"JUST SO STORIES\n\nBy Rudyard Kipling\n\n\n\n\nTABLE OF CONTENTS:\n\n     HOW THE WHALE GOT HIS THROAT\n     HOW THE CAMEL GOT HIS HUMP\n     HOW THE RHINOCEROS GOT HIS SKIN\n     HOW THE LEOPARD GOT HIS SPOTS\n     THE ELEPHANT'S CHILD\n     THE SING-SONG OF OLD MAN KANGAROO\n     THE BEGINNING OF THE ARMADILLOS\n     HOW THE FIRST LETTER WAS WRITTEN\n     HOW THE ALPHABET WAS MADE\n     THE CRAB THAT PLAYED WITH THE SEA\n     THE CAT THAT WALKED BY HIMSELF\n     THE BUTTERFLY THAT STAMPED\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE WHALE GOT HIS THROAT\n\nIN the sea, once upon a time, O my Best Beloved, there was a Whale, and\nhe ate fishes. He ate the starfish and the garfish, and the crab and the\ndab, and the plaice and the dace, and the skate and his mate, and the\nmackereel and the pickereel, and the really truly twirly-whirly eel. All\nthe fishes he could find in all the sea he ate with his mouth--so! Till\nat last there was only one small fish left in all the sea, and he was a\nsmall 'Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the Whale's right ear,\nso as to be out of harm's way. Then the Whale stood up on his tail and\nsaid, 'I'm hungry.' And the small 'Stute Fish said in a small 'stute\nvoice, 'Noble and generous Cetacean, have you ever tasted Man?'\n\n'No,' said the Whale. 'What is it like?'\n\n'Nice,' said the small 'Stute Fish. 'Nice but nubbly.'\n\n'Then fetch me some,' said the Whale, and he made the sea froth up with\nhis tail.\n\n'One at a time is enough,' said the 'Stute Fish. 'If you swim to\nlatitude Fifty North, longitude Forty West (that is magic), you will\nfind, sitting _on_ a raft, _in_ the middle of the sea, with nothing on\nbut a pair of blue canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders (you must _not_\nforget the suspenders, Best Beloved), and a jack-knife, one\nship-wrecked Mariner, who, it is only fair to tell you, is a man of\ninfinite-resource-and-sagacity.'\n\nSo the Whale swam and swam to latitude Fifty North, longitude Forty\nWest, as fast as he could swim, and _on_ a raft, _in_ the middle of the\nsea, _with_ nothing to wear except a pair of blue canvas breeches, a\npair of suspenders (you must particularly remember the suspenders, Best\nBeloved), _and_ a jack-knife, he found one single, solitary shipwrecked\nMariner, trailing his toes in the water. (He had his mummy's leave to\npaddle, or else he would never have done it, because he was a man of\ninfinite-resource-and-sagacity.)\n\nThen the Whale opened his mouth back and back and back till it nearly\ntouched his tail, and he swallowed the shipwrecked Mariner, and the\nraft he was sitting on, and his blue canvas breeches, and the suspenders\n(which you _must_ not forget), _and_ the jack-knife--He swallowed them\nall down into his warm, dark, inside cup-boards, and then he smacked his\nlips--so, and turned round three times on his tail.\n\nBut as soon as the Mariner, who was a man of\ninfinite-resource-and-sagacity, found himself truly inside the Whale's\nwarm, dark, inside cup-boards, he stumped and he jumped and he thumped\nand he bumped, and he pranced and he danced, and he banged and he\nclanged, and he hit and he bit, and he leaped and he creeped, and he\nprowled and he howled, and he hopped and he dropped, and he cried and he\nsighed, and he crawled and he bawled, and he stepped and he lepped, and\nhe danced hornpipes where he shouldn't, and the Whale felt most unhappy\nindeed. (_Have_ you forgotten the suspenders?)\n\nSo he said to the 'Stute Fish, 'This man is very nubbly, and besides he\nis making me hiccough. What shall I do?'\n\n'Tell him to come out,' said the 'Stute Fish.\n\nSo the Whale called down his own throat to the shipwrecked Mariner,\n'Come out and behave yourself. I've got the hiccoughs.'\n\n'Nay, nay!' said the Mariner. 'Not so, but far otherwise. Take me to my\nnatal-shore and the white-cliffs-of-Albion, and I'll think about it.'\nAnd he began to dance more than ever.\n\n 'You had better take him home,' said the 'Stute Fish to the Whale.\n 'I ought to have warned you that he is a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity.'\n\nSo the Whale swam and swam and swam, with both flippers and his tail,\nas hard as he could for the hiccoughs; and at last he saw the Mariner's\nnatal-shore and the white-cliffs-of-Albion, and he rushed half-way\nup the beach, and opened his mouth wide and wide and wide, and said,\n'Change here for Winchester, Ashuelot, Nashua, Keene, and stations on\nthe _Fitch_burg Road;' and just as he said 'Fitch' the Mariner walked\nout of his mouth. But while the Whale had been swimming, the Mariner,\nwho was indeed a person of infinite-resource-and-sagacity, had taken his\njack-knife and cut up the raft into a little square grating all running\ncriss-cross, and he had tied it firm with his suspenders (_now_, you\nknow why you were not to forget the suspenders!), and he dragged that\ngrating good and tight into the Whale's throat, and there it stuck! Then\nhe recited the following _Sloka_, which, as you have not heard it, I\nwill now proceed to relate--\n\n  By means of a grating\n  I have stopped your ating.\n\nFor the Mariner he was also an Hi-ber-ni-an. And he stepped out on the\nshingle, and went home to his mother, who had given him leave to trail\nhis toes in the water; and he married and lived happily ever afterward.\nSo did the Whale. But from that day on, the grating in his throat,\nwhich he could neither cough up nor swallow down, prevented him eating\nanything except very, very small fish; and that is the reason why whales\nnowadays never eat men or boys or little girls.\n\nThe small 'Stute Fish went and hid himself in the mud under the\nDoor-sills of the Equator. He was afraid that the Whale might be angry\nwith him.\n\nThe Sailor took the jack-knife home. He was wearing the blue canvas\nbreeches when he walked out on the shingle. The suspenders were left\nbehind, you see, to tie the grating with; and that is the end of _that_\ntale.\n\n\n     WHEN the cabin port-holes are dark and green\n       Because of the seas outside;\n     When the ship goes _wop_ (with a wiggle between)\n     And the steward falls into the soup-tureen,\n       And the trunks begin to slide;\n     When Nursey lies on the floor in a heap,\n     And Mummy tells you to let her sleep,\n     And you aren't waked or washed or dressed,\n     Why, then you will know (if you haven't guessed)\n     You're 'Fifty North and Forty West!'\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE CAMEL GOT HIS HUMP\n\nNOW this is the next tale, and it tells how the Camel got his big hump.\n\nIn the beginning of years, when the world was so new and all, and the\nAnimals were just beginning to work for Man, there was a Camel, and he\nlived in the middle of a Howling Desert because he did not want to work;\nand besides, he was a Howler himself. So he ate sticks and thorns and\ntamarisks and milkweed and prickles, most 'scruciating idle; and when\nanybody spoke to him he said 'Humph!' Just 'Humph!' and no more.\n\nPresently the Horse came to him on Monday morning, with a saddle on his\nback and a bit in his mouth, and said, 'Camel, O Camel, come out and\ntrot like the rest of us.'\n\n'Humph!' said the Camel; and the Horse went away and told the Man.\n\nPresently the Dog came to him, with a stick in his mouth, and said,\n'Camel, O Camel, come and fetch and carry like the rest of us.'\n\n'Humph!' said the Camel; and the Dog went away and told the Man.\n\nPresently the Ox came to him, with the yoke on his neck and said,\n'Camel, O Camel, come and plough like the rest of us.'\n\n'Humph!' said the Camel; and the Ox went away and told the Man.\n\nAt the end of the day the Man called the Horse and the Dog and the Ox\ntogether, and said, 'Three, O Three, I'm very sorry for you (with the\nworld so new-and-all); but that Humph-thing in the Desert can't work,\nor he would have been here by now, so I am going to leave him alone, and\nyou must work double-time to make up for it.'\n\nThat made the Three very angry (with the world so new-and-all), and they\nheld a palaver, and an _indaba_, and a _punchayet_, and a pow-wow on\nthe edge of the Desert; and the Camel came chewing on milkweed _most_\n'scruciating idle, and laughed at them. Then he said 'Humph!' and went\naway again.\n\nPresently there came along the Djinn in charge of All Deserts, rolling\nin a cloud of dust (Djinns always travel that way because it is Magic),\nand he stopped to palaver and pow-pow with the Three.\n\n'Djinn of All Deserts,' said the Horse, 'is it right for any one to be\nidle, with the world so new-and-all?'\n\n'Certainly not,' said the Djinn.\n\n'Well,' said the Horse, 'there's a thing in the middle of your Howling\nDesert (and he's a Howler himself) with a long neck and long legs, and\nhe hasn't done a stroke of work since Monday morning. He won't trot.'\n\n'Whew!' said the Djinn, whistling, 'that's my Camel, for all the gold in\nArabia! What does he say about it?'\n\n'He says \"Humph!\"' said the Dog; 'and he won't fetch and carry.'\n\n'Does he say anything else?'\n\n'Only \"Humph!\"; and he won't plough,' said the Ox.\n\n'Very good,' said the Djinn. 'I'll humph him if you will kindly wait a\nminute.'\n\nThe Djinn rolled himself up in his dust-cloak, and took a bearing across\nthe desert, and found the Camel most 'scruciatingly idle, looking at his\nown reflection in a pool of water.\n\n'My long and bubbling friend,' said the Djinn, 'what's this I hear of\nyour doing no work, with the world so new-and-all?'\n\n'Humph!' said the Camel.\n\nThe Djinn sat down, with his chin in his hand, and began to think a\nGreat Magic, while the Camel looked at his own reflection in the pool of\nwater.\n\n'You've given the Three extra work ever since Monday morning, all on\naccount of your 'scruciating idleness,' said the Djinn; and he went on\nthinking Magics, with his chin in his hand.\n\n'Humph!' said the Camel.\n\n'I shouldn't say that again if I were you,' said the Djinn; you might\nsay it once too often. Bubbles, I want you to work.'\n\nAnd the Camel said 'Humph!' again; but no sooner had he said it than he\nsaw his back, that he was so proud of, puffing up and puffing up into a\ngreat big lolloping humph.\n\n'Do you see that?' said the Djinn. 'That's your very own humph that\nyou've brought upon your very own self by not working. To-day is\nThursday, and you've done no work since Monday, when the work began. Now\nyou are going to work.'\n\n'How can I,' said the Camel, 'with this humph on my back?'\n\n'That's made a-purpose,' said the Djinn, 'all because you missed those\nthree days. You will be able to work now for three days without eating,\nbecause you can live on your humph; and don't you ever say I never\ndid anything for you. Come out of the Desert and go to the Three, and\nbehave. Humph yourself!'\n\nAnd the Camel humphed himself, humph and all, and went away to join the\nThree. And from that day to this the Camel always wears a humph (we call\nit 'hump' now, not to hurt his feelings); but he has never yet caught up\nwith the three days that he missed at the beginning of the world, and he\nhas never yet learned how to behave.\n\n\n     THE Camel's hump is an ugly lump\n       Which well you may see at the Zoo;\n     But uglier yet is the hump we get\n       From having too little to do.\n\n     Kiddies and grown-ups too-oo-oo,\n     If we haven't enough to do-oo-oo,\n         We get the hump--\n         Cameelious hump--\n     The hump that is black and blue!\n\n     We climb out of bed with a frouzly head\n       And a snarly-yarly voice.\n     We shiver and scowl and we grunt and we growl\n       At our bath and our boots and our toys;\n\n     And there ought to be a corner for me\n     (And I know there is one for you)\n         When we get the hump--\n         Cameelious hump--\n     The hump that is black and blue!\n\n     The cure for this ill is not to sit still,\n       Or frowst with a book by the fire;\n     But to take a large hoe and a shovel also,\n       And dig till you gently perspire;\n\n     And then you will find that the sun and the wind.\n     And the Djinn of the Garden too,\n         Have lifted the hump--\n         The horrible hump--\n     The hump that is black and blue!\n\n     I get it as well as you-oo-oo--\n     If I haven't enough to do-oo-oo--\n         We all get hump--\n         Cameelious hump--\n     Kiddies and grown-ups too!\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE RHINOCEROS GOT HIS SKIN\n\nONCE upon a time, on an uninhabited island on the shores of the Red Sea,\nthere lived a Parsee from whose hat the rays of the sun were reflected\nin more-than-oriental splendour. And the Parsee lived by the Red Sea\nwith nothing but his hat and his knife and a cooking-stove of the kind\nthat you must particularly never touch. And one day he took flour and\nwater and currants and plums and sugar and things, and made himself one\ncake which was two feet across and three feet thick. It was indeed a\nSuperior Comestible (that's magic), and he put it on stove because he\nwas allowed to cook on the stove, and he baked it and he baked it till\nit was all done brown and smelt most sentimental. But just as he\nwas going to eat it there came down to the beach from the Altogether\nUninhabited Interior one Rhinoceros with a horn on his nose, two piggy\neyes, and few manners. In those days the Rhinoceros's skin fitted him\nquite tight. There were no wrinkles in it anywhere. He looked exactly\nlike a Noah's Ark Rhinoceros, but of course much bigger. All the same,\nhe had no manners then, and he has no manners now, and he never will\nhave any manners. He said, 'How!' and the Parsee left that cake and\nclimbed to the top of a palm tree with nothing on but his hat, from\nwhich the rays of the sun were always reflected in more-than-oriental\nsplendour. And the Rhinoceros upset the oil-stove with his nose, and\nthe cake rolled on the sand, and he spiked that cake on the horn of his\nnose, and he ate it, and he went away, waving his tail, to the desolate\nand Exclusively Uninhabited Interior which abuts on the islands of\nMazanderan, Socotra, and Promontories of the Larger Equinox. Then the\nParsee came down from his palm-tree and put the stove on its legs and\nrecited the following Sloka, which, as you have not heard, I will now\nproceed to relate:--\n\n  Them that takes cakes\n  Which the Parsee-man bakes\n  Makes dreadful mistakes.