehog and Slow -Solid Tortoise
sittingunder the trunk of a fallen tree. They
could not run away, and so Stickly-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,


My
'

because this is very important. mother


said that when I meet a Hedgehog I am to drop
Beginning of the Armadillos 103
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 what your Mummy told
of
' *

you ? said -
Stickly 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.'


1
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 itagain more distinctly.'


When you scoop water with your paw you
uncoil with a Hedgehog,' said Stickly-Prickly.
it
'

Remember that, because it's important.'


1 ' *

But, said the Tortoise, when you paw your


meat you drop it into a Tortoise with a scoop.
'

Why can't you understand ?


THIS is an inciting map of the Turbid Amazon done in Red and Black.
It hasn't anything to do with the story except that there are two Arma-
dillos in it The inciting part are the adventures that
up by the top.
happened men who went along the road marked in red. I meant to
to the

draw Armadillos when I began the map, and I meant to draw manatees
and spider-tailed monkeys and big snakes and lots of Jaguars, but it was
more inciting to do the map and the venturesome adventures in red. You
begin at the bottom left-hand corner and follow the little arrows all
about, and then you come quite round again to where the adventuresome
people went home in a ship called the l{pyal Tiger. This is a most
adventuresome picture, and all the adventures are told about in writing,
so you can be quite sure which is an adventure and which is a tree or
a boat.

104
-

Iffr" flllj \

AMAZQ^
K^-yTmJ-^/,,^/-^

105
Beginning of the Armadillos 107
You are making my spots ache,' said Painted
*

Jaguar and besides, I


;
didn't want your advice
at all. I only wanted to know which of you is

Hedgehog and which is Tortoise.'


said -
'I shan't tell you,' Stickly Prickly.
;

but you can scoop me out of my shell if you


like.'
'

Aha !
'

said Painted Jaguar.


'

Now I know
you're Tortoise. You thought I wouldn't !

Now I Jaguar darted out his


will.' Painted
paddy-paw just as Stickly-Prickly curled himself
up, and of course Jaguar's paddy-paw was just
filled with prickles. Worse than that, he
knocked Stickly-Prickly away and away into the
woods and the bushes, where it was too dark to
find him. Then he put his paddy-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 Tortoise at all.
f

'

But -and then he scratched his head with


'

his un-prickly paw- how do I know that this


'
other is Tortoise ?
But I am Tortoise/ said Slow -and -Solid.
;

Your mother was quite right. She said that


you were to scoop me out of my shell with your
paw. Begin.'
io8 Just So Stories
You
didn't say she said that a minute ago,'
said Painted Jaguar, sucking the prickles out of
his paddy-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 because 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 a 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 Painted Jaguar.


You've mixed up all the things my mother
Beginning of the Armadillos 109
told me
do with the things that you asked
to
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 some-
;

thing 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.
'

you say another word about what my


If
'

mother said the Jaguar answered, but he had


not finished the sentence before Slow-and-Solid
quietly dived into the Amazon, swam
turbid
under water for a long way, and came out on
the bank where Stickly -
Prickly was waiting
for him.
That was a very narrow escape,' said Stickly-
'

Prickly. I don't like 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
no Just So Stories
I was, and he is surprised. Now he's gone 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 turbid Amazon, till his

Mummy *
came.
'

Son, son ! mother ever so many


said his
'

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 per-ickles,' said Painted Jaguar.
'

Son, son ! said his mother ever so many


'

times, waving her tail,


graciously by the
prickles in your paddy-paw I see that 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


Beginning of the Armadillos 1 1 1

to me and remember what I say. A Hedgehog


curls himselfup into a ball and his prickles stick
out every which way at once. By this you may
know the Hedgehog.'
'

don't like this old lady one little bit,' said


I

Stickly-Prickly, under the shadow of a large leaf.


7

' '

I wonder what else she knows ?


1
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, Stickly-Prickly.'
4

Don't talk to me,' said Stickly-Prickly.


'Just think how much better would be if you
it

could curl up. This is a mess Listen to !

Painted Jaguar.'
Painted Jaguar was sitting on the banks of
the turbid Amazon sucking prickles out of his
paws 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 !


ii2 Just So Stories

He'll never forget that this month of Sun-


'

Hold up my chin,
'

days,' said Stickly-Prickly.


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 Stickly-Prickly's chin, while Stickly-
Prickly 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 back-


plates a little, I'll see what I can do towards
curling up. It may be useful.'

Stickly-Prickly helped to unlace Tortoise's


back-plates, so that by twisting and straining
Slow-and-Solid actually managed to curl up a
tiddy wee bit.
* ' '

Excellent ! said Stickly-Prickly ;


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 practise that side-stroke
which you say is so easy.' And so Stickly-
Prickly practised, and Slow-Solid swam alongside.
'
Excellent
'
said Slow-and-Solid.
!
'
A little

more practice will make you a regular whale.


Now, if trouble you to unlace
I may my back
and front plates two holes more, I'll try that
Beginning of the Armadillos 1 1
3

fascinating bend that you say is so easy. Won't


'

Painted Jaguar be surprised !

1 '

Excellent ! said Stickly-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 expres-
sion, please, and don't grunt quite so much, or
Painted Jaguar may hear us. When you've
finished, I want to try long dive which
that
you say is so easy. Won't Painted Jaguar be
'

surprised !

And so Stickly-Prickly dived, and Slow-and-


Solid dived alongside.
'

Excellent
'

said Slow-and-Solid.
!
'
A leetle
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

wrapping my hind legs round my ears which


you say is so peculiarly comfortable. Won't
'
Painted Jaguar be surprised !

4 ' '

Excellent said Stickly-Prickly.


! But it's

straining your back -plates a little. They are all

overlapping now, instead of lying side by side.'

'Oh, that's the result of exercise,' said Slow-


'

and-Solid. I've your noticed


prickles that
seem to be melting into one another, and that
H4 Just So Stories
you're growing to look rather more like a pine-
cone, and less like a chestnut-burr, than you
used to.'
'

Am I ?
'

said Stickly-Prickly. That comes


from my
soaking in the water. Oh, won't
'

Painted Jaguar be surprised !

They went on with their exercises, each


helping the other, morning came and when
till ;

the sun was high they rested and dried them-


selves. Then they saw that they were both of
them quite different from what they had been.
*

Stickly-Prickly,' said Tortoise after break-


fast,
!

I am not what I was yesterday ;


but I

think that I amuse Painted Jaguar.'


may yet
That was the very thing I was thinking just
'

now,' said Stickly-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 paddy-paw that had the been hurt


night before. He was so astonished that he fell
three times backward over his own painted tail

without stopping.
*

Good morning !
'

said Stickly
-
Prickly.
Beginning of the Armadillos 115
*

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 Stickly-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 turbid Amazon


and be drowned,' said Slow-Solid. Why are
'

you so rude and forgetful to-day ?


'

Don't you remember what your mother told


'

you ? said Stickly-Prickly ,-


'

Can't curl, but can swim


Stickly-Prickly, that's him !

Curls up, but can't swim


'

Slow-Solid, that's him !

Then they both curled themselves up and


rolled round and round Painted Jaguar till his

eyes turned truly cart-wheels in his head.


Then he went to fetch his mother.
' '

Mother,' he said, two new animals


there are
in the woods to-day, and the one that you said
THIS is a picture of the whole story of the Jaguar and the Hedgehog and
the Tortoise and the Armadillo all in a heap. It looks rather the same any
way you turn it. The Tortoise is in the middle, learning how to bend,
and that is why the shelly plates on his back are so spread apart. He is
standing on Hedgehog, who is
the waiting to learn how to swim. The
Hedgehog Japanesy Hedgehog, because I couldn't find our own
is a

Hedgehogs in the garden when I wanted to draw them. (It was daytime,
and they had gone to bed under the dahlias.) Speckly Jaguar is looking
over the edge, with his paddy-paw carefully tied up by his mother, because
he pricked himself scooping the Hedgehog. He is much surprised to see
what the Tortoise is doing, and his paw is hurting him. The snouty
thing with the little eye that Speckly Jaguar is trying to climb over is the
Armadillo the Tortoise and the Hedgehog are going to turn into
that
when they have finished bending and swimming. It is all a magic picture,
and that is one of the reasons why I haven't drawn the Jaguar's whiskers.
The other reason was that he was so young that his whiskers had not
grown. The Jaguar's pet name with his Mummy was Doffles.

116
Beginning of the Armadillos 119
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 Hedgehog, and can't be anything but a
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.'
1 ' '

Nonsense ! said Mother Jaguar. Every-


thing 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, especi-
ally 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 Stickly-Prickly and
Slow-Solid anything except Armadillo. There
are Hedgehogs and Tortoises in other places, of
I2O Just So Stories
course (there are some in
garden) but
my ;

the real old and clever kind, with their scales


lying lippety lappety 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's 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 !
j

And I'd like to roll to Rio


Some day before I'm old !

i ve never seen a Jaguar,


Nor yet an Armadill
O dilloing in his armour,
And I s'pose I never will,

Unless I go to Rio
These wonders to behold
Roll down roll down to Rio-
Roll really down to Rio !

