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

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last things grew so exciting that his dear families went off one by one in a hurry to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, to borrow[125] new noses from the Crocodile. When they came back nobody spanked anybody anymore; and ever since that day, O Best Beloved, all the Elephants you will ever see, besides all those that you won’t, have trunks precisely like the trunk of the ‘satiable Elephant’s Child.

      This is just a picture of the Elephant’s Child going to pull bananas off a banana-tree after he had got his fine new long trunk. I don’t think it is a very nice picture; but I couldn’t make any better, because elephants and bananas are hard to draw. The streaky things behind the Elephant’s Child mean squoggy marshy country somewhere in Africa. The Elephant’s Child made most of his mud-cakes out of the mud that he found there. I think it would look better if you painted the banana-tree green and the Elephant’s Child red.

      I keep six honest serving-men

      (They taught me all I knew);

      Their names are What and Why and When

      And How and Where and Who.

      I send them over land and sea,

      I send them east and west[126];

      But after they have worked for me,

      I give them all a rest.

      I let them rest from nine till five,

      For I am busy then,

      As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,

      For they are hungry men:

      But different folk have different views;

      I know a person small —

      She keeps ten million serving-men,

      Who get no rest at all!

      She sends ’em abroad on her own affairs[127],

      From the second she opens her eyes —

      One million Hows, two million Wheres,

      And seven million Whys!

      Questions and tasks

      1. What questions did the Elephant’s Child ask the animals? Why?

      2. What did the Elephant’s Child want to find out when he set off to the Limpopo River?

      3. What question did the Elephant’s Child ask the Crocodile when he saw him for the first time? What did the Crocodile answer?

      4. What advantages did the Elephant’s Child get thanks to his curtiosity?

      5. Describe how the family met the Elelphant's Child and what happened then.

      6. Make up the plan of the story and retell it.

      The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo[128]

      Not always was the Kangaroo as now we do ehold him[129], but a Different Animal with four short legs. He was grey and he was woolly, and his pride was inordinate: he danced on an outcrop in the middle of Australia, and he went to the Little God Nqa.

      He went to Nqa at six before breakfast, saying, ‘Make me different from all other animals by five this afternoon.’

      Up jumped Nqa from his seat on the sand-flat and shouted, ‘Go away!’

      He was grey and he was woolly, and his pride was inordinate; he danced on a rock-ledge in the middle of Australia, and he went to the Middle God Nquing.

      He went to Nquing at eight after breakfast saying, ‘Make me different from other animals; make me, also, wonderfully popular by five this afternoon.’

      Up jumped Nquing from his burrow in the spinifex[130] and shouted, ‘Go away!’

      He was grey and he was woolly, and his pride was inordinate; he danced on a sandbank in the middle of Australia, and he went to the Big God Nqong.

      He went to Nqong at ten before dinner-time, saying, ‘Make me different from all other animals; make me popular and wonderfully run after by five this afternoon.’

      Up jumped Nqong from his bath in the saltpan and shouted, ‘Yes, I will!’

      Nqong called Dingo – Yellow-Dog Dingo – always hungry, dusty in the sunshine, and showed him Kangaroo. Nqong said, ‘Dingo! Wake up, Dingo! Do you see that gentlemen dancing on an ashpit? He wants to be popular and very truly run after. Dingo, make him so!’

      This is the picture of Old Man Kangaroo when he was the Different Animal with four short legs. I have drawn him grey and woolly, and you can see that he is very proud because he has a wreath of flowers in his hair. He is dancing on an outcrop (that means a ledge of rock) in the middle of Australia at six o'clock before breakfast. You can see that it is six o'clock because the sun is just getting up. The thing with the ears and the open mouth is Little God Nqa. Nqa is very much surprised, because he has never seen a Kangaroo dance like that before. Little God Nqa is just saying, ‘Go away,’ but the Kangaroo is so busy dancing that he has not heard him yet.

      The Kangaroo hasn’t any real name except Boomer[131]. He lost it because he was so proud.

      Up jumped Dingo – Yellow-Dog Dingo – and said, ‘What, that cat-rabbit?’

      Off ran Dingo – Yellow-Dog Dingo – always hungry, grinning[132] like a coal-scuttle, – ran after Kangaroo.

      Off went the proud Kangaroo on his four little legs like a bunny.

      This, O Beloved of mine, ends the first part the tale!

      He ran through the desert; he ran through the mountains; he ran through the salt-pans; he ran through the reed-beds[133]; he ran through the blue gums; he ran through the spinifex; he ran till his front legs ached.

      He had to[134]!

      Still ran Dingo – Yellow-Dog Dingo – always hungry, grinning like a rat-trap, never getting nearer, never getting farther, – ran after Kangaroo.

      He had to!

      Still ran Kangaroo – Old Man Kangaroo. He ran through the ti-trees; he ran through the mulga; he ran through the long grass; he ran through the short grass; he ran through the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer[135]; he ran till his hind legs ached.

      He had to!

      Still ran Dingo – Yellow-Dog Dingo – hungrier and hungrier, grinning like a horse-collar[136], never getting nearer, never getting farther; and they came to the Wollgong River.

      Now, there wasn’t any bridge, and there wasn’t any ferry-boat[137], and Kangaroo didn’t know how to get over; so he stood on his legs and hopped.

      He

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