Just So Stories

Just So Stories (1902) is a collection of 12 children’s stories by Rudyard Kipling. Other editions, including the US edition published in 1903, contain a 13th story, but the original 12 are the most frequently reproduced. First told as bedtime stories for Kipling’s young daughter, most of the stories describe whimsical ways in which features of the natural world came to be. The Camel earns his hump by being lazy and refusing to work for man with the other animals at the beginning of the world; the Tortoise and the Hedgehog teach each other their tricks until they turn into armadillos; the Leopard’s spots are painted on by an Ethiopian man to better hunt in the shade of the forest. Each of these tales explores The Relationship Between Man and Animals and The Lasting Consequences of Actions, all while teaching young readers important lessons about Living With Morality and Integrity. Known for clever word play, rhyming, and alliteration, Just So Stories remains a cherished children’s classic. 

This guide uses the 2010 First Signet Classics Kindle edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of racism and violence.

Language Note: Rudyard Kipling grew up in colonial India in the mid-1800s. He believed in imperialism and the inferiority of non-white people and some of that belief is reflected in his work, including Just So Stories, which includes some racial slurs and insensitive language that were common ways to refer to people of color at the time of writing.

Plot Summaries

Just So Stories contains 12 stories that explain how certain things came to be, often along with a moral lesson.

In “How the Whale Got His Throat,” a hungry Whale eats everything in the ocean until just one small fish is left. Hoping to save himself, the fish suggests that the Whale eat a shipwrecked Mariner instead. The Whale swallows the Mariner along with his raft, but the man makes such a ruckus in the Whale’s stomach that he agrees to deliver him back to land. The Whale sets the Mariner free, but he secures his raft in the creature’s throat to ensure he can never swallow anything large ever again.

“How the Camel Got His Hump” describes animals like the Dog, the Ox, and the Horse going to work for Man at the beginning of the world. However, the Camel is vain and lazy and refuses to help the others. He says nothing but “humph” when the other animals approach him. As punishment, the Djinn in charge of the desert gives him a hump on his back that will allow him to work for three days without stopping to eat or drink.

“How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin” tells of a Rhinoceros who has bad manners and eats a cake that doesn’t belong to him. As revenge, the cake’s rightful owner sprinkles crumbs in the Rhinoceros’s skin, causing him to scratch until his skin stretches into large folds.

In “How the Leopard Got His Spots,” a Leopard and an Ethiopian man are surprised when their prey vanishes from their usual hunting grounds. They travel until they reach a forest where they find animals that smell and sound the same as the Giraffe and Zebra they usually hunt, but which look quite different, having acquired stripes and spots to blend in with the dappled shade of the forest. The Ethiopian man changes his skin color to black and uses the leftover color on his finger to paint spots on the Leopard to disguise them both.

“The Elephant’s Child” tells of a curious baby Elephant whose family always spanks him for asking too many questions. He desperately wants to know what a Crocodile eats for dinner, and he goes looking for the answer when no one will tell him. He meets a Crocodile, who announces he plans to eat the baby Elephant for dinner and takes the Elephant’s boot-like nose between his jaws. The baby Elephant pulls against the Crocodile until his nose stretches into a long trunk. He escapes and waits for his nose to shrink again. It never does, but he realizes his new trunk is quite useful for things like swatting flies and spanking his family members back. Soon all the Elephants are visiting the Crocodile for their own trunk.

The next story, “The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo,” describes how kangaroos used to be “woolly,” rabbit-like creatures. However, the story’s Kangaroo is very proud. He asks a god to make him special and “sought after,” so the god sends the Dingo to chase him. The Dingo chases the Kangaroo across Australia for hours until the Kangaroo’s legs have grown big and strong, and he begins to hop.

In “The Beginning of the Armadillos,” the Painted Jaguar’s mother gives him instructions on how to eat tortoises and hedgehogs. However, when he meets the Hedgehog and the Tortoise in the wild, he has trouble telling which is which. The animals confuse him and escape. Worried that the Painted Jaguar will catch them the next time, the Hedgehog teaches the Tortoise to curl up in a ball to protect himself, and the Tortoise teaches the Hedgehog how to swim. They practice their new skills all night, and by the morning they have adopted each other’s characteristics and become unrecognizable. The Painted Jaguar and his mother are so confused they decide to leave the new armadillos alone.