Oh, I'd love to roll to Rio


Some day before I'm old !

121
HOW THE FIRST LETTER WAS
WRITTEN

NCE 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 cavily 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 Tegumai Bopsulai, 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

123
124 J ust So Stories
wife's name was Teshumai Tewindrow, and that
*

means, Lady -who- asks -a- very- many-questions' ;

but we, O Best Beloved, will call her Teshumai,


for short. And his girl-daughter's name
little

was Taffimai Metallumai, and that means,


*
Small - person - without - any - manners -who-ought-
'

to-be-spanked ;
but I'm going to her Taffy. call

And she was Tegumai Bopsulai'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 every-
where with her Daddy Tegumai, and sometimes
they would not come home to the Cave till they
were hungry, and then Teshumai Tewindrow
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 Tegumai Bopsulai went down


through the beaver-swamp to the Wagai river
to spear carp-fish for dinner, and Taffy 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
The First Letter 125
bottom of the river. They were miles and miles
from home (of course they had their lunch
with them 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


Let me run back to the Cave and ask
'

Taffy.
Mummy '
to give it me.'
It's too far for your little fat legs,' said
'

Tegumai. Besides, you might fall into the


beaver-swamp and be drowned. We must make
the best of a bad job.' He sat down and took
out a mendy-bag, full of reindeer-
little leather
sinews and strips of leather, and lumps of bee's-
wax and resin, and began to mend the spear.
Taffy sat down too, with her toes in the water
and her chin in her hand, and thought very
hard. Then she said
4
1 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 Tegumai, how often have I


told you not to use slang? "Awful" isn't a
pretty word, but it would be a convenience,
now you mention it, if we could write home.'
126 Just So Stories
Just then a Stranger-man came along the
river, but he
belonged to a far tribe, the
Tewaras, and he did not understand one word
of Tegumai's language. He stood on the bank
and smiled at Taffy, because he had a little
girl-daughter of his own at home. Tegumai
drew a hank of deer-sinews from his mendy-bag
and began to mend his spear.
Come here/ said Taffy.
'

Do you know
where my Mummy lives ? And the Stranger- '

man said
'

Um !
'
-
being, as you know, a
Tewara.
' '

Silly ! said Taffy, and she stamped her


foot, because she saw a shoal of very big carp
going up the river just when her Daddy couldn't
use his spear.
!

Don't bother grown-ups,' said Tegumai, so


busy with his spear-mending that he did not
turn round.
' '

I aren't,' said Taffy. only want him to


I

do what I want him to do, and he won't under-


stand.'
Then don't bother me,' said Tegumai, and
he went on pulling and straining at the deer-
sinews with his mouth full of loose ends. The
Stranger-man a genuine Tewara he was sat
The First Letter 127
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 is

so great he won't take any notice of me.'


that
So he smiled more politely than ever.
* *

Now,' said Taffy, I want you to go to my


Mummy, your legs are longer than
because
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 a Tewara)
thought, This is a very, very wonderful child.
She waves her arms and she shouts at me, but I
don't understand a word of what she says. But
if I don't do what she wants, I greatly fear that
that haughty Chief, Man -who -turns -his- back -
on-callers, will be angry.' He got up and
twisted a big flat piece of bark off a birch-tree
and gave it to Taffy. He did this, Best Be-
loved, to show that his heart was as white as the
birch-bark and that he meant no harm; but
Taffy didn't quite understand.
Oh '

said she. !
' '
Now I see ! You want
my Mummy's living address ? Of course I can't
128 Just So Stories

write, but I can draw pictures if I've anything


sharp to scratch with. Please lend me the
'

shark's tooth off your necklace.


The Stranger -man (and he was a Tewara)
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 Tewara)
*

thought, This is a very wonderful


very, very,
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 impor-
tant 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 or had better be more polite.'
burst. I

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
The First Letter 129
I'vedrawn his spear all broken. Well, now I'll
draw the other spear that he wants, the black-
handled 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 'splaining 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. / 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 Tewara)
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 tell-
ing me to call all the great Chief's tribe to help
him. He is a great Chief, or he would have
noticed me/
'

drawing very hard and


Look,' said Taffy,
*

rather scratchily, now I've drawn you, and I've


put the spear that Daddy wants into your hand,
just to remind you that you're to bring it. Now
I'llshow you how to find my Mummy's living-
address. You go along till you come to two
130 Just So Stories
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 beautifullest 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 you.
I've made her holding up her hands, because 1

know she'll be so pleased to see you. Isn't it a


beautiful picture? And do you quite under-
'

stand, or shall I 'splain again ?


The Stranger-man (and he was Tewara) a
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 sides with
The First Letter 131

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
deliver a message to me. Therefore he turned
his back, and let the wise and wonderful child
draw the terrible picture showing me his diffi-

culties. 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 hand, and Taffy sat down
most pleased.
Now this is the picture that Taffy had
drawn for him 1
132 Just So Stories
'
1

What have you been doing, Taffy ? said

Tegumai. He had mended his spear and was


carefully waving it to and fro.
*
It's a little berangement of my own, Daddy

If you won't ask me ques-


'

dear,' said Taffy.


tions, 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 Tegumai, and went on
fishing.
TheStranger -man did you know he was
a Tewara ? hurried away with the picture and
ran for some miles, till quite by accident he
found Teshumai Tewindrow at the door of her
Cave, talking to some other Neolithic ladies who
had come in to a Primitive lunch. Taffy was
very like Teshumai, especially about the upper
part of the face and the eyes, so the Stranger-
man always a pure Tewara smiled politely
and handed Teshumai 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 Teshumai saw the picture she
screamed like anything and flew at the Stranger-
The First Letter 133
man. The other Neolithic ladies at once
knocked him down and sat on him in a long
line of six, while Teshumai pulled his hair.
1

It's as plain as the nose on this Stranger-man's

face,' she said.


'

He has stuck my Tegumai all

full and frightened poor Taffy so that


of spears,
her hair stands all on end and not content with ;

that,he brings me a horrid picture of how it


'

was done. Look She showed the picture to


!

all Neolithic ladies sitting patiently on the


the
'

Stranger- man. Here is my Tegumai 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 Taffy's beavers really, but


'

they did look rather like people) coming up


J
behind Tegumai. Isn't it shocking !

'

'Most shocking said the Neolithic ladies,


!

and they filled the Stranger-man's hair with mud


(at which he was surprised), and they beat upon
the Reverberating Tribal Drums, and called to-
gether all the chiefs of the Tribe of Tegumai,
Hetmans and Dolmans, all Neguses,
with their
Woons, and Akhoonds of the organisation, in
addition to the Warlocks, Angekoks, Juju-men,
134 Just So Stories
Bonzes, 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 Tewara) was really annoyed. They
had filled his hair quite solid with mud they ;

had rolled him up and down on knobby


pebbles ; upon him in a long line
they had sat
of six; they had thumped him and bumped him
tillhe 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 to the
bank of the Wagai river, and there they found
Taffy makingdaisy - chains, and Tegumai
carefully spearing small carp with his mended
spear.
'

you have been quick


Well, said Taffy. !

'

But why did you bring so many people ?


Daddy dear, this is my surprise. Are you sur-
'

prised, Daddy ?
'Very,' said Tegumai; 'but it has ruined all
The First Letter i
35
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
Teshumai Tewindrow and the Neolithic ladies,
tightly holding on to the Stranger-man, whose
hair was full of mud (although he was a Tewara).
Behind them came the Head Chief, the Vice-
Chief, the Deputy and Assistant Chiefs (all
armed to the upper teeth), the Hetmans and
Heads of Hundreds, Platoffs with their Platoons,
and Dolmans with their Detachments Woons, ;

Neguses, and Akhoonds 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, to feudal
and prognathous Villeins, semi-entitled to half a
bearskin of winter nights, seven yards from the
fire,and adscript serfs, holding the reversion of a
scraped marrow-bone under heriot (Aren't those
beautiful words, Best Beloved?). They were all
there, prancing and shouting, and they fright-
ened every fish for twenty miles, and Tegumai
thanked them in a fluid Neolithic oration.
Then Teshumai Tewindrow ran down and
kissed and hugged Taffy very much indeed but ;
136 Just So Stories
theHead Chief of the Tribe of Tegumai took
Tegumai by the top -knot feathers and shook
him severely.
' '

Explain Explain ! !
Explain ! cried all the
Tribe of Tegumai.
' ' '

Goodness' sakes alive ! said Tegumai. Let


go of my top-knot. Can't a man break his
carp -spear without the whole countryside de-
scending on him ? You're a very interfering
people.'
'

I don't believe you've brought my Daddy's


black-handled spear after all,' said Taffy. 'And
'
what are you doing to my nice Stranger-man ?
They were thumping him by twos and threes
and tens till his eyes turned round and round.
He could only gasp and point at Taffy.
Where are the bad people who speared you,
:

'

my darling ? said Teshumai Tewindrow.


