Just So Stories | Page 3

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ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*

Prepared by David Reed [email protected] or [email protected]

Just So Stories
by Ruyard Kiping

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

HOW THE WHALE GOT HIS THROAT
IN the sea, once upon a time, O my Best Beloved, there was a Whale,
and he ate fishes. He ate the starfish and the garfish, and the crab and
the dab, and the plaice and the dace, and the skate and his mate, and the
mackereel and the pickereel, and the really truly twirly-whirly eel. All
the fishes he could find in all the sea he ate with his mouth--so! Till at
last there was only one small fish left in all the sea, and he was a small
'Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the Whale's right ear, so as to
be out of harm's way. Then the Whale stood up on his tail and said, 'I'm
hungry.' And the small 'Stute Fish said in a small 'stute voice, 'Noble
and generous Cetacean, have you ever tasted Man?'
'No,' said the Whale. 'What is it like?'
'Nice,' said the small 'Stute Fish. 'Nice but nubbly.'
'Then fetch me some,' said the Whale, and he made the sea froth up
with his tail.

'One at a time is enough,' said the 'Stute Fish. 'If you swim to latitude
Fifty North, longitude Forty West (that is magic), you will find, sitting
on a raft, in the middle of the sea, with nothing on but a pair of blue
canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders (you must not forget the
suspenders, Best Beloved), and a jack- knife, one 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 the water. (He had his mummy's leave to
paddle, or else he would