Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (e books for reading TXT) đ
- Author: Rudyard Kipling
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âUmm, said the Ethiopian, looking into the speckly-spickly shadows of the aboriginal Flora-forest. âThen they ought to show up in this dark place like ripe bananas in a smokehouse.â
But they didnât. The Leopard and the Ethiopian hunted all day; and though they could smell them and hear them, they never saw one of them.
âFor goodnessâ sake,â said the Leopard at tea-time, âlet us wait till it gets dark. This daylight hunting is a perfect scandal.â
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 couldnât see it. So he said, âBe quiet, O you person without any form. I am going to sit on your head till morning, because there is something about you that I donât understand.â
Presently he heard a grunt and a crash and a scramble, and the Ethiopian called out, âIâve caught a thing that I canât see. It smells like Giraffe, and it kicks like Giraffe, but it hasnât any form.â
âDonât you trust it,â said the Leopard. âSit on its head till the morningâsame as me. They havenât any formâany of âem.â
So they sat down on them hard till bright morning-time, and then Leopard said, âWhat have you at your end of the table, Brother?â
The Ethiopian scratched his head and said, âIt ought to be âsclusively a rich fulvous orange-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?â
And the Leopard scratched his head and said, âIt ought to be âsclusively a delicate greyish-fawn, and it ought to be Zebra; but it is covered all over with black and purple stripes. What in the world have you been doing to yourself, Zebra? Donât you know that if you were on the High Veldt I could see you ten miles off? You havenât any form.â
âYes,â said the Zebra, âbut this isnât the High Veldt. Canât you see?â
âI can now,â said the Leopard. âBut I couldnât all yesterday. How is it done?â
âLet us up,â said the Zebra, âand we will show you.
They let the Zebra and the Giraffe get up; and Zebra moved away to some little thorn-bushes where the sunlight fell all stripy, and Giraffe moved off to some tallish trees where the shadows fell all blotchy.
âNow watch,â said the Zebra and the Giraffe. âThis is the way itâs done. Oneâtwoâthree! And whereâs your breakfast?â
Leopard stared, and Ethiopian stared, but all they could see were stripy shadows and blotched shadows in the forest, but never a sign of Zebra and Giraffe. They had just walked off and hidden themselves in the shadowy forest.
âHi! Hi!â said the Ethiopian. âThatâs 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.â
âHo! Ho!â said the Leopard. âWould it surprise you very much to know that you show up in this dark place like a mustard-plaster on a sack of coals?â
âWell, calling names wonât catch dinner, said the Ethiopian. âThe long and the little of it is that we donât match our backgrounds. Iâm going to take Baviaanâs advice. He told me I ought to change; and as Iâve nothing to change except my skin Iâm going to change that.â
âWhat to?â said the Leopard, tremendously excited.
âTo a nice working blackish-brownish colour, with a little purple in it, and touches of slaty-blue. It will be the very thing for hiding in hollows and behind trees.â
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.
âBut what about me?â he said, when the Ethiopian had worked his last little finger into his fine new black skin.
âYou take Baviaanâs advice too. He told you to go into spots.â
âSo I did,â 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.â
âOh,â said the Ethiopian, âBaviaan didnât mean spots in South Africa. He meant spots on your skin.â
âWhatâs the use of that?â said the Leopard.
âThink of Giraffe,â said the Ethiopian. âOr if you prefer stripes, think of Zebra. They find their spots and stripes give them per-feet satisfaction.â
âUmm,â said the Leopard. âI wouldnât look like Zebraânot for ever so.â
âWell, make up your mind,â said the Ethiopian, âbecause Iâd hate to go hunting without you, but I must if you insist on looking like a sun-flower against a tarred fence.â
âIâll take spots, then,â said the Leopard; âbut donât make âem too vulgar-big. I wouldnât look like Giraffeânot for ever so.â
âIâll make âem with the tips of my fingers,â said the Ethiopian. âThereâs plenty of black left on my skin still. Stand over!â
Then the Ethiopian put his five fingers close together (there was plenty of black left on his new skin still) and pressed them all over the Leopard, and wherever the five fingers touched they left five little black marks, all close together. You can see them on any Leopardâs 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 spotsâoff five fat black finger-tips.