\n\nAnd there was a great deal more in that than you would think.\n\nBecause, five weeks later, there was a heat wave in the Red Sea, and\neverybody took off all the clothes they had. The Parsee took off his\nhat; but the Rhinoceros took off his skin and carried it over his\nshoulder as he came down to the beach to bathe. In those days it\nbuttoned underneath with three buttons and looked like a waterproof. He\nsaid nothing whatever about the Parsee's cake, because he had eaten\nit all; and he never had any manners, then, since, or henceforward.\nHe waddled straight into the water and blew bubbles through his nose,\nleaving his skin on the beach.\n\nPresently the Parsee came by and found the skin, and he smiled one smile\nthat ran all round his face two times. Then he danced three times round\nthe skin and rubbed his hands. Then he went to his camp and filled his\nhat with cake-crumbs, for the Parsee never ate anything but cake, and\nnever swept out his camp. He took that skin, and he shook that skin, and\nhe scrubbed that skin, and he rubbed that skin just as full of old,\ndry, stale, tickly cake-crumbs and some burned currants as ever it could\npossibly hold. Then he climbed to the top of his palm-tree and waited\nfor the Rhinoceros to come out of the water and put it on.\n\nAnd the Rhinoceros did. He buttoned it up with the three buttons, and\nit tickled like cake crumbs in bed. Then he wanted to scratch, but that\nmade it worse; and then he lay down on the sands and rolled and rolled\nand rolled, and every time he rolled the cake crumbs tickled him worse\nand worse and worse. Then he ran to the palm-tree and rubbed and rubbed\nand rubbed himself against it. He rubbed so much and so hard that he\nrubbed his skin into a great fold over his shoulders, and another fold\nunderneath, where the buttons used to be (but he rubbed the buttons\noff), and he rubbed some more folds over his legs. And it spoiled his\ntemper, but it didn't make the least difference to the cake-crumbs.\nThey were inside his skin and they tickled. So he went home, very angry\nindeed and horribly scratchy; and from that day to this every rhinoceros\nhas great folds in his skin and a very bad temper, all on account of the\ncake-crumbs inside.\n\nBut the Parsee came down from his palm-tree, wearing his hat, from which\nthe rays of the sun were reflected in more-than-oriental splendour,\npacked up his cooking-stove, and went away in the direction of Orotavo,\nAmygdala, the Upland Meadows of Anantarivo, and the Marshes of Sonaput.\n\n\n     THIS Uninhabited Island\n       Is off Cape Gardafui,\n     By the Beaches of Socotra\n       And the Pink Arabian Sea:\n     But it's hot--too hot from Suez\n       For the likes of you and me\n         Ever to go\n         In a P. and O.\n     And call on the Cake-Parsee!\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE LEOPARD GOT HIS SPOTS\n\nIN the days when everybody started fair, Best Beloved, the Leopard lived\nin a place called the High Veldt. 'Member it wasn't the Low Veldt, or\nthe Bush Veldt, or the Sour Veldt, but the 'sclusively bare, hot, shiny\nHigh Veldt, where there was sand and sandy-coloured rock and 'sclusively\ntufts of sandy-yellowish grass. The Giraffe and the Zebra and the Eland\nand the Koodoo and the Hartebeest lived there; and they were 'sclusively\nsandy-yellow-brownish all over; but the Leopard, he was the 'sclusivest\nsandiest-yellowish-brownest of them all--a greyish-yellowish\ncatty-shaped kind of beast, and he matched the 'sclusively\nyellowish-greyish-brownish colour of the High Veldt to one hair. This\nwas very bad for the Giraffe and the Zebra and the rest of them; for\nhe would lie down by a 'sclusively yellowish-greyish-brownish stone or\nclump of grass, and when the Giraffe or the Zebra or the Eland or the\nKoodoo or the Bush-Buck or the Bonte-Buck came by he would surprise them\nout of their jumpsome lives. He would indeed! And, also, there was an\nEthiopian with bows and arrows (a 'sclusively greyish-brownish-yellowish\nman he was then), who lived on the High Veldt with the Leopard; and the\ntwo used to hunt together--the Ethiopian with his bows and arrows, and\nthe Leopard 'sclusively with his teeth and claws--till the Giraffe and\nthe Eland and the Koodoo and the Quagga and all the rest of them didn't\nknow which way to jump, Best Beloved. They didn't indeed!\n\nAfter a long time--things lived for ever so long in those days--they\nlearned to avoid anything that looked like a Leopard or an Ethiopian;\nand bit by bit--the Giraffe began it, because his legs were the\nlongest--they went away from the High Veldt. They scuttled for days\nand days and days till they came to a great forest, 'sclusively full of\ntrees and bushes and stripy, speckly, patchy-blatchy shadows, and there\nthey hid: and after another long time, what with standing half in the\nshade and half out of it, and what with the slippery-slidy shadows of\nthe trees falling on them, the Giraffe grew blotchy, and the Zebra grew\nstripy, and the Eland and the Koodoo grew darker, with little wavy grey\nlines on their backs like bark on a tree trunk; and so, though you could\nhear them and smell them, you could very seldom see them, and then only\nwhen you knew precisely where to look. They had a beautiful time in the\n'sclusively speckly-spickly shadows of the forest, while the Leopard and\nthe Ethiopian ran about over the 'sclusively greyish-yellowish-reddish\nHigh Veldt outside, wondering where all their breakfasts and their\ndinners and their teas had gone. At last they were so hungry that they\nate rats and beetles and rock-rabbits, the Leopard and the Ethiopian,\nand then they had the Big Tummy-ache, both together; and then they met\nBaviaan--the dog-headed, barking Baboon, who is Quite the Wisest Animal\nin All South Africa.\n\nSaid Leopard to Baviaan (and it was a very hot day), 'Where has all the\ngame gone?'\n\nAnd Baviaan winked. He knew.\n\nSaid the Ethiopian to Baviaan, 'Can you tell me the present habitat\nof the aboriginal Fauna?' (That meant just the same thing, but the\nEthiopian always used long words. He was a grown-up.)\n\nAnd Baviaan winked. He knew.\n\nThen said Baviaan, 'The game has gone into other spots; and my advice to\nyou, Leopard, is to go into other spots as soon as you can.'\n\nAnd the Ethiopian said, 'That is all very fine, but I wish to know\nwhither the aboriginal Fauna has migrated.'\n\nThen said Baviaan, 'The aboriginal Fauna has joined the aboriginal Flora\nbecause it was high time for a change; and my advice to you, Ethiopian,\nis to change as soon as you can.'\n\nThat puzzled the Leopard and the Ethiopian, but they set off to look for\nthe aboriginal Flora, and presently, after ever so many days, they saw\na great, high, tall forest full of tree trunks all 'sclusively speckled\nand sprottled and spottled, dotted and splashed and slashed and hatched\nand cross-hatched with shadows. (Say that quickly aloud, and you will\nsee how very shadowy the forest must have been.)\n\n'What is this,' said the Leopard, 'that is so 'sclusively dark, and yet\nso full of little pieces of light?'\n\n'I don't know, said the Ethiopian, 'but it ought to be the aboriginal\nFlora. I can smell Giraffe, and I can hear Giraffe, but I can't see\nGiraffe.'\n\n'That's curious,' said the Leopard. 'I suppose it is because we have\njust come in out of the sunshine. I can smell Zebra, and I can hear\nZebra, but I can't see Zebra.'\n\n'Wait a bit, said the Ethiopian. 'It's a long time since we've hunted\n'em. Perhaps we've forgotten what they were like.'\n\n'Fiddle!' said the Leopard. 'I remember them perfectly on the High\nVeldt, especially their marrow-bones. Giraffe is about seventeen feet\nhigh, of a 'sclusively fulvous golden-yellow from head to heel; and\nZebra is about four and a half feet high, of a'sclusively grey-fawn\ncolour from head to heel.'\n\n'Umm, said the Ethiopian, looking into the speckly-spickly shadows of\nthe aboriginal Flora-forest. 'Then they ought to show up in this dark\nplace like ripe bananas in a smokehouse.'\n\nBut they didn't. The Leopard and the Ethiopian hunted all day; and\nthough they could smell them and hear them, they never saw one of them.\n\n'For goodness' sake,' said the Leopard at tea-time, 'let us wait till it\ngets dark. This daylight hunting is a perfect scandal.'\n\nSo they waited till dark, and then the Leopard heard something breathing\nsniffily in the starlight that fell all stripy through the branches, and\nhe jumped at the noise, and it smelt like Zebra, and it felt like Zebra,\nand when he knocked it down it kicked like Zebra, but he couldn't see\nit. So he said, 'Be quiet, O you person without any form. I am going to\nsit on your head till morning, because there is something about you that\nI don't understand.'\n\nPresently he heard a grunt and a crash and a scramble, and the Ethiopian\ncalled out, 'I've caught a thing that I can't see. It smells like\nGiraffe, and it kicks like Giraffe, but it hasn't any form.'\n\n'Don't you trust it,' said the Leopard. 'Sit on its head till the\nmorning--same as me. They haven't any form--any of 'em.'\n\nSo they sat down on them hard till bright morning-time, and then Leopard\nsaid, 'What have you at your end of the table, Brother?'\n\nThe Ethiopian scratched his head and said, 'It ought to be 'sclusively a\nrich fulvous orange-tawny from head to heel, and it ought to be Giraffe;\nbut it is covered all over with chestnut blotches. What have you at your\nend of the table, Brother?'\n\nAnd the Leopard scratched his head and said, 'It ought to be 'sclusively\na delicate greyish-fawn, and it ought to be Zebra; but it is covered\nall over with black and purple stripes. What in the world have you been\ndoing to yourself, Zebra? Don't you know that if you were on the High\nVeldt I could see you ten miles off? You haven't any form.'\n\n'Yes,' said the Zebra, 'but this isn't the High Veldt. Can't you see?'\n\n'I can now,' said the Leopard. 'But I couldn't all yesterday. How is it\ndone?'\n\n'Let us up,' said the Zebra, 'and we will show you.\n\nThey let the Zebra and the Giraffe get up; and Zebra moved away to some\nlittle thorn-bushes where the sunlight fell all stripy, and Giraffe\nmoved off to some tallish trees where the shadows fell all blotchy.\n\n'Now watch,' said the Zebra and the Giraffe. 'This is the way it's done.\nOne--two--three! And where's your breakfast?'\n\nLeopard stared, and Ethiopian stared, but all they could see were stripy\nshadows and blotched shadows in the forest, but never a sign of Zebra\nand Giraffe. They had just walked off and hidden themselves in the\nshadowy forest.\n\n'Hi! Hi!' said the Ethiopian. 'That's a trick worth learning. Take a\nlesson by it, Leopard. You show up in this dark place like a bar of soap\nin a coal-scuttle.'\n\n'Ho! Ho!' said the Leopard. 'Would it surprise you very much to know\nthat you show up in this dark place like a mustard-plaster on a sack of\ncoals?'\n\n'Well, calling names won't catch dinner, said the Ethiopian. 'The long\nand the little of it is that we don't match our backgrounds. I'm going\nto take Baviaan's advice. He told me I ought to change; and as I've\nnothing to change except my skin I'm going to change that.'\n\n'What to?' said the Leopard, tremendously excited.\n\n'To a nice working blackish-brownish colour, with a little purple in\nit, and touches of slaty-blue. It will be the very thing for hiding in\nhollows and behind trees.'\n\nSo he changed his skin then and there, and the Leopard was more excited\nthan ever; he had never seen a man change his skin before.\n\n'But what about me?' he said, when the Ethiopian had worked his last\nlittle finger into his fine new black skin.\n\n'You take Baviaan's advice too. He told you to go into spots.'\n\n'So I did,' said the Leopard. I went into other spots as fast as I\ncould. I went into this spot with you, and a lot of good it has done\nme.'\n\n'Oh,' said the Ethiopian, 'Baviaan didn't mean spots in South Africa. He\nmeant spots on your skin.'\n\n'What's the use of that?' said the Leopard.\n\n'Think of Giraffe,' said the Ethiopian. 'Or if you prefer stripes,\nthink of Zebra. They find their spots and stripes give them per-feet\nsatisfaction.'\n\n'Umm,' said the Leopard. 'I wouldn't look like Zebra--not for ever so.'\n\n'Well, make up your mind,' said the Ethiopian, 'because I'd hate to\ngo hunting without you, but I must if you insist on looking like a\nsun-flower against a tarred fence.'\n\n'I'll take spots, then,' said the Leopard; 'but don't make 'em too\nvulgar-big. I wouldn't look like Giraffe--not for ever so.'\n\n'I'll make 'em with the tips of my fingers,' said the Ethiopian.\n'There's plenty of black left on my skin still. Stand over!'\n\nThen the Ethiopian put his five fingers close together (there was plenty\nof black left on his new skin still) and pressed them all over the\nLeopard, and wherever the five fingers touched they left five little\nblack marks, all close together. You can see them on any Leopard's skin\nyou like, Best Beloved. Sometimes the fingers slipped and the marks got\na little blurred; but if you look closely at any Leopard now you will\nsee that there are always five spots--off five fat black finger-tips.\n\n'Now you are a beauty!' said the Ethiopian. 'You can lie out on the bare\nground and look like a heap of pebbles. You can lie out on the naked\nrocks and look like a piece of pudding-stone. You can lie out on a leafy\nbranch and look like sunshine sifting through the leaves; and you\ncan lie right across the centre of a path and look like nothing in\nparticular. Think of that and purr!'\n\n'But if I'm all this,' said the Leopard, 'why didn't you go spotty too?'\n\n'Oh, plain black's best for a nigger,' said the Ethiopian. 'Now come\nalong and we'll see if we can't get even with Mr. One-Two-Three Where's\nyour Breakfast!'\n\nSo they went away and lived happily ever afterward, Best Beloved. That\nis all.\n\nOh, now and then you will hear grown-ups say, 'Can the Ethiopian change\nhis skin or the Leopard his spots?' I don't think even grown-ups would\nkeep on saying such a silly thing if the Leopard and the Ethiopian\nhadn't done it once--do you? But they will never do it again, Best\nBeloved. They are quite contented as they are.\n\n\n   I AM the Most Wise Baviaan, saying in most wise tones,\n   'Let us melt into the landscape--just us two by our lones.'\n   People have come--in a carriage--calling. But Mummy is there....