Just So Stories
First published 1902 · 157 pages
- Short stories
- Adventure
- Fantasy
- Young adult
A collection of playful tales for young children, first told by Kipling to his own daughter at bedtime. Each story imagines how an animal came by its familiar trait, such as the camel's hump, the leopard's spots, the elephant's trunk or the cat's independence. They are told in a chatty, rhythmic voice full of repetition, invented words and affectionate teasing, and Kipling added his own illustrations. Comic and inventive, the stories are made to be read aloud, and they remain among the best loved children's books in English.
Quotes
In the High and Far-Off Times the Elephant, O Best Beloved, had no trunk.
the Cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him.
I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.
Then the Elephant's Child sat back on his little haunches, and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and his nose began to stretch.