'

There weren't any,' said Tegumai. 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 Tegumai ?
'

He came with a horrible picture,' said the


'

Head Chief,- a picture that showed you were


full of spears.'
'
Er um Pr'aps Fd better 'splain that' I
The First Letter 137
gave him that picture,' said Taffy, but she did
not feel quite comfy.
You !
'

said Tribe of Tegumai all to-


the
'

gether. 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.
1

said the Head


'

Explain Explain Explain


! ! !

Chief of the Tribe of Tegumai, and he hopped


on one foot.
'

I wanted the Stranger-man to fetch Daddy's

spear, so I drawded it,' said Taffy. There


wasn't lots of spears. There was only one
spear. I drawded it three times to make sure.

I couldn't help it looking as if it stuck into


Daddy's head room on the
there wasn't
birch-bark; and those things that Mummy called
bad people are my beavers. I drawded them
to show him the way through the swamp and ;

I drawded Mummy at the mouth of the Cave


looking pleased because he is a nice Stranger-
man, and / think you are just the stupidest
people in the world,' said Taffy. He is a very !

nice man. Why have you filled his hair with


mud ? Wash him !
'
138 Just So Stories

Nobody said anything at all for a long time,


till the Head Chief laughed then the Stranger-
;

man (who was at least a Tewara) laughed; then


Tegumai 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 Teshumai Tewindrow 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 Tegumai


cried and said and sang, O Small-person-with-
'

out - any - manners - who - ought - to - be - spanked,


'

you've hit upon a great invention !

'

I didn't intend to I only wanted Daddy's


;

black-handled spear/ said Taffy.


'Never mind. It is a great invention, and
some day men will call it writing. At present
it only pictures, and, as we have seen to-day,
is

pictures are not always properly understood.


But a time will come, O
Babe of Tegumai, when
we make letters all twenty-six of 'em,
shall
and when we shall be able to read as well as to
write, and then we shall always say exactly what
we mean without any mistakes. Let the Neo-
lithic ladies wash the mud out of the stranger's
hair.
The First Letter 139
'
be glad of that/ said Taffy, 'because,
I shall

after all, though you've brought every single


other spear in the Tribe of Tegumai, you've for-
gotten my Daddy's black-handled spear.'
Then the Head Chief cried and said and
'

sang, Taffy dear, the next 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 sur-

prises the stranger.'


Then adopted the Stranger -man (a
they
genuine Tewara of Tewar) 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 Taffy'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
Taffy.
THIS is the story of Taffimai Metallumai carved on an old tusk a very
long time ago by the Ancient Peoples. If you read my story, or have it

read to you, you can see how it is all told out on the tusk. The tusk was
part of an old tribal trumpet that belonged to the Tribe of Tegumai.
The pictures were scratched on it with a nail or something, and then the
scratches were filled up with black wax, but all the dividing lines and the
five little rounds at the bottom were filled with red wax. When it was
new there was a network of beads and shells and precious stones
sort of
at one end of it but now that has been broken and lost all except the
;

little bit that you see. The letters round the tusk are magic Runic
magic, and if you can read them you will find out something rather new.
The tusk is of ivory very yellow and scratched. It is two feet long and

two feet round, and weighs eleven pounds nine ounces.

140
THERE runs a road by Merrow Down
A grassy track to-day it is
An hour out of Guildford town,
Above the river Wey it is.

Here, when they heard the horse-bells ring,


The ancient Britons dressed and rode
To watch the dark Phoenicians bring
Their goods along the Western Road.

And here, or hereabouts, they met


To hold their racial talks and such
To barter beads for Whitby jet,
And tin for gay shell torques 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 beavers built in Broadstonebrook


And made a swamp where Bramley stands ;

And bears from Shere would come and look


For Taffimai where Shamley stands.

The Wey, that Taffy called Wagai,


Was more than six times bigger then ;

And all the Tribe of Tegumai


They cut a noble figure then !
HOW THE ALPHABET WAS MADE
HE week after Taffimai
Metallumai (we will still

call her Taffy, Best Be-


loved) made that little

mistake about her


Daddy's spear and the
Stranger
- man and the
picture letter
- and all,
she went carp -
fishing
again with her Daddy.
Her Mummy wanted
her to stay at home
and help 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.'

H5
146 Just So Stories
* '

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 had
;

I,' said Tegumai. I to pay


two deerskins- -soft ones with fringes to the

Stranger-man for the things we did to him.'


' *

H^e 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.
1

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 a shark's
'

tooth. Then she said, Daddy, I've thinked


of a secret surprise. You make a noise any
sort of noise.'
*
Ah
'
'

! said Tegumai. Will that do to


'

begin with ?
'

Yes,' said Taffy. You look just like a carp-


fish with its mouth open. Say it again, please.'
1 '

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-


How the Alphabet was Made 147
think. Do Daddy, and keep your
say ah,
mouth open at the end, and lend me that
tooth. I'm going to draw a carp-fish's mouth
wide-open.'
*
What for ?
'

Daddy. said her


' '
Don't you see ? said Taffy, scratching away
on the bark. 'That will be our little secret
s'prise. When
draw a carp-fish with his
I

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 s'prised
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 carp-fish, but I can draw something that


means a carp-fish's mouth. Don't
you know how they stand on their
heads rooting in the mud? Well,
here's a pretence carp-fish (we can

play that the rest of him is drawn). Here's just


'

his mouth, and that means ah. And she drew


this, (i.)
148 Just So Stories
That's not bad,' said Tegumai, 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 him ex-
anything of

cept just the opening of his mouth


and the feeler across. Then we'll
know he's a carp-fish, 'cause the
perches and trouts haven't got feelers.
Look here, Taffy.' And he drew
this. (2.)
'
Now I'll copy it.' said Taffy.
'
Will you
'
understand this when you see it ?
And she drew this. (3.)
*

Perfectly,' said her Daddy.


*
And I'll be quite as s'prised 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.
'

Yah ! said her Daddy, very loud.


'

H'm,' said Taffy. 'That's a mixy noise.


The end part is ^/f-carp-fish-mouth but what ;

can we do about the front part? Yer-yer-yer


'

and ah I Ta !
How the Alphabet was Made 149
*

very like the carp-fish-mouth noise.


It's

Let's draw another bit of the carp-fish and join


*

em,' 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 Tegumai. Here's
*

a carp-fish tail for the j^r-noise.'


And he drew this. (4.)
*
I'll try now,' said Taffy.
'Member I can't draw like you,
do 4
Daddy. Will it if I just draw
the split part of the tail, and the sticky-down
line for where it joins ?
'
And she
drew this. (5.)
Her Daddy nodded, and his eyes
were shiny bright with 'citement.
5 '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.


150 Just So Stories
We'll have to scratch a round something like
one.' And he drew this. (6.)
' ' *

My gracious ! said Taffy, what


a lot of noise-pictures we've made,
carp-mouth, carp-tail, and egg! Now,
6
make another noise, Daddy.'
' '

Ssh ! 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 ? Daddy. I meant I


said her
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 ttA-noise a snake. Will this
'

do? And she drew this. (7.)

There/ she said. That's another


s'prise- secret. you draw a When
7

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're fishing, I'll know you want
me to walk most most mousy-quiet, so as not
'

to shake the banks.


How the Alphabet was Made 151
*

Perfectly true,' said Tegumai.


*
And
there's more in this game than you think.

Taffy, dear, I've a notion that your Daddy's


daughter has hit upon the finest thing that
there ever was since the Tribe of Tegumai
took to using shark's teeth instead of flints for
their spear-heads. I believe we've found out
thebig secret of the world.'
* '

Why ? said Taffy, and her eyes shone too


with incitement.
*

show,' said her Daddy.-


I'll 'What's water
'
in the Tegumai language ?

Ya, of course, and it means river too


like Wagai-j><2 the Wagai river.'

What
1

is bad water that gives you fever if


'

you drink it black water swamp-water ?


'

Y0, of course.'
1

Now look,' said her Daddy.


'

S'pose you
saw scratched by the side of a
this

pool in the beaver-swamp ? And '

he drew this. (8.)


*

Carp -
tail and round egg.
Two noises mixed Yo, bad
!