\n   Yes, I can go if you take me--Nurse says she don't care.\n   Let's go up to the pig-sties and sit on the farmyard rails!\n   Let's say things to the bunnies, and watch 'em skitter their tails!\n   Let's--oh, anything, daddy, so long as it's you and me,\n   And going truly exploring, and not being in till tea!\n   Here's your boots (I've brought 'em), and here's your cap and stick,\n   And here's your pipe and tobacco. Oh, come along out of it--quick.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ELEPHANT'S CHILD\n\nIN the High and Far-Off Times the Elephant, O Best Beloved, had no\ntrunk. He had only a blackish, bulgy nose, as big as a boot, that he\ncould wriggle about from side to side; but he couldn't pick up things\nwith it. But there was one Elephant--a new Elephant--an Elephant's\nChild--who was full of 'satiable curtiosity, and that means he asked\never so many questions. And he lived in Africa, and he filled all Africa\nwith his 'satiable curtiosities. He asked his tall aunt, the Ostrich,\nwhy her tail-feathers grew just so, and his tall aunt the Ostrich\nspanked him with her hard, hard claw. He asked his tall uncle, the\nGiraffe, what made his skin spotty, and his tall uncle, the Giraffe,\nspanked him with his hard, hard hoof. And still he was full of 'satiable\ncurtiosity! He asked his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, why her eyes were\nred, and his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, spanked him with her broad,\nbroad hoof; and he asked his hairy uncle, the Baboon, why melons tasted\njust so, and his hairy uncle, the Baboon, spanked him with his hairy,\nhairy paw. And still he was full of 'satiable curtiosity! He asked\nquestions about everything that he saw, or heard, or felt, or smelt, or\ntouched, and all his uncles and his aunts spanked him. And still he was\nfull of 'satiable curtiosity!\n\nOne fine morning in the middle of the Precession of the Equinoxes this\n'satiable Elephant's Child asked a new fine question that he had never\nasked before. He asked, 'What does the Crocodile have for dinner?' Then\neverybody said, 'Hush!' in a loud and dretful tone, and they spanked him\nimmediately and directly, without stopping, for a long time.\n\nBy and by, when that was finished, he came upon Kolokolo Bird sitting\nin the middle of a wait-a-bit thorn-bush, and he said, 'My father has\nspanked me, and my mother has spanked me; all my aunts and uncles have\nspanked me for my 'satiable curtiosity; and still I want to know what\nthe Crocodile has for dinner!'\n\nThen Kolokolo Bird said, with a mournful cry, 'Go to the banks of the\ngreat grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees,\nand find out.'\n\nThat very next morning, when there was nothing left of the Equinoxes,\nbecause the Precession had preceded according to precedent, this\n'satiable Elephant's Child took a hundred pounds of bananas (the little\nshort red kind), and a hundred pounds of sugar-cane (the long purple\nkind), and seventeen melons (the greeny-crackly kind), and said to all\nhis dear families, 'Goodbye. I am going to the great grey-green, greasy\nLimpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, to find out what the\nCrocodile has for dinner.' And they all spanked him once more for luck,\nthough he asked them most politely to stop.\n\nThen he went away, a little warm, but not at all astonished, eating\nmelons, and throwing the rind about, because he could not pick it up.\n\nHe went from Graham's Town to Kimberley, and from Kimberley to Khama's\nCountry, and from Khama's Country he went east by north, eating melons\nall the time, till at last he came to the banks of the great grey-green,\ngreasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, precisely as\nKolokolo Bird had said.\n\nNow you must know and understand, O Best Beloved, that till that very\nweek, and day, and hour, and minute, this 'satiable Elephant's Child had\nnever seen a Crocodile, and did not know what one was like. It was all\nhis 'satiable curtiosity.\n\nThe first thing that he found was a Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake curled\nround a rock.\n\n''Scuse me,' said the Elephant's Child most politely, 'but have you seen\nsuch a thing as a Crocodile in these promiscuous parts?'\n\n'Have I seen a Crocodile?' said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake, in a\nvoice of dretful scorn. 'What will you ask me next?'\n\n''Scuse me,' said the Elephant's Child, 'but could you kindly tell me\nwhat he has for dinner?'\n\nThen the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake uncoiled himself very quickly\nfrom the rock, and spanked the Elephant's Child with his scalesome,\nflailsome tail.\n\n'That is odd,' said the Elephant's Child, 'because my father and my\nmother, and my uncle and my aunt, not to mention my other aunt, the\nHippopotamus, and my other uncle, the Baboon, have all spanked me for my\n'satiable curtiosity--and I suppose this is the same thing.\n\nSo he said good-bye very politely to the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake,\nand helped to coil him up on the rock again, and went on, a little warm,\nbut not at all astonished, eating melons, and throwing the rind about,\nbecause he could not pick it up, till he trod on what he thought was\na log of wood at the very edge of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo\nRiver, all set about with fever-trees.\n\nBut it was really the Crocodile, O Best Beloved, and the Crocodile\nwinked one eye--like this!\n\n''Scuse me,' said the Elephant's Child most politely, 'but do you happen\nto have seen a Crocodile in these promiscuous parts?'\n\nThen the Crocodile winked the other eye, and lifted half his tail out of\nthe mud; and the Elephant's Child stepped back most politely, because he\ndid not wish to be spanked again.\n\n'Come hither, Little One,' said the Crocodile. 'Why do you ask such\nthings?'\n\n''Scuse me,' said the Elephant's Child most politely, 'but my father has\nspanked me, my mother has spanked me, not to mention my tall aunt, the\nOstrich, and my tall uncle, the Giraffe, who can kick ever so hard, as\nwell as my broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, and my hairy uncle, the Baboon,\nand including the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake, with the scalesome,\nflailsome tail, just up the bank, who spanks harder than any of them;\nand so, if it's quite all the same to you, I don't want to be spanked\nany more.'\n\n'Come hither, Little One,' said the Crocodile, 'for I am the Crocodile,'\nand he wept crocodile-tears to show it was quite true.\n\nThen the Elephant's Child grew all breathless, and panted, and kneeled\ndown on the bank and said, 'You are the very person I have been looking\nfor all these long days. Will you please tell me what you have for\ndinner?'\n\n'Come hither, Little One,' said the Crocodile, 'and I'll whisper.'\n\nThen the Elephant's Child put his head down close to the Crocodile's\nmusky, tusky mouth, and the Crocodile caught him by his little nose,\nwhich up to that very week, day, hour, and minute, had been no bigger\nthan a boot, though much more useful.\n\n'I think, said the Crocodile--and he said it between his teeth, like\nthis--'I think to-day I will begin with Elephant's Child!'\n\nAt this, O Best Beloved, the Elephant's Child was much annoyed, and he\nsaid, speaking through his nose, like this, 'Led go! You are hurtig be!'\n\nThen the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake scuffled down from the bank and\nsaid, 'My young friend, if you do not now, immediately and instantly,\npull as hard as ever you can, it is my opinion that your acquaintance in\nthe large-pattern leather ulster' (and by this he meant the Crocodile)\n'will jerk you into yonder limpid stream before you can say Jack\nRobinson.'\n\nThis is the way Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snakes always talk.\n\nThen the Elephant's Child sat back on his little haunches, and pulled,\nand pulled, and pulled, and his nose began to stretch. And the Crocodile\nfloundered into the water, making it all creamy with great sweeps of his\ntail, and he pulled, and pulled, and pulled.\n\nAnd the Elephant's Child's nose kept on stretching; and the Elephant's\nChild spread all his little four legs and pulled, and pulled, and\npulled, and his nose kept on stretching; and the Crocodile threshed his\ntail like an oar, and he pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and at each\npull the Elephant's Child's nose grew longer and longer--and it hurt him\nhijjus!\n\nThen the Elephant's Child felt his legs slipping, and he said through\nhis nose, which was now nearly five feet long, 'This is too butch for\nbe!'\n\nThen the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake came down from the bank, and\nknotted himself in a double-clove-hitch round the Elephant's Child's\nhind legs, and said, 'Rash and inexperienced traveller, we will now\nseriously devote ourselves to a little high tension, because if we do\nnot, it is my impression that yonder self-propelling man-of-war with\nthe armour-plated upper deck' (and by this, O Best Beloved, he meant the\nCrocodile), 'will permanently vitiate your future career.\n\nThat is the way all Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snakes always talk.\n\nSo he pulled, and the Elephant's Child pulled, and the Crocodile pulled;\nbut the Elephant's Child and the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake pulled\nhardest; and at last the Crocodile let go of the Elephant's Child's nose\nwith a plop that you could hear all up and down the Limpopo.\n\nThen the Elephant's Child sat down most hard and sudden; but first he\nwas careful to say 'Thank you' to the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake; and\nnext he was kind to his poor pulled nose, and wrapped it all up in cool\nbanana leaves, and hung it in the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo to\ncool.\n\n'What are you doing that for?' said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake.\n\n''Scuse me,' said the Elephant's Child, 'but my nose is badly out of\nshape, and I am waiting for it to shrink.\n\n'Then you will have to wait a long time, said the\nBi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake. 'Some people do not know what is good for\nthem.'\n\nThe Elephant's Child sat there for three days waiting for his nose to\nshrink. But it never grew any shorter, and, besides, it made him squint.\nFor, O Best Beloved, you will see and understand that the Crocodile\nhad pulled it out into a really truly trunk same as all Elephants have\nto-day.\n\nAt the end of the third day a fly came and stung him on the shoulder,\nand before he knew what he was doing he lifted up his trunk and hit that\nfly dead with the end of it.\n\n''Vantage number one!' said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake. 'You\ncouldn't have done that with a mere-smear nose. Try and eat a little\nnow.'\n\nBefore he thought what he was doing the Elephant's Child put out his\ntrunk and plucked a large bundle of grass, dusted it clean against his\nfore-legs, and stuffed it into his own mouth.\n\n'Vantage number two!' said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake. 'You\ncouldn't have done that with a mear-smear nose. Don't you think the sun\nis very hot here?'\n\n'It is,' said the Elephant's Child, and before he thought what he was\ndoing he schlooped up a schloop of mud from the banks of the great\ngrey-green, greasy Limpopo, and slapped it on his head, where it made a\ncool schloopy-sloshy mud-cap all trickly behind his ears.\n\n'Vantage number three!' said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake. 'You\ncouldn't have done that with a mere-smear nose. Now how do you feel\nabout being spanked again?'\n\n''Scuse me,' said the Elephant's Child, 'but I should not like it at\nall.'\n\n'How would you like to spank somebody?' said the\nBi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake.\n\n'I should like it very much indeed,' said the Elephant's Child.\n\n'Well,' said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake, 'you will find that new\nnose of yours very useful to spank people with.'\n\n'Thank you,' said the Elephant's Child, 'I'll remember that; and now I\nthink I'll go home to all my dear families and try.'\n\nSo the Elephant's Child went home across Africa frisking and whisking\nhis trunk. When he wanted fruit to eat he pulled fruit down from a tree,\ninstead of waiting for it to fall as he used to do. When he wanted grass\nhe plucked grass up from the ground, instead of going on his knees as he\nused to do. When the flies bit him he broke off the branch of a tree\nand used it as fly-whisk; and he made himself a new, cool, slushy-squshy\nmud-cap whenever the sun was hot. When he felt lonely walking through\nAfrica he sang to himself down his trunk, and the noise was louder than\nseveral brass bands.\n\nHe went especially out of his way to find a broad Hippopotamus (she was\nno relation of his), and he spanked her very hard, to make sure that the\nBi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake had spoken the truth about his new trunk.\nThe rest of the time he picked up the melon rinds that he had dropped on\nhis way to the Limpopo--for he was a Tidy Pachyderm.\n\nOne dark evening he came back to all his dear families, and he coiled up\nhis trunk and said, 'How do you do?' They were very glad to see him,\nand immediately said, 'Come here and be spanked for your 'satiable\ncurtiosity.'\n\n'Pooh,' said the Elephant's Child. 'I don't think you peoples know\nanything about spanking; but I do, and I'll show you.' Then he uncurled\nhis trunk and knocked two of his dear brothers head over heels.\n\n'O Bananas!' said they, 'where did you learn that trick, and what have\nyou done to your nose?'\n\n'I got a new one from the Crocodile on the banks of the great\ngrey-green, greasy Limpopo River,' said the Elephant's Child. 'I asked\nhim what he had for dinner, and he gave me this to keep.'\n\n'It looks very ugly,' said his hairy uncle, the Baboon.\n\n'It does,' said the Elephant's Child. 'But it's very useful,' and he\npicked up his hairy uncle, the Baboon, by one hairy leg, and hove him\ninto a hornet's nest.