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

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Sloka[17], which, as you have not heard it, I will now proceed to relate[18]:

      By means of a grating

      have stopped your ating.’

      For the Mariner he has also an Hi-ber-ni-an. And he stepped out on the shingle, and went home to his Mother, who had given him leave to trail his toes in the water; and he married and lived happily ever afterward. So did the Whale. But from that day on, the grating in his throat, which he could neither cough up nor swallow down[19], prevented him eating anything except very, very small fish; and that is the reason why whales nowadays never eat men or boys or little girls.

      The small ’Stute Fish went and hid himself in the mud under the Door-sills of the Equator. He was afraid that the Whale might be angry with him.

      The Sailor took the jack-knife home. He was wearing the blue canvas breeches when he walked out on the shingle. The suspenders were left behind, you see, to tie the grating with; and that is the end of that tale.

      When the cabin port-holes are dark and green

      Because of the seas outside;

      When the ship goes wop (with a wiggle between)

      And the steward falls into the soup-tureen[20],

      And the trunks[21] begin to slide;

      When Nursey lies on the floor in a heap,

      And Mummy tells you to let her sleep,

      And you aren’t walked or washed or dressed,

      Why, then you will know (if you haven’t guessed)

      You’re ‘Fifty North and Forty West!’

      Questions and tasks

      1. How did the story begin? Why did the Whale want to find the Mariner?

      2. Describe the Mariner.

      3. What did the Mariner do after the Whale had swallowed him?

      4. Why did the Whale have to take the Mariner home?

      5. According to the story why were you not to forget the suspenders?

      6. Retell the story.

      How the Camel Got His Hump[22]

      Now this is the next tale, and it tells how the Camel got his big hump.

      In the beginning of years, when the world was so new-and-all, and the Animals were just beginning to work for Man, there was a Camel, and he lived in the middle of a Howling Desert because he did not want to work; and besides, he was a Howler himself. So he ate sticks and thorns and tamarisks and milkweed and prickles, most ’scruciating idler[23]; and when anybody spoke to him he said ‘Humph![24] ’ Just ‘Humph!’ and no more.

      Presently the horse came to him on Monday morning, with a saddle on his back and a bit[25] in his mouth, and said, ‘Camel, O Camel, come out and trot[27] like the rest of us.’

      This is the picture of the Djinn making the beginnings of the Magic that brought the Humph to the Camel. First he drew a line in the air with his finger, and it became solid; and then he made a cloud, and then he made an egg – you can see them at the bottom of the picture – and then there was a magic pumpkin that turned into a big white flame. Then the Djinn took his magic fan and fanned that flame till that flame turned into a Magic by itself. It was a good Magic and a very kind Magic really, though it had to give the Camel a Humph because the Camel was lazy. The Djinn in charge of[26] all Deserts was one of the nicest of the Djinns, so he would never do anything really unkind.

      ‘Humph!’ said the Camel; and the Horse went away and told the Man.

      Presently the Dog came to him, with a stick in his mouth, and said, ‘Camel, O Camel, come and fetch and carry like the rest of us.’

      ‘Humph!’ said the Camel; and the Dog went away and told the Man.

      Presently the Ox came to him, with the yoke on his neck, and said, ‘Camel, O Camel, come and plough[28] like the rest of us.’

      ‘Humph!’ said the Camel; and the Ox went away and told the Man.

      At the end of the day the Man called the Horse and the Dog and the Ox together, and said, ‘Three, O Three, I’m very sorry for you (with the world so new-and-all); but that Humph-thing in the Desert can’t work, or he would have been here by now, so I am going to leave him alone, and you must work double-time to make up for it.’

      That made the Three very angry (with the world so new-and-all); and they held a palaver[29], and indaba, and a punchayet, and a pow-wow[30] on the edge of the Desert; and the Camel came chewing milkweed most ’scruciating idler, and laughed at them. Then he said ‘Humph!’ and went away again.

      Presently there came along the Djinn in charge of All Deserts, rolling in a cloud of dust (Djinns always travel that way because it is Magic), and he stopped to palaver and pow-wow with the Three.

      ‘Djinn of All Deserts,’ said the Horse, ‘is it right for any one to be idle, with the world so new-and-all?’

      ‘Certainly not’, said the Djinn.

      ‘Well,’ said the Horse, ‘there’s a thing in the middle of your Howling Desert (and he’s a Howler himself) with a long neck and long legs, and he hasn’t done a stroke of work[32] since Monday morning. He won’t trot[33].’

      Here is the picture of the Djinn in charge of All Deserts guiding the Magic with the magic fan. The Camel is eating a twig of acacia[31], and he has just finished saying ‘Humph!’ once too often (the Djinn told him he would), and so the Humph is coming. The long towelly thing growing out of the thing like an onion is the Magic, and you can see the Humph on its shoulder. The Humph fits on the flat part of the Camel’s back. The Camel is too busy looking at his own beautiful self in the pool of water to know what is going to happen to him.

      Underneath the truly picture is a picture of the World-so-new-and-all. There are two smoky volcanoes in it, some other mountains and some stones and a lake and a black island and a twisty river and a lot of other things, as well as a Noah’s Ark. I couldn’t draw all the deserts that the Djinn was in charge of, so I only drew one, but it is a most deserty desert.

      ‘Whew!’ said the Djinn, whistling, ‘that’s my Camel, for all the gold in Arabia! What does he say about it?’

      ‘He says “Humph!”’said the Dog; ‘and he won’t fetch and carry.’

      ‘Does

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