'

water,' said Taffy. 'Course I wouldn't drink


that water because I'd know you said it was
bad.'
152 Just So Stories
'
But I needn't be near the water at all. I
'

might be miles away, hunting, and still


1
And still it would be just the same as if
*

you stood there and said, G'way, Taffy, or


:

you'll get fever.' All that in a carp -fish-


tail and a round egg ! O
Daddy, we must tell
and Taffy danced all round
'

Mummy, quick !

him.
'Not yet,' said Tegumai; 'not till we've
gone a little further. Let's To is bad
see.

water, but so is food cooked on the


fire, isn't it?' And he drew this.
(9.)
Yes. Snake and egg,' said Taffy
'
9
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'd I.'
' '

My Winkie said Tegumai. !That's true


too. But wait a minute. I see a difficulty.
"
So means come and have dinner," but sho means
the drying-poles where we hang our hides.'
' ' '

Horrid 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
How the Alphabet was Made 153
Mummy hang the two hides on the drying-poles,
'

what would I do ?
You'd be cross. So'd Mummy. We must
1

make a new picture for sho. We must draw a


spotty snake that hisses sh-sh, and we'll play
that the plain snake only hisses ssss.'
'
I couldn't be sure how to put in the spots,'
said Taffy.
'

And p'raps if you were in a hurry


you might leave them out, and I'd think it was
so when it was sho, and then Mummy 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 quite sure.


I'll put them in just after the
hissy
-
snake. Look !
'
And
she drew this. (10.)
'

P'raps that's safest. It's


10
very like
drying -poles,our
anyhow/ said her Daddy, laughing.
*
Now
I'll make a new noise with a snake and
drying -pole sound in it. I'll say shi. That's
Tegumai 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.'
154 J ust So Stories
'

We won't have beavers or hills this time,


'

just draw a straight


'

eh ? said her Daddy I'll


?
line for my spear and he drew
this, (iio)
Mummy
'

Even couldn't mistake


that for me being killed.'
'

Please don't, Daddy. It makes


me uncomfy. Do some more noises. We're
getting on beautifully.'
' '

Er-hm said Tegumai, looking up.


! We'll
'

say shu That means sky


Taffy drew the snake and the drying-pole.
Then she stopped. We must make a new ;

'

picture for that end sound, mustn't we ?


f
' '

Shu-shu-u-u-u ! said her Daddy. Why,


it's just like the round-egg-sound made thin.'
*

Then s'pose we draw a thin round egg, and


pretend it's a frog that hasn't eaten anything for
years/
*

If we drew that
*

Daddy.
N-no,' said her
in a hurry we might mistake it for the round

egg itself. Shu-shu-shul I'll 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, ooo-oo-oo.


Like this.' And he drew this. (12.)
How the Alphabet was Made 155
'

Oh, that's lovely ! Much better than a thin

frog. Go on/ said Taffy 9 using her shark's


tooth.
Her Daddy went on drawing, and his hand
shook with incitement.
He went on till he had CljLf JY/v
drawn
Don't look
Taffy/ he said,,
this.

up,
Try
(13.)
iff (HA
if you can make out what that means in the

Tegumai language. If you can, we've found


the Secret.'
'

Snake pole broken - egg carp - tail and


carp-mouth/ said Taffy. 'Shu-ya. Sky-water
(rain).' drop on her hand, for
Just then a fell

the day had clouded over. Why, Daddy, it's


raining. Was that what you meant to tell me ? '

6
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, Shu-ya means rain, or
"it going to rain." Why, Daddy!' She got
is
c

up and danced round him S'pose you went


out before I was awake, and drawed shu-ya in
the smoke on the wall, I'd know it was going to
156 Just So Stories
rain and I'd take my beaver-skin hood. Wouldn't
Mummy be surprised !
'

Tegumai got up and danced. (Daddies


didn't mind doing those things in those days.)
1
More than that More than that ! he said. !
'

'

S'pose wanted to tell you it wasn't going to


I

rain much and you must come down to the

river, what would we draw? Say the words in


Tegumai-talk first.'
'

Shu-ya-las, ya maru. (Sky -water ending.


River come to.) ffihat a lot of new sounds !

/ don't see how we can draw them.'


'
' *
But I do but I do said Tegumai. Just !

attend a minute, Taffy, and we won't do any


more to -
day. We've
got shu-ya all right,
haven't we ? but this las is a teaser. La-la-la !
'

and he waved his shark-tooth.


There's the hissy-snake at the end and the
carp - mouth before the snake as-as-as. We
only want la-la,' said Taffy.
I know it, but we have to make la-la. And
we're the people in all the
first world who've
'
ever tried to do it, Taffimai !

Well,' said Taffy, yawning, for she was


rather tired. 'Las means breaking or finishing
'
as well as ending, doesn't it ?
How the Alphabet was Made 157
'
4
So it does,' said Tegumai. Yo-las means
that there's no water in the tank for Mummy to
cook with- -just when I'm going hunting, too.'
'
And shi-las 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 ! said Tegumai, waiving his

stick and frowning.


*

Oh bother !
'

1
could have drawn shi quite easily,' Taffy
1
'

went on. Then I'd have drawn your spear all


broken this way!' And she drew. (14.)
1

The very thing,' said Tegumai. 'That's

i6

14 15

la all over. It isn't like any of the other marks,


either.' And he drew this. (15.
Now '

for ya. Oh, we've done that before.


Now for maru. Mum-mum-mum. Mum shuts
one'smouth up, doesn't it ? We'll draw a shut
mouth like this.' And he drew. (16.)
Then the carp - mouth open. That makes
Ma-ma-ma \ But what about this rrrrr-thing,
'

Taffy ?
158 Just So Stories
'
sounds all rough and edgy, like your
It

shark-tooth saw when you're cutting out a plank


for the canoe,' said Taffy.
You mean all sharp at the
'

edges, like this ? said Tegumai.


17 And he drew. (17.)
'Xactly,' said Taffy. 'But we don't want
all those teeth :
only put two.'
' *

only put in one,' said Tegumai.


I'll 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.' //L
And he drew. (18.)
'Now we've got it,' said Tegumai,
'

standing on one leg. I'll draw 'em 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 carps ?


'

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-


bark. (19.)
'

Shu-ya-las ya-maru? said Taffy, reading it

out sound by sound.


How the Alphabet was Made 159
'That's enough for to-day/ said Tegumai.
1

Besides, you're getting tired, Taffy. Never

mind, dear. We'll finish it all to-morrow, and


then we'll be remembered for years and years
after the biggest trees you can see are all chopped

up for firewood.'
So home, and all that evening
they went
Tegumai sat on one side of the fire and Taffy
on the other, drawing yas and yo's and shus
and skis in the smoke on the wall and giggling
'

together till her Mummy said, Really, Tegumai,


you're worse than my Taffy.'
* *
Please don't mind,' said Taffy. It's only
our secret-s'prise, 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 Tegumai went
down to the river to think about new sound-
pictures, and when Taffy got up she saw Ta-las
160 Just So Stones
(water is ending or running out) chalked on
the side of the big stone water-tank, outside
the Cave.
1

Urn,' said Taffy. These picture-sounds


are rather a bother !
good as
Daddy's just as
come here himself and told me to get more water
for 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


left-oversound-pictures,' said her Daddy, and
they had a most inciting day of it, and a beauti-
ful lunch in the middle, and two games of

romps. When they came to T, Taffy said that


as her name, and her Daddy's, and her Mummy's
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


drawing to it six or seven
times, Taffy and Tegumai drew it scratchier and
scratchier, till at last the T-sound was only a
thin long Tegumai with his arms out to hold
Taffy and Teshumai. You can see from these
How the Alphabet was Made 161

three pictures partly how it happened. (20,


21, 22.)
Many other pictures were much too
of the
beautiful to begin with, especially before lunch,
but as they were drawn over and over again on

I
20 21 22 23

birch-bark, they became plainer and easier, till

even Tegumai said he could find no


at last 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

24 25 26 27

(23) ;
and they just made a twiddle for E, be-
cause came into the pictures so often (24) and
it ;

they drew pictures of the sacred Beaver of the


Tegumais for the B-sound (25, 26, 27, 28);
and because it was a nasty, nosy noise, they
1 62 Just So Stones
just drew noses for the N-sound, till they were
tired (29) and they drew a picture of the big
;

lake-pike's mouth for the greedy Ga-sound (30) ;

and they drew the pike's mouth again with a

28 29 30

spear behind it for the scratchy, hurty Ka-sound


(31) and they drew pictures of a little bit of
;

the winding Wagai river for the nice windy-


windy Wa-sound (32, 33) and so on and so
;

forth and so following till they had done and

31 32 33

drawn the sound-pictures that they wanted,


all

and there was the Alphabet, all complete.


And after thousands and
and thousands
thousands of years, and after Hieroglyphics and
Demotics, and Nilotics, and Cryptics, and Cufics,
and Runics, and Dorics, and Ionics, and all
How the Alphabet was Made 163
sorts of other ricks and tricks (because the
Woons, and the Neguses, and the
Akhoonds,
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 'em got back
into its proper shape again for all Best Beloveds
when they are old enough.
to learn
But / remember Tegumai Bopsulai, and
Taffimai Metallumai and Teshumai Tewindrow,
her dear Mummy, and all the days gone by.
And was so just so a
it little time ago
on the banks of the big Wagai !
ONE of the first things that Tegumai Bopsulai did after Taffy and he had
made the Alphabet was to make a magic Alphabet-necklace of all the letters,
so that be put in the Temple of Tegumai and kept for ever and
it could
ever. All Tribe of Tegumai brought their most precious beads and
the
beautiful things, and Taffy and Tegumai spent five whole years getting .

the necklace in order. This is a picture of the magic Alphabet-necklace.