\n\nThen that bad Elephant's Child spanked all his dear families for a long\ntime, till they were very warm and greatly astonished. He pulled out\nhis tall Ostrich aunt's tail-feathers; and he caught his tall uncle, the\nGiraffe, by the hind-leg, and dragged him through a thorn-bush; and he\nshouted at his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, and blew bubbles into her\near when she was sleeping in the water after meals; but he never let any\none touch Kolokolo Bird.\n\nAt last things grew so exciting that his dear families went off one\nby one in a hurry to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo\nRiver, all set about with fever-trees, to borrow new noses from the\nCrocodile. When they came back nobody spanked anybody any more; and ever\nsince that day, O Best Beloved, all the Elephants you will ever see,\nbesides all those that you won't, have trunks precisely like the trunk\nof the 'satiable Elephant's Child.\n\n\n     I Keep six honest serving-men:\n       (They taught me all I knew)\n     Their names are What and Where and When\n       And How and Why and Who.\n     I send them over land and sea,\n       I send them east and west;\n     But after they have worked for me,\n       I give them all a rest.\n\n     I let them rest from nine till five.\n       For I am busy then,\n     As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,\n       For they are hungry men:\n     But different folk have different views:\n       I know a person small--\n     She keeps ten million serving-men,\n       Who get no rest at all!\n     She sends 'em abroad on her own affairs,\n       From the second she opens her eyes--\n     One million Hows, two million Wheres,\n       And seven million Whys!\n\n\n\n\nTHE SING-SONG OF OLD MAN KANGAROO\n\nNOT always was the Kangaroo as now we do behold him, but a Different\nAnimal with four short legs. He was grey and he was woolly, and\nhis pride was inordinate: he danced on an outcrop in the middle of\nAustralia, and he went to the Little God Nqa.\n\nHe went to Nqa at six before breakfast, saying, 'Make me different from\nall other animals by five this afternoon.'\n\nUp jumped Nqa from his seat on the sandflat and shouted, 'Go away!'\n\nHe was grey and he was woolly, and his pride was inordinate: he danced\non a rock-ledge in the middle of Australia, and he went to the Middle\nGod Nquing.\n\nHe went to Nquing at eight after breakfast, saying, 'Make me different\nfrom all other animals; make me, also, wonderfully popular by five this\nafternoon.'\n\nUp jumped Nquing from his burrow in the spinifex and shouted, 'Go away!'\n\nHe was grey and he was woolly, and his pride was inordinate: he danced\non a sandbank in the middle of Australia, and he went to the Big God\nNqong.\n\nHe went to Nqong at ten before dinner-time, saying, 'Make me different\nfrom all other animals; make me popular and wonderfully run after by\nfive this afternoon.'\n\nUp jumped Nqong from his bath in the salt-pan and shouted, 'Yes, I\nwill!'\n\nNqong called Dingo--Yellow-Dog Dingo--always hungry, dusty in the\nsunshine, and showed him Kangaroo. Nqong said, 'Dingo! Wake up, Dingo!\nDo you see that gentleman dancing on an ashpit? He wants to be popular\nand very truly run after. Dingo, make him SO!'\n\nUp jumped Dingo--Yellow-Dog Dingo--and said, 'What, that cat-rabbit?'\n\nOff ran Dingo--Yellow-Dog Dingo--always hungry, grinning like a\ncoal-scuttle,--ran after Kangaroo.\n\nOff went the proud Kangaroo on his four little legs like a bunny.\n\nThis, O Beloved of mine, ends the first part of the tale!\n\nHe ran through the desert; he ran through the mountains; he ran through\nthe salt-pans; he ran through the reed-beds; he ran through the blue\ngums; he ran through the spinifex; he ran till his front legs ached.\n\nHe had to!\n\nStill ran Dingo--Yellow-Dog Dingo--always hungry, grinning like a\nrat-trap, never getting nearer, never getting farther,--ran after\nKangaroo.\n\nHe had to!\n\nStill ran Kangaroo--Old Man Kangaroo. He ran through the ti-trees; he\nran through the mulga; he ran through the long grass; he ran through the\nshort grass; he ran through the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer; he ran\ntill his hind legs ached.\n\nHe had to!\n\nStill ran Dingo--Yellow-Dog Dingo--hungrier and hungrier, grinning like\na horse-collar, never getting nearer, never getting farther; and they\ncame to the Wollgong River.\n\nNow, there wasn't any bridge, and there wasn't any ferry-boat, and\nKangaroo didn't know how to get over; so he stood on his legs and\nhopped.\n\nHe had to!\n\nHe hopped through the Flinders; he hopped through the Cinders; he\nhopped through the deserts in the middle of Australia. He hopped like a\nKangaroo.\n\nFirst he hopped one yard; then he hopped three yards; then he hopped\nfive yards; his legs growing stronger; his legs growing longer. He\nhadn't any time for rest or refreshment, and he wanted them very much.\n\nStill ran Dingo--Yellow-Dog Dingo--very much bewildered, very much\nhungry, and wondering what in the world or out of it made Old Man\nKangaroo hop.\n\nFor he hopped like a cricket; like a pea in a saucepan; or a new rubber\nball on a nursery floor.\n\nHe had to!\n\nHe tucked up his front legs; he hopped on his hind legs; he stuck out\nhis tail for a balance-weight behind him; and he hopped through the\nDarling Downs.\n\nHe had to!\n\nStill ran Dingo--Tired-Dog Dingo--hungrier and hungrier, very much\nbewildered, and wondering when in the world or out of it would Old Man\nKangaroo stop.\n\nThen came Nqong from his bath in the salt-pans, and said, 'It's five\no'clock.'\n\nDown sat Dingo--Poor Dog Dingo--always hungry, dusky in the sunshine;\nhung out his tongue and howled.\n\nDown sat Kangaroo--Old Man Kangaroo--stuck out his tail like a\nmilking-stool behind him, and said, 'Thank goodness that's finished!'\n\nThen said Nqong, who is always a gentleman, 'Why aren't you grateful to\nYellow-Dog Dingo? Why don't you thank him for all he has done for you?'\n\nThen said Kangaroo--Tired Old Kangaroo--He's chased me out of the homes\nof my childhood; he's chased me out of my regular meal-times; he's\naltered my shape so I'll never get it back; and he's played Old Scratch\nwith my legs.'\n\nThen said Nqong, 'Perhaps I'm mistaken, but didn't you ask me to make\nyou different from all other animals, as well as to make you very truly\nsought after? And now it is five o'clock.'\n\n'Yes,' said Kangaroo. 'I wish that I hadn't. I thought you would do it\nby charms and incantations, but this is a practical joke.'\n\n'Joke!' said Nqong from his bath in the blue gums. 'Say that again and\nI'll whistle up Dingo and run your hind legs off.'\n\n'No,' said the Kangaroo. 'I must apologise. Legs are legs, and you\nneedn't alter 'em so far as I am concerned. I only meant to explain to\nYour Lordliness that I've had nothing to eat since morning, and I'm very\nempty indeed.'\n\n'Yes,' said Dingo--Yellow-Dog Dingo,--'I am just in the same situation.\nI've made him different from all other animals; but what may I have for\nmy tea?'\n\nThen said Nqong from his bath in the salt-pan, 'Come and ask me about it\ntomorrow, because I'm going to wash.'\n\nSo they were left in the middle of Australia, Old Man Kangaroo and\nYellow-Dog Dingo, and each said, 'That's your fault.'\n\n\n     THIS is the mouth-filling song\n     Of the race that was run by a Boomer,\n     Run in a single burst--only event of its kind--\n     Started by big God Nqong from Warrigaborrigarooma,\n     Old Man Kangaroo first: Yellow-Dog Dingo behind.\n\n     Kangaroo bounded away,\n     His back-legs working like pistons--\n     Bounded from morning till dark,\n     Twenty-five feet to a bound.\n     Yellow-Dog Dingo lay\n     Like a yellow cloud in the distance--\n     Much too busy to bark.\n     My! but they covered the ground!\n\n     Nobody knows where they went,\n     Or followed the track that they flew in,\n     For that Continent\n     Hadn't been given a name.\n     They ran thirty degrees,\n     From Torres Straits to the Leeuwin\n     (Look at the Atlas, please),\n     And they ran back as they came.\n\n     S'posing you could trot\n     From Adelaide to the Pacific,\n     For an afternoon's run\n     Half what these gentlemen did\n     You would feel rather hot,\n     But your legs would develop terrific--\n     Yes, my importunate son,\n     You'd be a Marvellous Kid!\n\n\n\n\nTHE BEGINNING OF THE ARMADILLOS\n\nTHIS, O Best Beloved, is another story of the High and Far-Off Times.\nIn the very middle of those times was a Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog, and\nhe lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon, eating shelly snails and\nthings. And he had a friend, a Slow-Solid Tortoise, who lived on the\nbanks of the turbid Amazon, eating green lettuces and things. And so\nthat was all right, Best Beloved. Do you see?\n\nBut also, and at the same time, in those High and Far-Off Times, there\nwas a Painted Jaguar, and he lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon\ntoo; and he ate everything that he could catch. When he could not catch\ndeer or monkeys he would eat frogs and beetles; and when he could not\ncatch frogs and beetles he went to his Mother Jaguar, and she told him\nhow to eat hedgehogs and tortoises.\n\nShe said to him ever so many times, graciously waving her tail, 'My son,\nwhen you find a Hedgehog you must drop him into the water and then he\nwill uncoil, and when you catch a Tortoise you must scoop him out of his\nshell with your paw.' And so that was all right, Best Beloved.\n\nOne beautiful night on the banks of the turbid Amazon, Painted Jaguar\nfound Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog and Slow-Solid Tortoise sitting under the\ntrunk of a fallen tree. They could not run away, and so Stickly-Prickly\ncurled himself up into a ball, because he was a Hedgehog, and Slow-Solid\nTortoise drew in his head and feet into his shell as far as they would\ngo, because he was a Tortoise; and so that was all right, Best Beloved.\nDo you see?\n\n'Now attend to me,' said Painted Jaguar, 'because this is very\nimportant. My mother said that when I meet a Hedgehog I am to drop him\ninto the water and then he will uncoil, and when I meet a Tortoise I am\nto scoop him out of his shell with my paw. Now which of you is Hedgehog\nand which is Tortoise? because, to save my spots, I can't tell.'\n\n'Are you sure of what your Mummy told you?' said Stickly-Prickly\nHedgehog. 'Are you quite sure? Perhaps she said that when you uncoil a\nTortoise you must shell him out the water with a scoop, and when you paw\na Hedgehog you must drop him on the shell.'\n\n'Are you sure of what your Mummy told you?' said Slow-and-Solid\nTortoise. 'Are you quite sure? Perhaps she said that when you water a\nHedgehog you must drop him into your paw, and when you meet a Tortoise\nyou must shell him till he uncoils.'\n\n'I don't think it was at all like that,' said Painted Jaguar, but he\nfelt a little puzzled; 'but, please, say it again more distinctly.'\n\n'When you scoop water with your paw you uncoil it with a Hedgehog,' said\nStickly-Prickly. 'Remember that, because it's important.'\n\n'But,' said the Tortoise, 'when you paw your meat you drop it into a\nTortoise with a scoop. Why can't you understand?'\n\n'You are making my spots ache,' said Painted Jaguar; 'and besides, I\ndidn't want your advice at all. I only wanted to know which of you is\nHedgehog and which is Tortoise.'\n\n'I shan't tell you,' said Stickly-Prickly, 'but you can scoop me out of\nmy shell if you like.'\n\n'Aha!' said Painted Jaguar. 'Now I know you're Tortoise. You thought I\nwouldn't! Now I will.' Painted Jaguar darted out his paddy-paw just as\nStickly-Prickly curled himself up, and of course Jaguar's paddy-paw was\njust filled with prickles. Worse than that, he knocked Stickly-Prickly\naway and away into the woods and the bushes, where it was too dark to\nfind him. Then he put his paddy-paw into his mouth, and of course the\nprickles hurt him worse than ever. As soon as he could speak he said,\n'Now I know he isn't Tortoise at all. But'--and then he scratched\nhis head with his un-prickly paw--'how do I know that this other is\nTortoise?'\n\n'But I am Tortoise,' said Slow-and-Solid. Your mother was quite right.\nShe said that you were to scoop me out of my shell with your paw.\nBegin.'\n\n'You didn't say she said that a minute ago, said Painted Jaguar, sucking\nthe prickles out of his paddy-paw. 'You said she said something quite\ndifferent.'\n\n'Well, suppose you say that I said that she said something quite\ndifferent, I don't see that it makes any difference; because if she said\nwhat you said I said she said, it's just the same as if I said what she\nsaid she said. On the other hand, if you think she said that you were to\nuncoil me with a scoop, instead of pawing me into drops with a shell, I\ncan't help that, can I?'\n\n'But you said you wanted to be scooped out of your shell with my paw,'\nsaid Painted Jaguar.\n\n'If you'll think again you'll find that I didn't say anything of the\nkind. I said that your mother said that you were to scoop me out of my\nshell,' said Slow-and-Solid.\n\n'What will happen if I do?' said the Jaguar most sniffily and most\ncautious.\n\n'I don't know, because I've never been scooped out of my shell before;\nbut I tell you truly, if you want to see me swim away you've only got to\ndrop me into the water.\n\n'I don't believe it,' said Painted Jaguar. 'You've mixed up all the\nthings my mother told me to do with the things that you asked me whether\nI was sure that she didn't say, till I don't know whether I'm on my\nhead or my painted tail; and now you come and tell me something I can\nunderstand, and it makes me more mixy than before. My mother told me\nthat I was to drop one of you two into the water, and as you seem so\nanxious to be dropped I think you don't want to be dropped. So jump into\nthe turbid Amazon and be quick about it.'\n\n'I warn you that your Mummy won't be pleased. Don't tell her I didn't\ntell you,' said Slow-Solid.\n\n'If you say another word about what my mother said--' the Jaguar\nanswered, but he had not finished the sentence before Slow-and-Solid\nquietly dived into the turbid Amazon, swam under water for a long way,\nand came out on the bank where Stickly-Prickly was waiting for him.\n\n'That was a very narrow escape,' said Stickly-Prickly. 'I don't rib\nPainted Jaguar. What did you tell him that you were?'