Just So Stories for Little Children / Просто сказки. Книга для чтения на английском языке. Редьярд Киплинг

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he hopped through 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[140], 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.

      He had to!

      He tucked 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 saltpan, and said, ‘It’s five o’clock.’

      Down sat Dingo – Poor-Dog Dingo – always hungry, dusty in the sunshine; hung out his tongue and howled.

      Down sat Kangaroo – Old Man Kangaroo – stuck out[141] his tail like a milking-stool behind him and said, ‘Thank goodness that’s finished!’

      Then said Nqong, who is always a gentleman, ‘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[142]; he’s chased me out of my regular mealtimes; he’s altered my shape so I’ll never get it back; and he’s played Old Scratch with my legs.’

      Then said Nqong, ‘Perhaps I’m mistaken[143], but didn’t you ask me to make you different from all other animals, as well as to make you very truly sought after[144]? And now it is five o’clock.’

      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 time clock says so. 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 my paint-box; and besides, Yellow-Dog Dingo got dreadfully black and dusty after 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[145] 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.

      ‘Yes,’ said Kangaroo. ‘I wish that I hadn’t[146]. 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.’

      ‘No,’ said the Kangaroo. ‘I must apologize. 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[147] 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-pan, ‘Come and ask me about it tomorrow, 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.[148] ‘

      This is the mouth-filling song

      Of the race that was run[149] by a Boomer,

      Run in the 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[150],

      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[151].

      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 at the Atlas, please),

      And they ran back as they came.

      S’posing[152] 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[153] son,

      You’d be a Marvellous Kid!

      Questions and tasks

      1. Why did the Kangaroo go to the different Gods?

      2. How did Nqong make the Kangaroo’s wish come true?

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