The string was made of the finest and strongest reindeer-sinew, bound
round with thin copper wire.
Beginning at the top, the first bead is an old silver one that belonged
to the Head Priest of the Tribe of Tegumai then come three black ;

mussel-pearls; next is a clay bead (blue and gray); next a nubbly gold
bead sent as a present by a tribe who got it from Africa (but it
must have been Indian really) the next is a long flat-sided
; glass bead
from Africa (the Tribe of Tegumai took it in a fight) then come two ;

clay beads (white and green), with dots on one, and dots and bands on
the other next are three rather chipped amber beads
;
then three clay ;

beads (red and white), two with dots, and the big one in the middle with a
toothed pattern. Then the letters begin, and between each letter is a little
whitish clay bead with the letter repeated small. Here are the letters
A is scratched on a tooth an elk-tusk I think.
B is the Sacred Beaver of Tegumai on a bit of old glory.

C is a pearly oyster-shell inside front.


D must be a sort of mussel-shell outside front.
E is a twist of silver wire.
F is broken, but what remains of it is a bit of stag's horn.
G is painted black on a piece of wood. (The bead after is a small G
shell, and not a clay bead. I don't know why they did that.)

H is a kind of a big brown cowie-shell.


I is the inside part of a long shell ground down by hand. (It took
Tegumai three months to grind it down.)
J is hook in mother-of-pearl.
a fish
L is broken spear in silver.
the (K ought to follow J of course, but
the necklace was broken once and they mended it wrong.)
K is a thin slice of bone scratched and rubbed in black.

165
1 66 Just So Stories
M is on a pale gray shell.
N is a piece of what is called porphyry with a nose scratched on it

(Tegumai spent five months polishing this stone.)


is a piece of oyster-shell with a hole in the middle.
P and Q are missing. They were lost, a long time ago, in a great
war, and the tribe mended the necklace with the dried rattles of a

rattlesnake, but no one ever found P and Q. That is how the


'

saying began, You must mind your P's. and Q's.


R is, of course, just a shark's tooth.
S is a little silver snake.
T is the end of a small bone, polished brown and shiny.
U is another piece of oyster-shell.
W is a twisty piece of mother-of-pearl that they found inside a big

mother-of-pearl shell, and sawed off with a wire dipped in sand


and water. It took Taffy a month and a half to polish it and drill

the holes.
X is silver wire joined in the middle with a raw garnet. (Taffy
found the garnet.)
Y is the carp's tail in ivory.
Z, is a bell-shaped piece of agate marked with Z-shaped stripes. They
made the Z-snake out of one of the stripes by picking out the soft
stone and rubbing in red sand and bee's-wax. Just in the mouth of
the bell you see the clay bead repeating the Z-letter.

These are all the letters.


The next bead is a small round greeny lump of copper ore the next ;

is a lump of rough turquoise ; the next is a rough gold nugget (what they
call water-gold) ;
the next is a melon-shaped clay bead (white with green

spots). Then come ivory pieces, with dots on them rather like
four flat

dominoes then come three stone beads, very badly worn


; then two soft ;

iron beads with rust-holes at the edges (they must have been magic, because

they look very common) ;


and last is a very very old African bead, like

glass blue, red, white, black, and yellow. Then comes the loop to slip over
the big silver button at the other end, and that is all.
1 have copied the necklace very carefully. It weighs one pound seven
and a half ounces. The black squiggle behind is only put in to make the
beads and things look better.
167
OF all the Tribe of Tegumai
Who cut that figure, none remain,
On Merrow Down the cuckoos 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 mocassins and deer-skin cloak,


Unfearing, free and fair 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 Tegumai alone to find
The daughter that was all to him.

169
THE CRAB THAT PLAYED WITH
THE SEA

EFORE the High and


Far-Off Times, O my
Best Beloved, came the
Time of the Very Be-
ginnings ;
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
Animals said, O Eldest Magician, what shall
'

we play at ? and he said, I will show you/


'

He took the Elephant All-the-Elephant-there-


4

was and said, Play at being an Elephant/


171
172 Just So Stories
and All -the -Elephant -there -was played. He
took the Beaver - - All - the - Beaver -
there - was -
!

and Play at being a Beaver,' and All-the-


said,
Beaver-there-was played. He took the Cow-
All -the Cow -there -was- -and said, 'Play at
-

being Cow,' and All - the - Cow - there - was


a
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 birds and 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
What
'

upon his shoulder, and he said, is this

play, EldestMagician?' And the Eldest


Magician said, Ho, Son of Adam, this is the
play of the Very Beginning but you are 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.'


while the two were talking together,
Now,
Pau Amma the Crab, who was next in the
game, scuttled sideways and stepped into the
off
'

sea, saying to himself, I will play my play alone


The Crab that Played 173
in the deep waters, and I will 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 shoulder. 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.
'

Kun
'

? saidAll - the - Elephant -


there -
was,
' '

meaning, Is this right ?


'

Payah kun,' 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.
* '

Kun ? said All-the-Cow-there-was.


THIS is a picture of Pau Amma the Crab running away while the Eldest

Magician was talking to the Man and his Little Girl Daughter. The
Eldest Magician is sitting on his magic throne, wrapped up Magic in his

Cloud. The three flowers in front of him are the three Magic Flowers.
On the top of the hill you can see All-the-Elephant-there-was, and All-
the-Cow-there-was, and All-the-Turtle-there-was going off to play as the
Eldest Magician told them. The Cow has a hump, because she was
All-the-Cow-there-was ;
so she had to have all there was for all the cows
that were made afterwards. Under the hill there are Animals who have
been taught the game they were to play. You can see All-the-Tiger-
there-was smiling at All-the-Bones-there-were, and you can see All-the-
Elk- there -was, and All -the - Parrot- there - was, and All-the-Bunnies-there-
were on the hill. The other Animals are on the other side of the hill, so I

haven't drawn them. The little house up the hill is All-the-House-there-


was. The Eldest Magician made it to show the Man how to make
houses when he wanted to. The Snake round that spiky hill is All-the

Snake-there-was, and he All-the-Monkey-there-was, and the


is talking to

Monkey is being rude to the Snake, and the Snake is being rude to the
Monkey. The Man is very busy talking to the Eldest Magician. The
Little Girl Daughter is looking at Pau Amma as he runs away. That
humpy thing in the water in front is Pau Amma. He wasn't a common
Crab in those days. He was a King Crab. That is why he looks differ-

ent. The thing that looks like bricks that the Man is standing in, is the
Big Miz-Maze. When the Man has done talking with the Eldest
Magician he will walk in the Big Miz-Maze, because he has to. The
mark on the stone under the Man's foot is a magic mark and down ;

underneath I have drawn the three Magic Flowers all mixed up with the
Magic Cloud. All this picture is Big Medicine and Strong Magic.

174
The Crab that Played 177
'

Pay ah
kun,' said the Eldest Magician; and
he breathed upon the bare patch where she had
eaten, 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 can 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.


'

Payah kun/ said the Eldest Magician; and


he breathed upon the fallen trees 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.
'

Kun ? '
said All-the-Turtle-there-was.

'Payah Magician; and


kun,' said the Eldest
he breathed upon the sand and the rocks, where
they had fallen in the sea, and they became
the most beautiful islands of Borneo, Celebes,
Sumatra, Java, and the rest of the Malay Archi-
178 Just So Stories
pelago, 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?'
Man.
1

Yes,' said the


1 '
Is all the Earth obedient to you ?
'Yes,' said the Man.
4 '

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 a 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 for miles and miles, and flooded
the Man's house.
Launch your canoe and we
1

This is wrong.
The Crab that Played 179
will find out who playing with the Sea,' said
is

the Eldest Magician. They stepped into the


canoe ;
the little girl-daughter came with them ;

and the Man took his kris a curving, wavy


dagger with a 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 Bingtang, as though it
had been pulled by a string.
Then the Magician stood up and
Eldest
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 the 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 ?


180 Just So Stories
No,' said the Fisherman, I am spinning a
'

line with which I shall some 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
is made, and the Eldest Magician said to him,
4

Ho Rat of the Moon, are you playing with


!

'

the Sea ?
And the Rat busy biting
said,
'

I am too
through the line that this old Fisherman is spin-

ning. I do not play with the 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 Eldest Magician


said,
*
O
when !

my father here talked to you at the Very Be-

ginning, and I leaned upon his shoulder while the


beasts were being taught their plays, one beast
went away naughtily 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
The Crab that Played 181

stalks and he walked sideways like this


; ;

and he was covered with strong armour upon


7
his back.
And the Eldest Magician said, How wise
are little children who speak truth Now I
!

know where Pau 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, Pauh Janggi, 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 Won-


derful Tree he touched the broad back of Pau
Amma the Crab. And Pau Amma 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 ;


'

What Pau
:

he called out, are you doing,


Amma ? '

And Pau Amma, deep down below,


1 82 Just So Stories
'

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, Pau


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 die, 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 drowned, and the
islands are
Man's house is flooded, and Raja Abdullah, the
King of the Crocodiles, his mouth is filled with
the salt water.
Then Pau Amma, deep down below, laughed
'

and said, I did not know I was so important.