\n\n'I told him truthfully that I was a truthful Tortoise, but he wouldn't\nbelieve it, and he made me jump into the river to see if I was, and I\nwas, and he is surprised. Now he's gone to tell his Mummy. Listen to\nhim!'\n\nThey could hear Painted Jaguar roaring up and down among the trees and\nthe bushes by the side of the turbid Amazon, till his Mummy came.\n\n'Son, son!' said his mother ever so many times, graciously waving her\ntail, 'what have you been doing that you shouldn't have done?'\n\n'I tried to scoop something that said it wanted to be scooped out of\nits shell with my paw, and my paw is full of per-ickles,' said Painted\nJaguar.\n\n'Son, son!' said his mother ever so many times, graciously waving her\ntail, 'by the prickles in your paddy-paw I see that that must have been\na Hedgehog. You should have dropped him into the water.\n\n'I did that to the other thing; and he said he was a Tortoise, and I\ndidn't believe him, and it was quite true, and he has dived under the\nturbid Amazon, and he won't come up again, and I haven't anything at all\nto eat, and I think we had better find lodgings somewhere else. They are\ntoo clever on the turbid Amazon for poor me!'\n\n'Son, son!' said his mother ever so many times, graciously waving\nher tail, 'now attend to me and remember what I say. A Hedgehog curls\nhimself up into a ball and his prickles stick out every which way at\nonce. By this you may know the Hedgehog.'\n\n'I don't like this old lady one little bit,' said Stickly-Prickly, under\nthe shadow of a large leaf. 'I wonder what else she knows?'\n\n'A Tortoise can't curl himself up,' Mother Jaguar went on, ever so many\ntimes, graciously waving her tail. 'He only draws his head and legs into\nhis shell. By this you may know the tortoise.'\n\n'I don't like this old lady at all--at all,' said Slow-and-Solid\nTortoise. 'Even Painted Jaguar can't forget those directions. It's a\ngreat pity that you can't swim, Stickly-Prickly.'\n\n'Don't talk to me,' said Stickly-Prickly. 'Just think how much better\nit would be if you could curl up. This is a mess! Listen to Painted\nJaguar.'\n\nPainted Jaguar was sitting on the banks of the turbid Amazon sucking\nprickles out of his Paws and saying to himself--\n\n  'Can't curl, but can swim--\n  Slow-Solid, that's him!\n  Curls up, but can't swim--\n  Stickly-Prickly, that's him!'\n\n'He'll never forget that this month of Sundays,' said Stickly-Prickly.\n'Hold up my chin, Slow-and-Solid. I'm going to try to learn to swim. It\nmay be useful.'\n\n'Excellent!' said Slow-and-Solid; and he held up Stickly-Prickly's chin,\nwhile Stickly-Prickly kicked in the waters of the turbid Amazon.\n\n'You'll make a fine swimmer yet,' said Slow-and-Solid. 'Now, if you can\nunlace my back-plates a little, I'll see what I can do towards curling\nup. It may be useful.'\n\nStickly-Prickly helped to unlace Tortoise's back-plates, so that by\ntwisting and straining Slow-and-Solid actually managed to curl up a\ntiddy wee bit.\n\n'Excellent!' said Stickly-Prickly; 'but I shouldn't do any more just\nnow. It's making you black in the face. Kindly lead me into the water\nonce again and I'll practice that side-stroke which you say is so easy.'\nAnd so Stickly-Prickly practiced, and Slow-Solid swam alongside.\n\n'Excellent!' said Slow-and-Solid. 'A little more practice will make you\na regular whale. Now, if I may trouble you to unlace my back and front\nplates two holes more, I'll try that fascinating bend that you say is so\neasy. Won't Painted Jaguar be surprised!'\n\n'Excellent!' said Stickly-Prickly, all wet from the turbid Amazon. 'I\ndeclare, I shouldn't know you from one of my own family. Two holes, I\nthink, you said? A little more expression, please, and don't grunt quite\nso much, or Painted Jaguar may hear us. When you've finished, I want\nto try that long dive which you say is so easy. Won't Painted Jaguar be\nsurprised!'\n\nAnd so Stickly-Prickly dived, and Slow-and-Solid dived alongside.\n\n'Excellent!' said Slow-and-Solid. 'A leetle more attention to holding\nyour breath and you will be able to keep house at the bottom of the\nturbid Amazon. Now I'll try that exercise of putting my hind legs round\nmy ears which you say is so peculiarly comfortable. Won't Painted Jaguar\nbe surprised!'\n\n'Excellent!' said Stickly-Prickly. 'But it's straining your back-plates\na little. They are all overlapping now, instead of lying side by side.'\n\n'Oh, that's the result of exercise,' said Slow-and-Solid. 'I've noticed\nthat your prickles seem to be melting into one another, and that\nyou're growing to look rather more like a pinecone, and less like a\nchestnut-burr, than you used to.'\n\n'Am I?' said Stickly-Prickly. 'That comes from my soaking in the water.\nOh, won't Painted Jaguar be surprised!'\n\nThey went on with their exercises, each helping the other, till morning\ncame; and when the sun was high they rested and dried themselves. Then\nthey saw that they were both of them quite different from what they had\nbeen.\n\n'Stickly-Prickly,' said Tortoise after breakfast, 'I am not what I was\nyesterday; but I think that I may yet amuse Painted Jaguar.\n\n'That was the very thing I was thinking just now,' said Stickly-Prickly.\n'I think scales are a tremendous improvement on prickles--to say nothing\nof being able to swim. Oh, won't Painted Jaguar be surprised! Let's go\nand find him.'\n\nBy and by they found Painted Jaguar, still nursing his paddy-paw that\nhad been hurt the night before. He was so astonished that he fell three\ntimes backward over his own painted tail without stopping.\n\n'Good morning!' said Stickly-Prickly. 'And how is your dear gracious\nMummy this morning?'\n\n'She is quite well, thank you,' said Painted Jaguar; 'but you must\nforgive me if I do not at this precise moment recall your name.'\n\n'That's unkind of you,' said Stickly-Prickly, 'seeing that this time\nyesterday you tried to scoop me out of my shell with your paw.'\n\n'But you hadn't any shell. It was all prickles,' said Painted Jaguar. 'I\nknow it was. Just look at my paw!'\n\n'You told me to drop into the turbid Amazon and be drowned,' said\nSlow-Solid. 'Why are you so rude and forgetful to-day?'\n\n'Don't you remember what your mother told you?' said Stickly-Prickly,--\n\n  'Can't curl, but can swim--\n  Stickly-Prickly, that's him!\n  Curls up, but can't swim--\n  Slow-Solid, that's him!'\n\nThen they both curled themselves up and rolled round and round Painted\nJaguar till his eyes turned truly cart-wheels in his head.\n\nThen he went to fetch his mother.\n\n'Mother,' he said, 'there are two new animals in the woods to-day, and\nthe one that you said couldn't swim, swims, and the one that you said\ncouldn't curl up, curls; and they've gone shares in their prickles, I\nthink, because both of them are scaly all over, instead of one being\nsmooth and the other very prickly; and, besides that, they are rolling\nround and round in circles, and I don't feel comfy.'\n\n'Son, son!' said Mother Jaguar ever so many times, graciously waving her\ntail, 'a Hedgehog is a Hedgehog, and can't be anything but a Hedgehog;\nand a Tortoise is a Tortoise, and can never be anything else.'\n\n'But it isn't a Hedgehog, and it isn't a Tortoise. It's a little bit of\nboth, and I don't know its proper name.'\n\n'Nonsense!' said Mother Jaguar. 'Everything has its proper name. I\nshould call it \"Armadillo\" till I found out the real one. And I should\nleave it alone.'\n\nSo Painted Jaguar did as he was told, especially about leaving them\nalone; but the curious thing is that from that day to this, O Best\nBeloved, no one on the banks of the turbid Amazon has ever called\nStickly-Prickly and Slow-Solid anything except Armadillo. There are\nHedgehogs and Tortoises in other places, of course (there are some in\nmy garden); but the real old and clever kind, with their scales lying\nlippety-lappety one over the other, like pine-cone scales, that lived on\nthe banks of the turbid Amazon in the High and Far-Off Days, are always\ncalled Armadillos, because they were so clever.\n\nSo that; all right, Best Beloved. Do you see?\n\n     I'VE never sailed the Amazon,\n       I've never reached Brazil;\n     But the Don and Magdelana,\n       They can go there when they will!\n\n             Yes, weekly from Southampton,\n             Great steamers, white and gold,\n             Go rolling down to Rio\n             (Roll down--roll down to Rio!)\n             And I'd like to roll to Rio\n             Some day before I'm old!\n\n     I've never seen a Jaguar,\n       Nor yet an Armadill\n     O dilloing in his armour,\n       And I s'pose I never will,\n\n             Unless I go to Rio\n             These wonders to behold--\n             Roll down--roll down to Rio--\n             Roll really down to Rio!\n             Oh, I'd love to roll to Rio\n             Some day before I'm old!\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE FIRST LETTER WAS WRITTEN\n\nONCE upon a most early time was a Neolithic man. He was not a Jute or an\nAngle, or even a Dravidian, which he might well have been, Best Beloved,\nbut never mind why. He was a Primitive, and he lived cavily in a Cave,\nand he wore very few clothes, and he couldn't read and he couldn't write\nand he didn't want to, and except when he was hungry he was\nquite happy. His name was Tegumai Bopsulai, and that means,\n'Man-who-does-not-put-his-foot-forward-in-a-hurry'; but we, O Best\nBeloved, will call him Tegumai, for short. And his wife's name\nwas Teshumai Tewindrow, and that means,\n'Lady-who-asks-a-very-many-questions'; but we, O Best Beloved, will\ncall her Teshumai, for short. And his little girl-daughter's name\nwas Taffimai Metallumai, and that means,\n'Small-person-without-any-manners-who-ought-to-be-spanked'; but I'm\ngoing to call her Taffy. And she was Tegumai Bopsulai's Best Beloved and\nher own Mummy's Best Beloved, and she was not spanked half as much as\nwas good for her; and they were all three very happy. As soon as\nTaffy could run about she went everywhere with her Daddy Tegumai, and\nsometimes they would not come home to the Cave till they were hungry,\nand then Teshumai Tewindrow would say, 'Where in the world have you two\nbeen to, to get so shocking dirty? Really, my Tegumai, you're no better\nthan my Taffy.'\n\nNow attend and listen!\n\nOne day Tegumai Bopsulai went down through the beaver-swamp to the Wagai\nriver to spear carp-fish for dinner, and Taffy went too. Tegumai's spear\nwas made of wood with shark's teeth at the end, and before he had caught\nany fish at all he accidentally broke it clean across by jabbing it down\ntoo hard on the bottom of the river. They were miles and miles from home\n(of course they had their lunch with them in a little bag), and Tegumai\nhad forgotten to bring any extra spears.\n\n'Here's a pretty kettle of fish!' said Tegumai. 'It will take me half\nthe day to mend this.'\n\n'There's your big black spear at home,' said Taffy. 'Let me run back to\nthe Cave and ask Mummy to give it me.'\n\n'It's too far for your little fat legs,' said Tegumai. 'Besides, you\nmight fall into the beaver-swamp and be drowned. We must make the best\nof a bad job.' He sat down and took out a little leather mendy-bag, full\nof reindeer-sinews and strips of leather, and lumps of bee's-wax and\nresin, and began to mend the spear.\n\nTaffy sat down too, with her toes in the water and her chin in her\nhand, and thought very hard. Then she said--'I say, Daddy, it's an awful\nnuisance that you and I don't know how to write, isn't it? If we did we\ncould send a message for the new spear.'\n\n'Taffy,' said Tegumai, 'how often have I told you not to use slang?\n\"Awful\" isn't a pretty word, but it could be a convenience, now you\nmention it, if we could write home.'\n\nJust then a Stranger-man came along the river, but he belonged to a\nfar tribe, the Tewaras, and he did not understand one word of Tegumai's\nlanguage. He stood on the bank and smiled at Taffy, because he had\na little girl-daughter Of his own at home. Tegumai drew a hank of\ndeer-sinews from his mendy-bag and began to mend his spear.\n\n'Come here, said Taffy. 'Do you know where my Mummy lives?' And the\nStranger-man said 'Um!' being, as you know, a Tewara.\n\n'Silly!' said Taffy, and she stamped her foot, because she saw a shoal\nof very big carp going up the river just when her Daddy couldn't use his\nspear.\n\n'Don't bother grown-ups,' said Tegumai, so busy with his spear-mending\nthat he did not turn round.\n\n'I aren't, said Taffy. 'I only want him to do what I want him to do, and\nhe won't understand.'\n\n'Then don't bother me, said Tegumai, and he went on pulling and\nstraining at the deer-sinews with his mouth full of loose ends. The\nStranger-man--a genuine Tewara he was--sat down on the grass, and Taffy\nshowed him what her Daddy was doing. The Stranger-man thought, this is a\nvery wonderful child. She stamps her foot at me and she makes faces. She\nmust be the daughter of that noble Chief who is so great that he won't\ntake any notice of me.' So he smiled more politely than ever.\n\n'Now,' said Taffy, 'I want you to go to my Mummy, because your legs are\nlonger than mine, and you won't fall into the beaver-swamp, and ask for\nDaddy's other spear--the one with the black handle that hangs over our\nfireplace.'\n\nThe Stranger-man (and he was a Tewara) thought, 'This is a very, very\nwonderful child. She waves her arms and she shouts at me, but I don't\nunderstand a word of what she says. But if I don't do what she wants, I\ngreatly fear that that haughty Chief, Man-who-turns-his-back-on-callers,\nwill be angry.' He got up and twisted a big flat piece of bark off a\nbirch-tree and gave it to Taffy. He did this, Best Beloved, to show that\nhis heart was as white as the birch-bark and that he meant no harm; but\nTaffy didn't quite understand.\n\n'Oh!' said she. 'Now I see! You want my Mummy's living-address? Of\ncourse I can't write, but I can draw pictures if I've anything sharp to\nscratch with. Please lend me the shark's tooth off your necklace.'\n\nThe Stranger-man (and he was a Tewara) didn't say anything, So Taffy\nput up her little hand and pulled at the beautiful bead and seed and\nshark-tooth necklace round his neck.\n\nThe Stranger-man (and he was a Tewara) thought, 'This is a very, very,\nvery wonderful child. The shark's tooth on my necklace is a magic\nshark's tooth, and I was always told that if anybody touched it without\nmy leave they would immediately swell up or burst, but this\nchild doesn't swell up or burst, and that important Chief,\nMan-who-attends-strictly-to-his-business, who has not yet taken any\nnotice of me at all, doesn't seem to be afraid that she will swell up or\nburst. I had better be more polite.'