“How the First Letter Was Written” departs from the animal kingdom to tell the story of Taffy and her family, Neolithic people who live happily in a cave. One day, Taffy is fishing with her father when his spear breaks. When a Stranger-man appears, Taffy asks him to go to her family’s cave for her father’s replacement spear. However, the Stranger-man belongs to a different tribe and cannot understand Taffy’s language. Reading and writing have not yet been invented anyway, so Taffy draws the Stranger-man a picture of the path to the cave. However, the Stranger-man thinks Taffy’s picture shows an upcoming battle for which she wants him to summon warriors. 

The Stranger-man takes Taffy’s picture to her cave, giving it to her mother. Taffy’s mother thinks the picture shows the Stranger-man killing her husband and frightening her daughter, so she immediately summons the tribe to execute him. First, however, the Stranger-man leads them back to the river, where they are surprised to find Taffy and her father in good health. Taffy and her father are likewise surprised to see the Stranger-man held captive by the entire tribe, and Taffy explains the misunderstanding. The Chief announces that Taffy has discovered a great invention that will one day be known as a “letter” and used to communicate clearly.

The next story, “How the Alphabet Was Made,” is also about Taffy. One day she has the idea to create a secret code so she can leave messages for her father. She creates a symbol to represent a sound, and soon she and her father realize they can make symbols for other sounds and link them together to form words and even sentences.

In “The Crab That Played with the Sea,” the Eldest Magician prepares the world at the beginning of time. He gives specific instructions to the animals before sending them on their way, but the mischievous Crab sneaks into the Sea before the Magician notices him. Not long after, the Magician sees the Man, who tells the Magician that the Earth and all the animals are obedient to him, but the Sea rises and falls dramatically every day, causing his house to flood and then the beaches to dry up. The Magician, the Man, and the Man’s young daughter paddle into the Sea to find the culprit. 

The little girl remembers seeing the Crab sneak off, and the Magician praises her wisdom as he calls the Crab to the surface. The Crab is giant and disrupts the Sea every day when he leaves his home deep in the ocean to search for food. The Crab feels important when he learns what a disruption he has been causing, but the Magician makes his hard shell fall off with a simple magic spell. Anxious to have his protection back, the Crab agrees to the Magician’s deal: The Crab will stop disrupting the Sea and instead, he will be able to make any hole or pebble in the Sea or on Earth a safe home, and the little girl will give him his very own pair of scissors. However, the Crab will continue to lose his shell for one month every year to remain humble.

The following story, “The Cat That Walked By Himself,” tells how animals like the Dog, the Horse, and the Cow became domesticated. The Woman first tames the Man, bringing him to live in a dry cave and cooking him delicious meals. Then, the Wild Dog is lured out of the forest by the smell of roast mutton. She gives him a bone, and the Dog agrees to help the man hunt in exchange for bones every day. The Woman makes a similar deal with the Horse and the Cow. A Cat who lives in the forest watches these exchanges. He “walks by himself” and has no interest in working for the Woman, but he wants to enjoy the warm fire and the Cow’s milk and thinks he can outsmart the Woman. 

They make a deal that the Cat can enter the cave if the Woman praises him. If she praises him a second time, he can sit by the fire, and a third time, he can drink milk every day. The Woman is sure she will never praise the Cat, but soon, as he quiets the crying baby, puts the child to sleep with his purring, and catches a mouse, the Woman praises the Cat three times. However, the Cat insists that he is “still […] the Cat who walks by himself” (68). He will not be domesticated like the other animals.

The final story is “The Butterfly that Stamped.” It tells of Suleiman-bin-Daoud, the Son of Solomon. He is a wise king with 999 wives who often bicker constantly, making life in his castle unbearable. Even though Suleiman-bin-Daoud is powerful, he is afraid of “showing off” and reluctant to use his magic to solve his problems. However, his beautiful and wise wife Balkis tricks him into using his magic ring to summon four Djinns at the request of a Butterfly arguing with his wife.

The Butterfly boasts that he can make Suleiman-bin-Daoud’s palace disappear with a stomp of his tiny foot. When the Butterfly’s wife demands proof, Suleiman-bin-Daoud instructs the Djinns to lift the palace high into the sky until it vanishes from view, and then replace it. He settles the argument between the Butterfly and his wife, and Suleiman-bin-Daoud’s own wives are so frightened by the trick with the palace that they never bicker again.