Henceforward I will go out seven times a day,


and the waters shall never be still.'

And Magician said, I cannot


the Eldest
*

make you play the play you were meant to play,


Pau 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 Pau Amma, and he
'

rose to the top of the sea in the moonlight.


The Crab that Played 183
There was nobody in the world so big as Pau
Amma 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 beach 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 one off
of the great twin - fruits the magic double -
kernelled nuts that make people young, and
the little girl -daughter saw it bobbing along-
side 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,


Pau Amma, to show that you are really im-
portant.'
Pau Amma rolled his eyes and waved his
legs, but he could only stir up the 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, Pau
*

Amma,' he said. Now, let me try,' and he


made a Magic with his left hand with just the
little finger of his left hand and lo and
THIS is the picture of Pau Amma the Crab rising out of the sea as tall as
the smoke of three volcanoes. I haven't drawn the three volcanoes,
because Pau Amma was so big. Pau Amma is trying to make a Magic,
hut he is only a silly old King Crab, and so he can't do anything. You
can see he is all legs and claws and empty hollow shell. The canoe is the
canoe that the Man and the Girl Daughter and the Eldest Magician sailed
from the Perak river in. The sea is all black and bobbly, because Pau
Amma has just risen up out of Pusat Tasek. Pusat Tasek is underneath,
so I haven't drawn it. The Man is waving his curvy m-knife at Pau
Amma. The Little Girl Daughter is sitting quietly in the middle of the
canoe. She knows she is quite safe with her Daddy. The Eldest
Magician is standing up at the other end of the canoe beginning to make
a Magic. He has left his magic throne on the beach, and he has taken off
his clothes so as not to get wet, and he has left the Magic Cloud behind
too, so as not to tip the boat over. The thing that looks like another
little canoe outside the real canoe is called an
outrigger. piece It is a
of wood tied to sticks, and it prevents the canoe from being tipped over.
The canoe is made out of one piece of wood, and there is a paddle at one
end of it.
The Crab that Played 187
behold, Best Beloved, Pau Amma's hard, blue-
green-black shell fell off him as a husk falls off
a cocoa-nut, and Pau Amma 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


Shall I ask the Man here to
'

Eldest Magician.
cut you with kris? 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 Pau Amma am ashamed Give
'

said, I !

me back my hard shell and let me go back to


Pusat Tasek, and I will only stir out once a
day and once a night to get my food.'
'

And the Eldest Magician said, No, Pau


Amma, 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 Pau Amma said, What shall I do ? I
am can only hide in Pusat Tasek,
so big that I

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,
1 88 Just So Stories

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.
1

Listen, Pau Amma,' Magi- said the Eldest


'

cian. 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 in all the seas a safe
Pusat Tasek for you and your children for

always.'
Then Pau Amma said, That is good, but I

do not choose yet. Look ! there is that Man


who talked to you
Very Beginning. at the
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


you choose, I will
said,
'

If

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 Pau Amma said, I do not choose yet. '

Look there is that girl who saw me running


!

away at the Very Beginning. If she had spoken


The Crab that Played i

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 Magic and I will give you this pair
of scissors, very, sharp and strong, so that you
and your children can eat cocoa-nuts like this
all day long when you come up from the Sea to

the land ;
or you can dig a Pusat Tasek for
yourself with the scissors that belong to you
when there is no stone or hole near by and ;

when the earth is too hard, by the help of


these same scissors you can run up a tree.'
And Pau Amma 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, Pau Amma, for eleven months of the year ;


but on the twelfth month of every year it shall
grow again, to
soft remind you and all your
children that I canmake magics, and to keep
you humble, Pau 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
;
190 Just So Stories
and crack nuts and dig holes with your scissors,
you will grow too greedy, Pau Amma.'
Then Pau Amma 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, Pau


Amma grew smaller and smaller and smaller, till
at last there was only a little green crab swim-
ming water alongside the canoe, crying
in the
*
in a very small voice, Give me the scissors
'
!

And him up on the


the girl-daughter picked
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 can eat nuts.


said, I 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


Pusat Tasek under every stone. I did not know
I was so important. Kun ? '

(Is this right ?)


'

Payah-kun,' said the Eldest Magician, and


he laughed and gave him his blessing ;
and little

Pau Amma scuttled over the side of canoe the


into the water ;
and he was so tiny that he could
The Crab that Played 191
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 But now we must go


Man.
back to Perak, and that is a weary way to paddle.
If we had waited till Pau Amma had gone out

of Pusat Tasek and come home, the water would


have carried us there by itself.'
You are lazy,' said the EldestMagician.
'

So your children be lazy.


shall They shall be
the laziest people in the world. They shall be
called the the lazy people;' and he
Malazy
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.'
1 *

No,' said the Man. If I am to be lazy all

my days, let the Sea work for me twice a day


for ever. That will save paddling.'
And the Eldest Magician laughed and said,
' '

Pay ah kun (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 Singa-
1
92 Just So Stories
pore, past Malacca, past Selangor, till the canoe
whirled into the mouth of the Perak River again.
Kun ? said the Fisherman of the Moon.
' '

' '

Pay ah kun,' said the Eldest Magician. See


now you pull the Sea twice a day and twice
that
a night for ever, so that the Malazy 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 Pau Amma.'
Then they all went up the Perak River and
went to bed, Best Beloved.
Now listen and attend !

From day to this the Moon has always


that

pulled the sea up and down and made what we


call the tides. Sometimes the Fisher 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 Pau Amma ? You can see when you
go to the beach, how all Pau Amma's babies
make little Pusat Taseks 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
The Crab that Played 193
on the dry land and run up the palm trees and
eat cocoa-nuts, exactly as the girl-daughter pro-
mised. But once a year all Pau Ammas must
shake off their hard armour and be soft to
remind them of what the Eldest Magician could
do. And so it isn't fair to kill or hunt Pau
Amma's babies just because old Pau Amma was
stupidly rude a very long time ago.
Oh yes And Pau Amma's babies hate being
!

taken out of their little Pusat Taseks and brought


home in pickle-bottles. That is why they nip
you with their scissors, and it serves you right
!
CHINA-GOING P. and O-'s
Pass Pau Amma's playground close,
And his Pusat Tasek lies
Near the track of most B.I.'s.
U.Y.K. and N.D.L.
Know Pau Amma's home as well
As the fisher of the Sea knows
'

Bens,' M.M.'s, and Rubattinos.


But (and this is rather queer)
A.T.L.'s can not come here ;

O. and O. and D.O.A.


Must go round another way.
Orient, Anchor, Bibby, Hall,
Never go that way at all.
U.C.S. would have a fit

Ifit found itself on it.


'

And if Beavers
'

took their cargoes


To Penang instead of Lagos,
Or a fat Shaw-Savill bore

Passengers to Singapore,
Or a White Star were to try a
Little trip to Sourabaya,
Or a B.S.A. went on
Past Natal to Cheribon,
Then great Mr. Lloyds would come
With a wire and drag them home !

You'll know what my riddle means


When you've eaten mangosteens.

Or you can't wait till then, ask them to let you have the
if

outside page of the Times ; turn over to page 2, 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-kiddy ought to be able
to do that ;
but if you can't read, ask some one to show it you.

195
THE CAT THAT WALKED BY
HIMSELF

EAR and attend and


listen ;
for this
befell and be-

happened and
became and
was, O my
Best Beloved,
when the Tame
animals were wild. The Dog was and the
wild,
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 lones. 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
197
198 Just So Stories

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 you 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 flavoured
with wild garlic and wild pepper and wild duck ;

stuffed with wild and wild fenugreek and


rice
wild coriander and marrow-bones of wild oxen
; ;

and wild cherries, and wild grenadillas. Then


the Man went to sleep in front of the fire ever
so happy ;
but the Woman satup, combing her
hair. She took the bone of the shoulder of
mutton the big and she
fat blade -bone
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 all the wild
The Cat that Walked 199
animals gathered together where they 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,
'

O my Friends and O 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.'


1

Nenni !
'

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


'

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 too 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
THIS is the picture of the Cave where the Man and the Woman lived
first of all. It was really a very nice Cave, and much warmer than it
looks. The Man had a canoe. It is on the edge of the river, being
soaked in the water to make it swell up. The tattery-looking thing across
the river is the Man's salmon-net to catch salmon with. There are nice
clean stones leading up from the river to the mouth of the Cave, so that
the Man and the Woman could go down for water without getting sand
between their toes. The things like black-beetles far down the beach are
really trunks of dead trees that floated down the river from the Wet Wild
Woods on the other bank. The Man and the Woman used to drag them
out and dry them and cut them up for firewood. I haven't drawn the horse-

hide curtain at the mouth of the Cave, because the Woman has just taken
it down to be cleaned. All those little smudges on the sand between the
Cave and the river are the marks of the Woman's feet and the Man's feet.
The Man and the Woman are both inside the Cave eating their
dinner. They went to another cosier Cave when the Baby came, because
the Baby used to crawl down to the river and fall in, and the Dog had to
pull him out.