\n\nSo he gave Taffy the shark's tooth, and she lay down flat on her tummy\nwith her legs in the air, like some people on the drawing-room floor\nwhen they want to draw pictures, and she said, 'Now I'll draw you some\nbeautiful pictures! You can look over my shoulder, but you mustn't\njoggle. First I'll draw Daddy fishing. It isn't very like him; but Mummy\nwill know, because I've drawn his spear all broken. Well, now I'll draw\nthe other spear that he wants, the black-handled spear. It looks as if\nit was sticking in Daddy's back, but that's because the shark's tooth\nslipped and this piece of bark isn't big enough. That's the spear I want\nyou to fetch; so I'll draw a picture of me myself 'splaining to you. My\nhair doesn't stand up like I've drawn, but it's easier to draw that way.\nNow I'll draw you. I think you're very nice really, but I can't make you\npretty in the picture, so you mustn't be 'fended. Are you 'fended?'\n\nThe Stranger-man (and he was a Tewara) smiled. He thought, 'There must\nbe a big battle going to be fought somewhere, and this extraordinary\nchild, who takes my magic shark's tooth but who does not swell up or\nburst, is telling me to call all the great Chief's tribe to help him. He\nis a great Chief, or he would have noticed me.\n\n'Look,' said Taffy, drawing very hard and rather scratchily, 'now I've\ndrawn you, and I've put the spear that Daddy wants into your hand, just\nto remind you that you're to bring it. Now I'll show you how to find my\nMummy's living-address. You go along till you come to two trees (those\nare trees), and then you go over a hill (that's a hill), and then you\ncome into a beaver-swamp all full of beavers. I haven't put in all the\nbeavers, because I can't draw beavers, but I've drawn their heads, and\nthat's all you'll see of them when you cross the swamp. Mind you don't\nfall in! Then our Cave is just beyond the beaver-swamp. It isn't as high\nas the hills really, but I can't draw things very small. That's my Mummy\noutside. She is beautiful. She is the most beautifullest Mummy there\never was, but she won't be 'fended when she sees I've drawn her so\nplain. She'll be pleased of me because I can draw. Now, in case you\nforget, I've drawn the spear that Daddy wants outside our Cave. It's\ninside really, but you show the picture to my Mummy and she'll give it\nyou. I've made her holding up her hands, because I know she'll be so\npleased to see you. Isn't it a beautiful picture? And do you quite\nunderstand, or shall I 'splain again?'\n\nThe Stranger-man (and he was a Tewara) looked at the picture and nodded\nvery hard. He said to himself,' If I do not fetch this great Chief's\ntribe to help him, he will be slain by his enemies who are coming up on\nall sides with spears. Now I see why the great Chief pretended not to\nnotice me! He feared that his enemies were hiding in the bushes and\nwould see him. Therefore he turned to me his back, and let the wise and\nwonderful child draw the terrible picture showing me his difficulties.\nI will away and get help for him from his tribe.' He did not even ask\nTaffy the road, but raced off into the bushes like the wind, with the\nbirch-bark in his hand, and Taffy sat down most pleased.\n\nNow this is the picture that Taffy had drawn for him!\n\n'What have you been doing, Taffy?' said Tegumai. He had mended his spear\nand was carefully waving it to and fro.\n\n'It's a little berangement of my own, Daddy dear,' said Taffy. 'If you\nwon't ask me questions, you'll know all about it in a little time, and\nyou'll be surprised. You don't know how surprised you'll be, Daddy!\nPromise you'll be surprised.'\n\n'Very well,' said Tegumai, and went on fishing.\n\nThe Stranger-man--did you know he was a Tewara?--hurried away with the\npicture and ran for some miles, till quite by accident he found Teshumai\nTewindrow at the door of her Cave, talking to some other Neolithic\nladies who had come in to a Primitive lunch. Taffy was very like\nTeshumai, especially about the upper part of the face and the eyes,\nso the Stranger-man--always a pure Tewara--smiled politely and handed\nTeshumai the birch-bark. He had run hard, so that he panted, and his\nlegs were scratched with brambles, but he still tried to be polite.\n\nAs soon as Teshumai saw the picture she screamed like anything and flew\nat the Stranger-man. The other Neolithic ladies at once knocked him down\nand sat on him in a long line of six, while Teshumai pulled his hair.\n\n'It's as plain as the nose on this Stranger-man's face,' she said. 'He\nhas stuck my Tegumai all full of spears, and frightened poor Taffy so\nthat her hair stands all on end; and not content with that, he brings\nme a horrid picture of how it was done. Look!' She showed the picture to\nall the Neolithic ladies sitting patiently on the Stranger-man. 'Here is\nmy Tegumai with his arm broken; here is a spear sticking into his back;\nhere is a man with a spear ready to throw; here is another man throwing\na spear from a Cave, and here are a whole pack of people' (they were\nTaffy's beavers really, but they did look rather like people) 'coming up\nbehind Tegumai. Isn't it shocking!'\n\n'Most shocking!' said the Neolithic ladies, and they filled the\nStranger-man's hair with mud (at which he was surprised), and they beat\nupon the Reverberating Tribal Drums, and called together all the chiefs\nof the Tribe of Tegumai, with their Hetmans and Dolmans, all Neguses,\nWoons, and Akhoonds of the organisation, in addition to the Warlocks,\nAngekoks, Juju-men, Bonzes, and the rest, who decided that before they\nchopped the Stranger-man's head off he should instantly lead them down\nto the river and show them where he had hidden poor Taffy.\n\nBy this time the Stranger-man (in spite of being a Tewara) was really\nannoyed. They had filled his hair quite solid with mud; they had rolled\nhim up and down on knobby pebbles; they had sat upon him in a long\nline of six; they had thumped him and bumped him till he could hardly\nbreathe; and though he did not understand their language, he was almost\nsure that the names the Neolithic ladies called him were not ladylike.\nHowever, he said nothing till all the Tribe of Tegumai were assembled,\nand then he led them back to the bank of the Wagai river, and there they\nfound Taffy making daisy-chains, and Tegumai carefully spearing small\ncarp with his mended spear.\n\n'Well, you have been quick!' said Taffy. 'But why did you bring so many\npeople? Daddy dear, this is my surprise. Are you surprised, Daddy?'\n\n'Very,' said Tegumai; 'but it has ruined all my fishing for the day.\nWhy, the whole dear, kind, nice, clean, quiet Tribe is here, Taffy.'\n\nAnd so they were. First of all walked Teshumai Tewindrow and the\nNeolithic ladies, tightly holding on to the Stranger-man, whose hair was\nfull of mud (although he was a Tewara). Behind them came the Head Chief,\nthe Vice-Chief, the Deputy and Assistant Chiefs (all armed to the upper\nteeth), the Hetmans and Heads of Hundreds, Platoffs with their Platoons,\nand Dolmans with their Detachments; Woons, Neguses, and Akhoonds ranking\nin the rear (still armed to the teeth). Behind them was the Tribe in\nhierarchical order, from owners of four caves (one for each season), a\nprivate reindeer-run, and two salmon-leaps, to feudal and prognathous\nVilleins, semi-entitled to half a bearskin of winter nights, seven yards\nfrom the fire, and adscript serfs, holding the reversion of a scraped\nmarrow-bone under heriot (Aren't those beautiful words, Best Beloved?).\nThey were all there, prancing and shouting, and they frightened every\nfish for twenty miles, and Tegumai thanked them in a fluid Neolithic\noration.\n\nThen Teshumai Tewindrow ran down and kissed and hugged Taffy very much\nindeed; but the Head Chief of the Tribe of Tegumai took Tegumai by the\ntop-knot feathers and shook him severely.\n\n'Explain! Explain! Explain!' cried all the Tribe of Tegumai.\n\n'Goodness' sakes alive!' said Tegumai. 'Let go of my top-knot. Can't\na man break his carp-spear without the whole countryside descending on\nhim? You're a very interfering people.'\n\n'I don't believe you've brought my Daddy's black-handled spear after\nall,' said Taffy. 'And what are you doing to my nice Stranger-man?'\n\nThey were thumping him by twos and threes and tens till his eyes turned\nround and round. He could only gasp and point at Taffy.\n\n'Where are the bad people who speared you, my darling?' said Teshumai\nTewindrow.\n\n'There weren't any,' said Tegumai. 'My only visitor this morning was the\npoor fellow that you are trying to choke. Aren't you well, or are you\nill, O Tribe of Tegumai?'\n\n'He came with a horrible picture,' said the Head Chief,--'a picture that\nshowed you were full of spears.'\n\n'Er-um-Pr'aps I'd better 'splain that I gave him that picture,' said\nTaffy, but she did not feel quite comfy.\n\n'You!' said the Tribe of Tegumai all together.\n'Small-person-with-no-manners-who-ought-to-be-spanked! You?'\n\n'Taffy dear, I'm afraid we're in for a little trouble,' said her Daddy,\nand put his arm round her, so she didn't care.\n\n'Explain! Explain! Explain!' said the Head Chief of the Tribe of\nTegumai, and he hopped on one foot.\n\n'I wanted the Stranger-man to fetch Daddy's spear, so I drawded it,'\nsaid Taffy. 'There wasn't lots of spears. There was only one spear. I\ndrawded it three times to make sure. I couldn't help it looking as if it\nstuck into Daddy's head--there wasn't room on the birch-bark; and those\nthings that Mummy called bad people are my beavers. I drawded them to\nshow him the way through the swamp; and I drawded Mummy at the mouth of\nthe Cave looking pleased because he is a nice Stranger-man, and I think\nyou are just the stupidest people in the world,' said Taffy. 'He is a\nvery nice man. Why have you filled his hair with mud? Wash him!'\n\nNobody said anything at all for a longtime, till the Head Chief laughed;\nthen the Stranger-man (who was at least a Tewara) laughed; then Tegumai\nlaughed till he fell down flat on the bank; then all the Tribe laughed\nmore and worse and louder. The only people who did not laugh were\nTeshumai Tewindrow and all the Neolithic ladies. They were very polite\nto all their husbands, and said 'Idiot!' ever so often.\n\nThen the Head Chief of the Tribe of Tegumai cried and said and sang, 'O\nSmall-person-with-out-any-manners-who-ought-to-be-spanked, you've hit\nupon a great invention!'\n\n'I didn't intend to; I only wanted Daddy's black-handled spear,' said\nTaffy.\n\n'Never mind. It is a great invention, and some day men will call it\nwriting. At present it is only pictures, and, as we have seen to-day,\npictures are not always properly understood. But a time will come, O\nBabe of Tegumai, when we shall make letters--all twenty-six of 'em,--and\nwhen we shall be able to read as well as to write, and then we shall\nalways say exactly what we mean without any mistakes. Let the Neolithic\nladies wash the mud out of the stranger's hair.'\n\n'I shall be glad of that,' said Taffy, 'because, after all, though\nyou've brought every single other spear in the Tribe of Tegumai, you've\nforgotten my Daddy's black-handled spear.'\n\nThen the Head Chief cried and said and sang, 'Taffy dear, the next time\nyou write a picture-letter, you'd better send a man who can talk our\nlanguage with it, to explain what it means. I don't mind it myself,\nbecause I am a Head Chief, but it's very bad for the rest of the Tribe\nof Tegumai, and, as you can see, it surprises the stranger.'\n\nThen they adopted the Stranger-man (a genuine Tewara of Tewar) into the\nTribe of Tegumai, because he was a gentleman and did not make a fuss\nabout the mud that the Neolithic ladies had put into his hair. But\nfrom that day to this (and I suppose it is all Taffy's fault), very few\nlittle girls have ever liked learning to read or write. Most of them\nprefer to draw pictures and play about with their Daddies--just like\nTaffy.\n\n\n     THERE runs a road by Merrow Down--\n       A grassy track to-day it is\n     An hour out of Guildford town,\n       Above the river Wey it is.\n\n     Here, when they heard the horse-bells ring,\n       The ancient Britons dressed and rode\n     To watch the dark Phoenicians bring\n       Their goods along the Western Road.\n\n     And here, or hereabouts, they met\n       To hold their racial talks and such--\n     To barter beads for Whitby jet,\n       And tin for gay shell torques and such.\n\n     But long and long before that time\n       (When bison used to roam on it)\n     Did Taffy and her Daddy climb\n       That down, and had their home on it.\n\n     Then beavers built in Broadstone brook\n       And made a swamp where Bramley stands:\n     And hears from Shere would come and look\n       For Taffimai where Shamley stands.\n\n     The Wey, that Taffy called Wagai,\n       Was more than six times bigger then;\n     And all the Tribe of Tegumai\n       They cut a noble figure then!\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE ALPHABET WAS MADE\n\nTHE week after Taffimai Metallumai (we will still call her Taffy,\nBest Beloved) made that little mistake about her Daddy's spear and the\nStranger-man and the picture-letter and all, she went carp-fishing again\nwith her Daddy. Her Mummy wanted her to stay at home and help hang up\nhides to dry on the big drying-poles outside their Neolithic Cave,\nbut Taffy slipped away down to her Daddy quite early, and they fished.\nPresently she began to giggle, and her Daddy said, 'Don't be silly,\nchild.'\n\n'But wasn't it inciting!' said Taffy. 'Don't you remember how the Head\nChief puffed out his cheeks, and how funny the nice Stranger-man looked\nwith the mud in his hair?'\n\n'Well do I,' said Tegumai. 'I had to pay two deerskins--soft ones with\nfringes--to the Stranger-man for the things we did to him.'\n\n'We didn't do anything,' said Taffy. 'It was Mummy and the other\nNeolithic ladies--and the mud.'\n\n'We won't talk about that,' said her Daddy, 'Let's have lunch.'\n\nTaffy took a marrow-bone and sat mousy-quiet for ten whole minutes,\nwhile her Daddy scratched on pieces of birch-bark with a shark's tooth.\nThen she said, 'Daddy, I've thinked of a secret surprise. You make a\nnoise--any sort of noise.'