âNow you are a beauty!â said the Ethiopian. âYou can lie out on the bare ground and look 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!â
âBut if Iâm all this,â said the Leopard, âwhy didnât you go spotty too?â
âOh, plain blackâs best for a nigger,â said the Ethiopian. âNow come along and weâll see if we canât get even with Mr. One-Two- Three-Whereâs-your-Breakfast!â
So they went away and lived happily ever afterward, Best Beloved. That is all.
Oh, now and then you will hear grown-ups say, âCan the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots?â I donât think even grown-ups would keep on saying such a silly thing if the Leopard and the Ethiopian hadnât done it onceâdo 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,
âLet us melt into the landscapeâjust us two by our lones.â
People have comeâin a carriageâcalling. But Mummy is thereâŠ.
Yes, I can go if you take meâNurse says she donât care.
Letâs go up to the pig-sties and sit on the farmyard rails!
Letâs say things to the bunnies, and watch âem skitter their tails!
Letâsâoh, anything, daddy, so long as itâs you and me,
And going truly exploring, and not being in till tea!
Hereâs your boots (Iâve brought âem), and hereâs your cap and stick,
And hereâs your pipe and tobacco. Oh, come along out of it âquick.
THE ELEPHANTâS CHILD
IN the High and Far-Off Times the Elephant, O Best Beloved, had no trunk. He had only a blackish, bulgy nose, as big as a boot, that he could wriggle about from side to side; but he couldnât pick up things with it. But there was one Elephantâa new Elephantâan Elephantâs Childâwho was full of âsatiable curtiosity, and that means he asked ever so many questions. And he lived in Africa, and he filled all Africa with his âsatiable curtiosities. He asked his tall aunt, the Ostrich, why her tail-feathers grew just so, and his tall aunt the Ostrich spanked him with her hard, hard claw. He asked his tall uncle, the Giraffe, what made his skin spotty, and his tall uncle, the Giraffe, spanked him with his hard, hard hoof. And still he was full of âsatiable curtiosity! He asked his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, why her eyes were red, and his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, spanked him with her broad, broad hoof; and he asked his hairy uncle, the Baboon, why melons tasted just so, and his hairy uncle, the Baboon, spanked him with his hairy, hairy paw. And still he was full of âsatiable 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 âsatiable curtiosity!
One fine morning in the middle of the Precession of the Equinoxes this âsatiable Elephantâs Child asked a new fine question that he had never asked before. He asked, âWhat does the Crocodile have for dinner?â Then everybody said, âHush!â in a loud and dretful tone, and they spanked him immediately and directly, without stopping, for a long time.
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, âMy father has spanked me, and my mother has spanked me; all my aunts and uncles have spanked me for my âsatiable curtiosity; and still I want to know what the Crocodile has for dinner!â
Then Kolokolo Bird said, with a mournful cry, âGo to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, and find out.â
That very next morning, when there was nothing left of the Equinoxes, because the Precession had preceded according to precedent, this âsatiable Elephantâs 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, âGoodbye. 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.â 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 Grahamâs Town to Kimberley, and from Kimberley to Khamaâs Country, and from Khamaâs 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 âsatiable Elephantâs Child had never seen a Crocodile, and did not know what one was like. It was all his âsatiable curtiosity.
The first thing that he found was a Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake curled round a rock.
âScuse me,â said the Elephantâs Child most politely, âbut have you seen such a thing as a Crocodile in these promiscuous parts?â
âHave I seen a Crocodile?â said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake, in a voice of dretful scorn. âWhat will you ask me next?â
âScuse me,â said the Elephantâs Child, âbut could you kindly tell me what he has for dinner?â
Then the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake uncoiled himself very quickly from the rock, and spanked the Elephantâs Child with his scalesome, flailsome tail.
âThat is odd,â said the Elephantâs Child, âbecause my father and my mother, and my uncle and my aunt, not to mention my other aunt, the Hippopotamus, and my other
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