2OO
T
2OI
The Cat that Walked 203
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, O 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,
'

O 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, O '

my Friend and Wife of my Friend, I will help


your Man to hunt through the day, and at
night I will guard your Cave/
204 J ust S Stories
'
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 lone. But he never


told anybody.
When the Man waked up he said, What is
Wild Dog doing here ? And the Woman '

His name is not Wild Dog any more, but


'

said,
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-mown 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 and say why Wild


Dog has not returned. Cat, come with me.' '

I am the Cat who


' '
Nenni said the Cat.
!
The Cat that Walked 205
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, O 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 did 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 me


to eat.'
The Woman said, Wild Thing out of the
;

W ild Woods, bend your wild head and wear


T

what give you, and you shall eat the wonderful


I

grass three times a day.'


4 '

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,
THIS is the picture of the Cat that Walked by Himself, walking by his
wild lone through the Wet Wild Woods and waving his wild tail. There
is nothing else in the picture except some toadstools. They had to grow
there because the woods were so wet. The lumpy thing on the low
branch isn't a bird. It
grew is moss that there because the Wild Woods
were so wet.
Underneath the truly picture is a picture of the cozy Cave that the
Man and the Woman went to after the Baby came. It was their summer
Cave, and they planted wheat in front of it. The Man is riding on the
Horse to find the Cow and bring her back to the Cave to be milked. He
is holding up his hand to call the Dog, who has swum across to the other
side of the river, looking for rabbits.

2O6
207
The Cat that Walked 209
and Wild Horse breathed on the Woman's feet
and said, O 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 walk-
ing by his wild lone. 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 not Wild Horse any more, but the First
is

Servant, because he will carry us from place to


place for always and always and always. Ride
on hisback 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
and the to the Cave,
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 Wild Cow had promised to


,

give her milk to the Woman every day in ex-


change for the wonderful grass, the Cat went
back through the Wet Wild Woods waving
his wild tail and walking by his wild lone,
2io Just So Stories
just the same But he never told
as before.
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


any more, 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,
'

O 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.'
Cat said,
'

I am not a friend, and I am not


The Cat that Walked 211

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 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. Your 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 willmake 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.'
212 Just So Stories
1

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 lone.
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 the Cat, because she was
might not like it.
afraid that they
Cat went far and far away and hid himself in
the Wet Wild Woods by his wild lone for a
long time till the Woman forgot all about him.
Only the Bat upside-down Bat that
the little

hung inside the Cave, knew where Cat hid and ;

every evening Bat would fly to Cat with news


of what was happening.
One evening Bat said, There is a Baby
The Cat that Walked 213
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 fond of things that are soft and tickle,'


is

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 inter-

rupted. 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 paddy 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 ths Woman heard him
;

and smiled.
Then the Bat the little upside-down Bat
214 J st So Stories
Cave said, O my
*

that hung in the mouth of the


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, was a
for I busy woman this morning
and he has done me a service.'
The very minute and second, Best Beloved,
the dried horse-skin Curtain that was stretched
tail-down at the mouth of the Cave fell down
woosh ! 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.


O 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
The Cat that Walked 215
struggled and kicked and grew black in the
face.
4
O 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-whorl 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.'
* c

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 Baby laughed as
again, till the
loudly as it had been crying, and scrambled
after the Cat and frolicked all over the Cave till
it grew tired and settled down 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
216 Just So Stories
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, Cat.' O
That very minute and second, Best Beloved,
the smoke of the fire at the back of the Cave
came down in clouds from the roof puff I
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 my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and
*

*
Mother of My Enemy,' said the Cat, is I, for it

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
;
The Cat that Walked 217
that a little wee-wee mouse crept out of a corner
and ran across the floor.
'

O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and


'

Mother 'of my Enemy,' said the Cat, is that


'
little mouse part of your magic ?

Ouh Chee 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,


*

A hundred thanks.
Even the First Friend
not quick enough to
is

catch little mice as you have done. You must


be very wise.'
very moment and second,
That Best O
Beloved, the Milk -pot that stood by the fire
cracked in two pieces ffft because it remem-
bered the bargain she had made with the Cat,
and when the Woman jumped down from the
footstool lo and behold the Cat was lapping !
218 Just So Stories

up the warm white milk that lay in one of the


broken pieces.
4

O my 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 the warm white milk and said, *O
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 Dog can do.'
or the
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
The Cat that Walked 219
stone axe (thatmakes 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 wemake our


will 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 would have put all


last I

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


*

notmade a bargain with me or with all proper


Dogs after me.' And he showed his teeth
22O Just So Stories
'

and said, you are not kind to the Baby while


If

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
allproper Dogs do after me.'
1 '

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


long as Cave, 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.'
am
'
*
Not when I near,' said the Dog. If

you had not said would have shut my


that last I

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
The Cat that Walked 221
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 the house, just as long as
they do not pull his tail too hard. But when
he has done that, and between times, and when
the moon gets up and night comes, he is the
Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike
to him. Then he goes out to the Wet Wild
W T
Woods or up the Wet ild Trees or on the Wet
Wild Roofs, waving his wild tail and walking by
his wild lone.
PUSSY can sit by the fire and sing,

Pussy can climb a tree,


Or play with a silly old cork and string
To 'muse herself, not me.
But I like Binkie my dog, because
He knows how to behave ;

So, Binkie' 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) ;

Then she fluffles her tail and mews,


And scratches and won't attend.
But Binkie will play whatever I choose,
And 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 my bed


Pussy runs out the yard, in

And there she stays till the morning-light ;

So I know only pretend


it is ;

But Ttinkie, he snores at my feet all night,


And he is my Firstest Friend !

223
THE BUTTERFLY THAT STAMPED

HIS, O my Best Beloved,


is a story a new and
a wonderful story a
story quite different
from the other stories
a story about The
Most Wise Sovereign
Suleiman - bin - Daoud
Solomon the Son of
David.
There are three
hundred and fifty-five stories about Suleiman-
bin-Daoud but this not one of them. It is
;

not the story of the Lapwing who found the


Water or the Hoopoe who shaded Suleiman-
;

bin-Daoud 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.

225
226 Just So Stories
Now attend all over again and listen !

Suleiman-bin-Daoud was wise. He under-


stood what the beasts said, what the birds said,
what the fishes said, and what the insects said.
He understood what the rocks said deep under
the earth when they bowed in towards each
other and groaned 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 Balkis, his Head Queen, the Most Beautiful
Queen Balkis, 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, Afrits and Djinns came
out of the earth to do whatever 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 showed off, and when he did
he was sorry for it. Once he tried to feed all
the animals in all the world in one day, but
The Butterfly that Stamped 227
when was ready an Animal came out of
the food
the deep sea and ate it up in three mouthfuls.
Suleiman - bin - Daoud was very surprised and
said,
*
O Animal, who are you ?
'
And the
Animal said,
'

OKing, live for ever ! I am the


smallest of 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
all the world, and my brothers sent me to ask

when dinner would be ready.' Suleiman-bin-


Daoud was more surprised than ever and said,
'

O Animal, you have eaten all the dinner that I

made ready for all the animals in the world.'


And the Animal said,
'

King, O live for ever, but


do you really call Where I come
that a dinner ?
from we each eat twice as much as that between
meals.' Then Suleiman-bin-Daoud fell flat on
his face and said, O 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. 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 wifes. He married
THIS is the the Animal that came out of the sea and ate up all
picture of
the food Suleiman-bin-Daoud had made ready for all the animals in
that
all the world. He was really quite a nice Animal, and his Mummy was
very fond of him and of his twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-
nine other brothers that lived at the bottom of the sea. You know that
he was the smallest of them all, and so his name was Small Porgies.
He ate up all those boxes and packets and bales and things that had been
got ready for all the animals, without ever once taking off the lids or

untying the strings, and it did not hurt him at all. The sticky-up masts
behind the boxes of food belong to Suleiman-bin-Daoud's ships. They
were busy bringing more food when Small Porgies came ashore. He did
not eat the ships. They stopped unloading the foods and instantly sailed

away to sea till Small Porgies had quite finished eating. You can see
some of the ships beginning to sail away by Small Porgies' shoulder. I

have not drawn Suleiman-bin-Daoud, but he is just outside the picture,


very much astonished. The bundle hanging from the mast of the ship in
the corner is really a package of wet dates for parrots to eat. I don't
know the names of the ships. That is all there is in that picture.