\n\n'Ah!' said Tegumai. 'Will that do to begin with?'\n\n'Yes,' said Taffy. 'You look just like a carp-fish with its mouth open.\nSay it again, please.'\n\n'Ah! ah! ah!' said her Daddy. 'Don't be rude, my daughter.'\n\n'I'm not meaning rude, really and truly,' said Taffy. 'It's part of my\nsecret-surprise-think. Do say ah, Daddy, and keep your mouth open at\nthe end, and lend me that tooth. I'm going to draw a carp-fish's mouth\nwide-open.'\n\n'What for?' said her Daddy.\n\n'Don't you see?' said Taffy, scratching away on the bark. 'That will be\nour little secret s'prise. When I draw a carp-fish with his mouth open\nin the smoke at the back of our Cave--if Mummy doesn't mind--it will\nremind you of that ah-noise. Then we can play that it was me jumped\nout of the dark and s'prised you with that noise--same as I did in the\nbeaver-swamp last winter.'\n\n'Really?' said her Daddy, in the voice that grown-ups use when they are\ntruly attending. 'Go on, Taffy.'\n\n'Oh bother!' she said. 'I can't draw all of a carp-fish, but I can draw\nsomething that means a carp-fish's mouth. Don't you know how they stand\non their heads rooting in the mud? Well, here's a pretence carp-fish (we\ncan play that the rest of him is drawn). Here's just his mouth, and that\nmeans ah.' And she drew this. (1.)\n\n'That's not bad,' said Tegumai, and scratched on his own piece of bark\nfor himself; but you've forgotten the feeler that hangs across his\nmouth.'\n\n'But I can't draw, Daddy.'\n\n'You needn't draw anything of him except just the opening of his mouth\nand the feeler across. Then we'll know he's a carp-fish, 'cause the\nperches and trouts haven't got feelers. Look here, Taffy.' And he drew\nthis. (2.)\n\n'Now I'll copy it.' said Taffy. 'Will you understand this when you see\nit?'\n\n'Perfectly,' said her Daddy.\n\nAnd she drew this. (3.) 'And I'll be quite as s'prised when I see it\nanywhere, as if you had jumped out from behind a tree and said '\"Ah!\"'\n\n'Now, make another noise,' said Taffy, very proud.\n\n'Yah!' said her Daddy, very loud.\n\n'H'm,' said Taffy. 'That's a mixy noise. The end part is\nah-carp-fish-mouth; but what can we do about the front part? Yer-yer-yer\nand ah! Ya!'\n\n'It's very like the carp-fish-mouth noise. Let's draw another bit of the\ncarp-fish and join 'em,' said her Daddy. He was quite incited too.\n\n'No. If they're joined, I'll forget. Draw it separate. Draw his tail.\nIf he's standing on his head the tail will come first. 'Sides, I think I\ncan draw tails easiest,' said Taffy.\n\n'A good notion,' said Tegumai. 'Here's a carp-fish tail for the\nyer-noise.' And he drew this. (4.)\n\n'I'll try now,' said Taffy. ''Member I can't draw like you, Daddy. Will\nit do if I just draw the split part of the tail, and the sticky-down\nline for where it joins?' And she drew this. (5.)\n\nHer Daddy nodded, and his eyes were shiny bright with 'citement.\n\n'That's beautiful,' she said. 'Now make another noise, Daddy.'\n\n'Oh!' said her Daddy, very loud.\n\n'That's quite easy,' said Taffy. 'You make your mouth all around like an\negg or a stone. So an egg or a stone will do for that.'\n\n'You can't always find eggs or stones. We'll have to scratch a round\nsomething like one.' And he drew this. (6.)\n\n'My gracious!' said Taffy, 'what a lot of noise-pictures we've\nmade,--carp-mouth, carp-tail, and egg! Now, make another noise, Daddy.'\n\n'Ssh!' said her Daddy, and frowned to himself, but Taffy was too incited\nto notice.\n\n'That's quite easy,' she said, scratching on the bark.\n\n'Eh, what?' said her Daddy. 'I meant I was thinking, and didn't want to\nbe disturbed.'\n\n'It's a noise just the same. It's the noise a snake makes, Daddy,\nwhen it is thinking and doesn't want to be disturbed. Let's make the\nssh-noise a snake. Will this do?' And she drew this. (7.)\n\n'There,' she said. 'That's another s'prise-secret. When you draw a\nhissy-snake by the door of your little back-cave where you mend\nthe spears, I'll know you're thinking hard; and I'll come in most\nmousy-quiet. And if you draw it on a tree by the river when you are\nfishing, I'll know you want me to walk most most mousy-quiet, so as not\nto shake the banks.'\n\n'Perfectly true,' said Tegumai. And there's more in this game than you\nthink. Taffy, dear, I've a notion that your Daddy's daughter has hit\nupon the finest thing that there ever was since the Tribe of Tegumai\ntook to using shark's teeth instead of flints for their spear-heads. I\nbelieve we've found out the big secret of the world.'\n\n'Why?' said Taffy, and her eyes shone too with incitement.\n\n'I'll show,' said her Daddy. 'What's water in the Tegumai language?'\n\n'Ya, of course, and it means river too--like Wagai-ya--the Wagai river.'\n\n'What is bad water that gives you fever if you drink it--black\nwater--swamp-water?'\n\n'Yo, of course.'\n\n'Now look,' said her Daddy. 'S'pose you saw this scratched by the side\nof a pool in the beaver-swamp?' And he drew this. (8.)\n\n'Carp-tail and round egg. Two noises mixed! Yo, bad water,' said Taffy.\n''Course I wouldn't drink that water because I'd know you said it was\nbad.'\n\n'But I needn't be near the water at all. I might be miles away, hunting,\nand still--'\n\n'And still it would be just the same as if you stood there and said,\n\"G'way, Taffy, or you'll get fever.\" All that in a carp-fish-tail and\na round egg! O Daddy, we must tell Mummy, quick!' and Taffy danced all\nround him.\n\n'Not yet,' said Tegumai; 'not till we've gone a little further. Let's\nsee. Yo is bad water, but So is food cooked on the fire, isn't it?' And\nhe drew this. (9.)\n\n'Yes. Snake and egg,' said Taffy 'So that means dinner's ready. If you\nsaw that scratched on a tree you'd know it was time to come to the Cave.\nSo'd I.'\n\n'My Winkie!' said Tegumai. 'That's true too. But wait a minute. I see\na difficulty. SO means \"come and have dinner,\" but sho means the\ndrying-poles where we hang our hides.'\n\n'Horrid old drying-poles!' said Taffy. 'I hate helping to hang heavy,\nhot, hairy hides on them. If you drew the snake and egg, and I thought\nit meant dinner, and I came in from the wood and found that it meant I\nwas to help Mummy hang the two hides on the drying-poles, what would I\ndo?'\n\n'You'd be cross. So'd Mummy. We must make a new picture for sho. We must\ndraw a spotty snake that hisses sh-sh, and we'll play that the plain\nsnake only hisses ssss.'\n\n'I couldn't be sure how to put in the spots,' said Taffy. 'And p'raps\nif you were in a hurry you might leave them out, and I'd think it was\nso when it was sho, and then Mummy would catch me just the same. No! I\nthink we'd better draw a picture of the horrid high drying-poles their\nvery selves, and make quite sure. I'll put them in just after the\nhissy-snake. Look!' And she drew this. (10.)\n\n'P'raps that's safest. It's very like our drying-poles, anyhow,'\nsaid her Daddy, laughing. 'Now I'll make a new noise with a snake and\ndrying-pole sound in it. I'll say shi. That's Tegumai for spear, Taffy.'\nAnd he laughed.\n\n'Don't make fun of me,' said Taffy, as she thought of her picture-letter\nand the mud in the Stranger-man's hair. 'You draw it, Daddy.'\n\n'We won't have beavers or hills this time, eh?' said her Daddy, 'I'll\njust draw a straight line for my spear.' and he drew this. (11.)\n\n'Even Mummy couldn't mistake that for me being killed.'\n\n'Please don't, Daddy. It makes me uncomfy. Do some more noises. We're\ngetting on beautifully.'\n\n'Er-hm!' said Tegumai, looking up. 'We'll say shu. That means sky.'\n\nTaffy drew the snake and the drying-pole. Then she stopped. 'We must\nmake a new picture for that end sound, mustn't we?'\n\n'Shu-shu-u-u-u!' said her Daddy. 'Why, it's just like the\nround-egg-sound made thin.'\n\n'Then s'pose we draw a thin round egg, and pretend it's a frog that\nhasn't eaten anything for years.'\n\n'N-no,' said her Daddy. 'If we drew that in a hurry we might mistake it\nfor the round egg itself. Shu-shu-shu! 'I tell you what we'll do. We'll\nopen a little hole at the end of the round egg to show how the O-noise\nruns out all thin, ooo-oo-oo. Like this.' And he drew this. (12.)\n\n'Oh, that's lovely! Much better than a thin frog. Go on,' said Taffy,\nusing her shark's tooth. Her Daddy went on drawing, and his hand shook\nwith incitement. He went on till he had drawn this. (13.)\n\n'Don't look up, Taffy,' he said. 'Try if you can make out what that\nmeans in the Tegumai language. If you can, we've found the Secret.'\n\n'Snake--pole--broken--egg--carp--tail and carp-mouth,' said Taffy.\n'Shu-ya. Sky-water (rain).' Just then a drop fell on her hand, for the\nday had clouded over. 'Why, Daddy, it's raining. Was that what you meant\nto tell me?'\n\n'Of course,' said her Daddy. 'And I told it you without saying a word,\ndidn't I?'\n\n'Well, I think I would have known it in a minute, but that raindrop made\nme quite sure. I'll always remember now. Shu-ya means rain, or \"it is\ngoing to rain.\" Why, Daddy!' She got up and danced round him. 'S'pose\nyou went out before I was awake, and drawed shu-ya in the smoke on the\nwall, I'd know it was going to rain and I'd take my beaver-skin hood.\nWouldn't Mummy be surprised?'\n\nTegumai got up and danced. (Daddies didn't mind doing those things in\nthose days.) 'More than that! More than that!' he said. 'S'pose I wanted\nto tell you it wasn't going to rain much and you must come down to the\nriver, what would we draw? Say the words in Tegumai-talk first.'\n\n'Shu-ya-las, ya maru. (Sky-water ending. River come to.) what a lot of\nnew sounds! I don't see how we can draw them.'\n\n'But I do--but I do!' said Tegumai. 'Just attend a minute, Taffy, and\nwe won't do any more to-day. We've got shu-ya all right, haven't we? But\nthis las is a teaser. La-la-la' and he waved his shark-tooth.\n\n'There's the hissy-snake at the end and the carp-mouth before the\nsnake--as-as-as. We only want la-la,' said Taffy.\n\n'I know it, but we have to make la-la. And we're the first people in all\nthe world who've ever tried to do it, Taffimai!'\n\n'Well,' said Taffy, yawning, for she was rather tired. 'Las means\nbreaking or finishing as well as ending, doesn't it?'\n\n'So it does,' said Tegumai. 'To-las means that there's no water in the\ntank for Mummy to cook with--just when I'm going hunting, too.'\n\n'And shi-las means that your spear is broken. If I'd only thought of\nthat instead of drawing silly beaver pictures for the Stranger!'\n\n'La! La! La!' said Tegumai, waiving his stick and frowning. 'Oh bother!'\n\n'I could have drawn shi quite easily,' Taffy went on. 'Then I'd have\ndrawn your spear all broken--this way!' And she drew. (14.)\n\n'The very thing,' said Tegumai. 'That's la all over. It isn't like any\nof the other marks either.' And he drew this. (15.)\n\n'Now for ya. Oh, we've done that before. Now for maru. Mum-mum-mum. Mum\nshuts one's mouth up, doesn't it? We'll draw a shut mouth like this.'\nAnd he drew. (16.)\n\n'Then the carp-mouth open. That makes Ma-ma-ma! But what about this\nrrrrr-thing, Taffy?'\n\n'It sounds all rough and edgy, like your shark-tooth saw when you're\ncutting out a plank for the canoe,' said Taffy.\n\n'You mean all sharp at the edges, like this?' said Tegumai. And he drew.\n(17.)\n\n''Xactly,' said Taffy. 'But we don't want all those teeth: only put\ntwo.'\n\n'I'll only put in one,' said Tegumai. 'If this game of ours is going\nto be what I think it will, the easier we make our sound-pictures the\nbetter for everybody.' And he drew. (18.)\n\n'Now, we've got it,' said Tegumai, standing on one leg. 'I'll draw 'em\nall in a string like fish.'\n\n'Hadn't we better put a little bit of stick or something between each\nword, so's they won't rub up against each other and jostle, same as if\nthey were carps?'\n\n'Oh, I'll leave a space for that,' said her Daddy. And very incitedly he\ndrew them all without stopping, on a big new bit of birch-bark. (19.)\n\n'Shu-ya-las ya-maru,' said Taffy, reading it out sound by sound.\n\n\n'That's enough for to-day,' said Tegumai. 'Besides, you're getting\ntired, Taffy. Never mind, dear. We'll finish it all to-morrow, and then\nwe'll be remembered for years and years after the biggest trees you can\nsee are all chopped up for firewood.'\n\nSo they went home, and all that evening Tegumai sat on one side of the\nfire and Taffy on the other, drawing ya's and yo's and shu's and shi's\nin the smoke on the wall and giggling together till her Mummy said,\n'Really, Tegumai, you're worse than my Taffy.'\n\n'Please don't mind,' said Taffy. 'It's only our secret-s'prise, Mummy\ndear, and we'll tell you all about it the very minute it's done; but\nplease don't ask me what it is now, or else I'll have to tell.'\n\nSo her Mummy most carefully didn't; and bright and early next morning\nTegumai went down to the river to think about new sound pictures,\nand when Taffy got up she saw Ya-las (water is ending or running out)\nchalked on the side of the big stone water-tank, outside the Cave.\n\n'Um,' said Taffy. 'These picture-sounds are rather a bother! Daddy's\njust as good as come here himself and told me to get more water for\nMummy to cook with.' She went to the spring at the back of the house and\nfilled the tank from a bark bucket, and then she ran down to the river\nand pulled her Daddy's left ear--the one that belonged to her to pull\nwhen she was good.\n\n'Now come along and we'll draw all the left-over sound-pictures,' said\nher Daddy, and they had a most inciting day of it, and a beautiful lunch\nin the middle, and two games of romps. When they came to T, Taffy said\nthat as her name, and her Daddy's, and her Mummy's all began with that\nsound, they should draw a sort of family group of themselves holding\nhands. That was all very well to draw once or twice; but when it came to\ndrawing it six or seven times, Taffy and Tegumai drew it scratchier and\nscratchier, till at last the T-sound was only a thin long Tegumai with\nhis arms out to hold Taffy and Teshumai. You can see from these three\npictures partly how it happened. (20, 21, 22.)