Kipling wrote these as bedtime tales for his own daughter, and it shows: each one answers a child's daft, brilliant question (why the whale has that throat, how the leopard got its spots) with a story built to be read out loud. The direct address to "O my Best Beloved" and the rolling, repeating phrases ("the really truly twirly-whirly eel") practically perform themselves. Short enough for one sitting, silly enough to ask for again.
Chapters
A long one: read it a chapter a night.
- 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
Public domain. Source text via Project Gutenberg, PG boilerplate removed. View the source edition