228
j

^7^^^i*yL^?jfed

229
The Butterfly that Stamped 231
nine hundred and ninety-nine wives, besides the
Most Beautiful Balkisand they all lived in a
;

great golden palace in the middle of a lovely


garden with fountains. He didn't really want
nine-hundred and ninety-nine wives, but in those
days everybody married ever so many wives, 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 quarrelled
with the nice ones and made them horrid too,
and then they would all quarrel with Suleiman-
bin-Daoud, and that was horrid for him. But
Balkis the Most Beautiful never quarrelled
with Suleiman-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 he had chosen to turn his ring
if

on his finger and call up the Djinns and the


Afrits they would have magicked all those nine
hundred and ninety-nine quarrelsome wives into
white mules of the desert or greyhounds or
pomegranate seeds; but Suleiman-bin-Daoud
thought that that would be showing off. So,
when they quarrelled too much, he only walked
232 Just So Stones
by himself in one part of the beautiful Palace
gardens and wished he had never been born.
One day, when they had quarrelled for three
weeks all nine hundred and ninety-nine wives
together
-
Suleiman - bin - Daoud 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, O 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 all 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 Balkis the Most Beautiful said,
'

O my
Lord and Treasure of my Soul, what will you
do?'
And Suleiman-bin-Daoud said, O my Lady
*

and Content of my Heart, I shall continue to


The Butterfly that Stamped 233
endure my fate at the hands of these nine hun-
dred and ninety-nine Queens who vex me with
their continual quarrelling/
So he went on between the lilies and the
loquats 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 Balkis hid among the tall
irises and the spotted bamboos and the red lillies

behind the camphor-tree, so as to be near her


own true love, Suleiman-bin-Daoud.
Presently two Butterflies flew under the tree,
quarrelling.
Suleiman-bin-Daoud heard one say to the
'

other, I wonder
your presumption in talk-
at

ing like this to me. Don't you know that if I


stamped with my foot all Suleiman-bin-Daoud's
Palace and this garden here would immediately
vanish in a clap of thunder.'
Then Suleiman - bin - Daoud forgot his nine
hundred and ninety-nine bothersome wives, and
laughed, till the camphor -tree shook, at the
Butterfly's boast. And he held out his finger
*
and said, man, come here.'
Little
The Butterfly was dreadfully frightened, but
234 J ust So Stories

he managed to fly up to the hand of Suleiman-


bin-Daoud, and clung there, fanning himself.
Suleiman-bin-Daoud bent his head and whispered
'

very softly, man, you know that all your


Little

stamping wouldn't bend one blade of grass.


What made you tell that awful fib to your wife ?
for doubtless she your wife.' is

The Butterfly looked at Suleiman-bin-Daoud


and saw the most wise King's eye 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 for ever. She
'

is my wife and you know what wives are like.'


;

Suleiman-bin-Daoud smiled in his beard and


said, 'Yes, / know, little brother.'
1
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 it 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


and she said, He
<!

all of a twitter behind a leaf,


heard you ! Suleiman-bin-Daoud himself heard
'

you !
The Butterfly that Stamped 235
'

Heard me Of course
'
!

said the Butterfly.


!

he did. I meant him to hear me.'


'And what did he say? Oh, what did
'
he say ?
'Well,' said the Butterfly, fanning 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
stamp, and I promised I wouldn't.'
' '

Gracious said his wife, and sat quite


!

quiet; 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 tree among the red lilies and smiled to her-
self, had heard all this talk. She thought,
for she
If I am wise I can yet save my Lord from the
'

persecutions 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 Balkis's white hand.
Balkis bent her head down and
beautiful
'

whispered, Little woman, do you believe what


'

your husband has just said ?


236 Just So Stories
The Butterfly's Wife looked at Balkis, 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,
'

O Queen, be lovely for ever. You know


what men-folk are like.'

And the Queen Balkis, the Wise Balkis of

Sheba, put her hand to her lips to hide a smile


'

and said, Little sister, 7 know.'


'

get angry,' said the Butterfly's Wife,


They
'

fanning herself quickly, over nothing at all, but


we must humour 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 / don't care. He'll forget all
about it to-morrow.'
* '

Little sister,' said Balkis, 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'sWife to her
husband, and in five minutes they were quar-
relling worse than ever.
The Butterfly that Stamped 237
1
Remember said !
'

the Butterfly.
'

Re-
member what I can do stamp if I my foot.'
'

I don't believe you one little bit,' said the


'

Butterfly's Wife. should very much like to


I

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.
1 '

Stamp !
Stamp !
Stamp !

Suleiman-bin-Daoud, sitting under the cam-


phor-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 with joy, and Balkis, 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, O Suleiman-bin-Daoud ! You know I


238 Just So Stories
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 Djinns came
out of the earth !

'Slaves,' said Suleiman -bin -Daoud, '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've a mind to.'
Away flew the Butterfly to his wife, who
'

was crying, I dare you to do it I dare you 1

do it Stamp now
'

to Stamp !
Stamp ! ! !

Balkis saw the four vast Djinns stoop down to


the four corners of the gardens with the Palace
in the middle, and she clapped her hands softly
and said, Suleiman-bin-Daoud will do
'At last

for the sake of a Butterfly what he ought to have


The Butterfly that Stamped 239
done long ago for his own sake, and the
'

quarrelsome Queens will be frightened !

Then the Butterfly stamped. The Djinns


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, 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-Daoud 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.'
1

WT
ell, 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 favour to you and to Suleiman-bin-Daoud I

don't mind putting things right.'


THIS is the picture of the four gull-winged Djinns lifting up Suleiman-
bin-Daoud's Palace the very minute after the Butterfly had stamped. The
Palace and the gardens and everything came up in one piece like a board,
and they left a big hole in the ground all full of dust and smoke. If you
look in the corner, close to the thing that looks like a lion, you will see

Suleiman-bin-Daoud with his magic stick and the two Butterflies behind
him. thing that looks like a lion is really a lion carved in stone, and
The
the thing looks like a milk-can is really a piece of a temple or a house
that
or something. Suleiman-bin-Daoud stood there so as to be out of the way
of the dust and the smoke when the Djinns lifted up the Palace. I don't
know the Djinns' names. They were servants of Suleiman-bin-Daoud's
magic ring, and they changed about every day. They were just common
gull-winged Djinns.
The thing at the bottom is a picture of a very friendly Djinn called
Akraig. He used to feed the little fishes in the sea three times a day,
and his wings were made of pure copper. I put him in to show you what
a nice Djinn is like. He did not help to lift the Palace. He was busy
feeding little fishes in the Arabian Sea when it happened.

240
241
The Butterfly that Stamped 243
So he stamped once more, and that instant
the Djinns let down the Palace and the gardens,
without even a bump. The sun shone on the
dark-green orange 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-Daoud could hardly speak for


laughing. He leaned back all weak and hic-
coughy, and shook his finger at the Butterfly
and said, O 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 Balkis went statelily
forward to meet them and said, What is your
trouble, O
Queens ?
'

They stood on the marble steps one hundred


'

abreast and shouted, tf^hat is our trouble ?


We were living peacefully in our golden palace,
244 Just S Stories

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 Djinns and Afrits moved about in the


darkness That is our trouble, O 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 Balkis the Most Beautiful Queen
Suleiman- bin -Daoud's Very Best Beloved
Queen that was of Sheba and Sabie and the
Rivers of the Gold of the South from the Desert
of Zinn to theTowers of Zimbabwe Balkis,
almost as wise as the Most Wise Suleiman-bin-
Daoud himself, said,
'

It is nothing, O Queens !

A Butterfly has made complaint against his wife


because she quarrelled with him, and it has
pleased our Lord Suleiman-bin-Daoud 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 Pharoah and she said, Our


Palace cannot be plucked up by the roots like
a leek for the sake of a little insect. No !

Suleiman-bin-Daoud must be dead, and what


The Butterfly that Stamped 245
we heard and saw was the earth thundering and
darkening news/
at the
Then Balkis 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, O 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 has 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 Balkis the Most
Beautiful and Splendid Balkis, 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 ?
246 Just So Stories

Thenthey 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 Balkis--The Most Beautiful and Ex-
cellent Balkis went forward through the red
lilies into the shade of the camphor-tree and
laid hand upon
her 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 a memor-
able teaching/
And Suleiman-bin-Daoud, still looking after
the Butterflies where they played in the sunlight,
said,
'

O
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 Balkis what he had
done.
Balkis The tender and Most Lovely Balkis
said,
*
O 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
The Butterfly that Stamped 247
and be frightened/ And she told him what the
Queens had said and seen and thought.
Then Sueliman-bin-Daoud rose up from his
seat under the camphor-tree, and stretched his
arms and rejoiced and said, O 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 also 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 Balkis 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,
;
O 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 Balkis ?
THERE was never a Queen like Balkis,
From here to the wide world's end ;

But Balkis 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 Sabaea


And he was Asia's Lord
But they both of 'em talked to butterflies
When they took their walks abroad !

249

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