\n\nMany of the other pictures were much too beautiful to begin with,\nespecially before lunch, but as they were drawn over and over again on\nbirch-bark, they became plainer and easier, till at last even Tegumai\nsaid he could find no fault with them. They turned the hissy-snake the\nother way round for the Z-sound, to show it was hissing backwards in a\nsoft and gentle way (23); and they just made a twiddle for E, because\nit came into the pictures so often (24); and they drew pictures of the\nsacred Beaver of the Tegumais for the B-sound (25, 26, 27, 28); and\nbecause it was a nasty, nosy noise, they just drew noses for the\nN-sound, till they were tired (29); and they drew a picture of the big\nlake-pike's mouth for the greedy Ga-sound (30); and they drew the pike's\nmouth again with a spear behind it for the scratchy, hurty Ka-sound\n(31); and they drew pictures of a little bit of the winding Wagai river\nfor the nice windy-windy Wa-sound (32, 33); and so on and so forth and\nso following till they had done and drawn all the sound-pictures that\nthey wanted, and there was the Alphabet, all complete.\n\nAnd after thousands and thousands and thousands of years, and after\nHieroglyphics and Demotics, and Nilotics, and Cryptics, and Cufics, and\nRunics, and Dorics, and Ionics, and all sorts of other ricks and\ntricks (because the Woons, and the Neguses, and the Akhoonds, and the\nRepositories of Tradition would never leave a good thing alone when they\nsaw it), the fine old easy, understandable Alphabet--A, B, C, D, E,\nand the rest of 'em--got back into its proper shape again for all Best\nBeloveds to learn when they are old enough.\n\nBut I remember Tegumai Bopsulai, and Taffimai Metallumai and Teshumai\nTewindrow, her dear Mummy, and all the days gone by. And it was so--just\nso--a little time ago--on the banks of the big Wagai!\n\n     OF all the Tribe of Tegumai\n       Who cut that figure, none remain,--\n     On Merrow Down the cuckoos cry\n       The silence and the sun remain.\n\n     But as the faithful years return\n       And hearts unwounded sing again,\n     Comes Taffy dancing through the fern\n       To lead the Surrey spring again.\n\n     Her brows are bound with bracken-fronds,\n       And golden elf-locks fly above;\n     Her eyes are bright as diamonds\n       And bluer than the skies above.\n\n     In mocassins and deer-skin cloak,\n       Unfearing, free and fair she flits,\n     And lights her little damp-wood smoke\n       To show her Daddy where she flits.\n\n     For far--oh, very far behind,\n       So far she cannot call to him,\n     Comes Tegumai alone to find\n       The daughter that was all to him.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CRAB THAT PLAYED WITH THE SEA\n\nBEFORE the High and Far-Off Times, O my Best Beloved, came the Time of\nthe Very Beginnings; and that was in the days when the Eldest Magician\nwas getting Things ready. First he got the Earth ready; then he got the\nSea ready; and then he told all the Animals that they could come out and\nplay. And the Animals said, 'O Eldest Magician, what shall we play\nat?' and he said, 'I will show you. He took the\nElephant--All-the-Elephant-there-was--and said, 'Play at being\nan Elephant,' and All-the-Elephant-there-was played. He took the\nBeaver--All-the-Beaver-there-was and said, 'Play at being a Beaver,'\nand All-the Beaver-there-was played. He took the Cow--All-the\nCow-there-was--and said, 'Play at being a Cow,' and\nAll-the-Cow-there-was played. He took the Turtle--All-the-Turtle\nthere-was and said, 'Play at being a Turtle,' and\nAll-the-Turtle-there-was played. One by one he took all the beasts and\nbirds and fishes and told them what to play at.\n\nBut towards evening, when people and things grow restless and tired,\nthere came up the Man (With his own little girl-daughter?)--Yes, with\nhis own best beloved little girl-daughter sitting upon his shoulder, and\nhe said, 'What is this play, Eldest Magician?' And the Eldest Magician\nsaid, 'Ho, Son of Adam, this is the play of the Very Beginning; but you\nare too wise for this play.' And the Man saluted and said, 'Yes, I am\ntoo wise for this play; but see that you make all the Animals obedient\nto me.'\n\nNow, while the two were talking together, Pau Amma the Crab, who was\nnext in the game, scuttled off sideways and stepped into the sea, saying\nto himself, 'I will play my play alone in the deep waters, and I will\nnever be obedient to this son of Adam.' Nobody saw him go away except\nthe little girl-daughter where she leaned on the Man's shoulder. And the\nplay went on till there were no more Animals left without orders; and\nthe Eldest Magician wiped the fine dust off his hands and walked about\nthe world to see how the Animals were playing.\n\nHe went North, Best Beloved, and he found All-the-Elephant-there-was\ndigging with his tusks and stamping with his feet in the nice new clean\nearth that had been made ready for him.\n\n'Kun?' said All-the-Elephant-there-was, meaning, 'Is this right?'\n\n'Payah kun,' said the Eldest Magician, meaning, 'That is quite\nright'; and he breathed upon the great rocks and lumps of earth that\nAll-the-Elephant-there-was had thrown up, and they became the great\nHimalayan Mountains, and you can look them out on the map.\n\nHe went East, and he found All-the-Cow there-was feeding in the field\nthat had been made ready for her, and she licked her tongue round a\nwhole forest at a time, and swallowed it and sat down to chew her cud.\n\n'Kun?' said All-the-Cow-there-was.\n\n'Payah kun,' said the Eldest Magician; and he breathed upon the bare\npatch where she had eaten, and upon the place where she had sat down,\nand one became the great Indian Desert, and the other became the Desert\nof Sahara, and you can look them out on the map.\n\nHe went West, and he found All-the-Beaver-there-was making a beaver-dam\nacross the mouths of broad rivers that had been got ready for him.\n\n'Kun?' said All-the-Beaver-there-was.\n\n'Payah kun,' said the Eldest Magician; and he breathed upon the fallen\ntrees and the still water, and they became the Everglades in Florida,\nand you may look them out on the map.\n\nThen he went South and found All-the-Turtle-there-was scratching with\nhis flippers in the sand that had been got ready for him, and the sand\nand the rocks whirled through the air and fell far off into the sea.\n\n'Kun?' said All-the-Turtle-there-was.\n\n'Payah kun,' said the Eldest Magician; and he breathed upon the sand and\nthe rocks, where they had fallen in the sea, and they became the most\nbeautiful islands of Borneo, Celebes, Sumatra, Java, and the rest of the\nMalay Archipelago, and you can look them out on the map!\n\nBy and by the Eldest Magician met the Man on the banks of the Perak\nriver, and said, 'Ho! Son of Adam, are all the Animals obedient to you?'\n\n'Yes,' said the Man.\n\n'Is all the Earth obedient to you?'\n\n'Yes,' said the Man.\n\n'Is all the Sea obedient to you?'\n\n'No,' said the Man. 'Once a day and once a night the Sea runs up the\nPerak river and drives the sweet-water back into the forest, so that my\nhouse is made wet; once a day and once a night it runs down the river\nand draws all the water after it, so that there is nothing left but mud,\nand my canoe is upset. Is that the play you told it to play?'\n\n'No,' said the Eldest Magician. 'That is a new and a bad play.'\n\n'Look!' said the Man, and as he spoke the great Sea came up the mouth of\nthe Perak river, driving the river backwards till it overflowed all the\ndark forests for miles and miles, and flooded the Man's house.\n\n'This is wrong. Launch your canoe and we will find out who is playing\nwith the Sea,' said the Eldest Magician. They stepped into the canoe;\nthe little girl-daughter came with them; and the Man took his kris--a\ncurving, wavy dagger with a blade like a flame,--and they pushed out on\nthe Perak river. Then the sea began to run back and back, and the canoe\nwas sucked out of the mouth of the Perak river, past Selangor, past\nMalacca, past Singapore, out and out to the Island of Bingtang, as\nthough it had been pulled by a string.\n\nThen the Eldest Magician stood up and shouted, 'Ho! beasts, birds, and\nfishes, that I took between my hands at the Very Beginning and taught\nthe play that you should play, which one of you is playing with the\nSea?'\n\nThen all the beasts, birds, and fishes said together, 'Eldest Magician,\nwe play the plays that you taught us to play--we and our children's\nchildren. But not one of us plays with the Sea.'\n\nThen the Moon rose big and full over the water, and the Eldest Magician\nsaid to the hunchbacked old man who sits in the Moon spinning a\nfishing-line with which he hopes one day to catch the world, 'Ho! Fisher\nof the Moon, are you playing with the Sea?'\n\n'No,' said the Fisherman, 'I am spinning a line with which I shall some\nday catch the world; but I do not play with the Sea.' And he went on\nspinning his line.\n\nNow there is also a Rat up in the Moon who always bites the old\nFisherman's line as fast as it is made, and the Eldest Magician said to\nhim, 'Ho! Rat of the Moon, are you playing with the Sea?'\n\nAnd the Rat said, 'I am too busy biting through the line that this\nold Fisherman is spinning. I do not play with the Sea.' And he went on\nbiting the line.\n\nThen the little girl-daughter put up her little soft brown arms with the\nbeautiful white shell bracelets and said, 'O Eldest Magician! when my\nfather here talked to you at the Very Beginning, and I leaned upon his\nshoulder while the beasts were being taught their plays, one beast went\naway naughtily into the Sea before you had taught him his play.\n\nAnd the Eldest Magician said, 'How wise are little children who see and\nare silent! What was the beast like?'\n\nAnd the little girl-daughter said, 'He was round and he was flat; and\nhis eyes grew upon stalks; and he walked sideways like this; and he was\ncovered with strong armour upon his back.'\n\nAnd the Eldest Magician said, 'How wise are little children who speak\ntruth! Now I know where Pau Amma went. Give me the paddle!'\n\nSo he took the paddle; but there was no need to paddle, for the water\nflowed steadily past all the islands till they came to the place called\nPusat Tasek--the Heart of the Sea--where the great hollow is that leads\ndown to the heart of the world, and in that hollow grows the Wonderful\nTree, Pauh Janggi, that bears the magic twin nuts. Then the Eldest\nMagician slid his arm up to the shoulder through the deep warm water,\nand under the roots of the Wonderful Tree he touched the broad back of\nPau Amma the Crab. And Pau Amma settled down at the touch, and all the\nSea rose up as water rises in a basin when you put your hand into it.\n\n'Ah!' said the Eldest Magician. 'Now I know who has been playing with\nthe Sea;' and he called out, 'What are you doing, Pau Amma?'\n\nAnd Pau Amma, deep down below, answered, 'Once a day and once a night I\ngo out to look for my food. Once a day and once a night I return. Leave\nme alone.'\n\nThen the Eldest Magician said, 'Listen, Pau Amma. When you go out from\nyour cave the waters of the Sea pour down into Pusat Tasek, and all the\nbeaches of all the islands are left bare, and the little fish die, and\nRaja Moyang Kaban, the King of the Elephants, his legs are made muddy.\nWhen you come back and sit in Pusat Tasek, the waters of the Sea rise,\nand half the little islands are drowned, and the Man's house is flooded,\nand Raja Abdullah, the King of the Crocodiles, his mouth is filled with\nthe salt water.\n\nThen Pau Amma, deep down below, laughed and said, 'I did not know I\nwas so important. Henceforward I will go out seven times a day, and the\nwaters shall never be still.'\n\nAnd the Eldest Magician said, 'I cannot make you play the play you were\nmeant to play, Pau Amma, because you escaped me at the Very Beginning;\nbut if you are not afraid, come up and we will talk about it.'\n\n'I am not afraid,' said Pau Amma, and he rose to the top of the sea in\nthe moonlight. There was nobody in the world so big as Pau Amma--for he\nwas the King Crab of all Crabs. Not a common Crab, but a King Crab. One\nside of his great shell touched the beach at Sarawak; the other\ntouched the beach at Pahang; and he was taller than the smoke of three\nvolcanoes! As he rose up through the branches of the Wonderful Tree he\ntore off one of the great twin fruits--the magic double kernelled nuts\nthat make people young,--and the little girl-daughter saw it bobbing\nalongside the canoe, and pulled it in and began to pick out the soft\neyes of it with her little golden scissors.\n\n'Now,' said the Magician, 'make a Magic, Pau Amma, to show that you are\nreally important.'\n\nPau Amma rolled his eyes and waved his legs, but he could only stir up\nthe Sea, because, though he was a King Crab, he was nothing more than a\nCrab, and the Eldest Magician laughed.\n\n'You are not so important after all, Pau Amma,' he said. 'Now, let\nme try,' and he made a Magic with his left hand--with just the little\nfinger of his left hand--and--lo and behold, Best Beloved, Pau Amma's\nhard, blue-green-black shell fell off him as a husk falls off a\ncocoa-nut, and Pau Amma was left all soft--soft as the little crabs that\nyou sometimes find on the beach, Best Beloved.\n\n'Indeed, you are very important,' said the Eldest Magician. 'Shall I ask\nthe Man here to cut you with kris? Shall I send for Raja Moyang Kaban,\nthe King of the Elephants, to pierce you with his tusks, or shall I call\nRaja Abdullah, the King of the Crocodiles, to bite you?'\n\nAnd Pau Amma said, 'I am ashamed! Give me back my hard shell and let me\ngo back to Pusat Tasek, and I will only stir out once a day and once a\nnight to get my food.'\n\nAnd the Eldest Magician said, 'No, Pau Amma, I will not give you back\nyour shell, for you will grow bigger and prouder and stronger, and\nperhaps you will forget your promise, and you will play with the Sea\nonce more.\n\nThen Pau Amma said, 'What shall I do? I am so big that I can only hide\nin Pusat Tasek, and if I go anywhere else, all soft as I am now, the\nsharks and the dogfish will eat me. And if I go to Pusat Tasek, all soft\nas I am now, though I may be safe, I can never stir out to get my food,\nand so I shall die.' Then he waved his legs and lamented.\n\n'Listen, Pau Amma,' said the Eldest Magician. 'I cannot make you play\nthe play you were meant to play, because you escaped me at the Very\nBeginning; but if you choose, I can make every stone and every hole and\nevery bunch of weed in all the seas a safe Pusat Tasek for you and your\nchildren for always.'\n\nThen Pau Amma said, 'That is good, but I do not choose yet. Look! there\nis that Man who talked to you at the Very Beginning. If he had not taken\nup your attention I should not have grown tired of waiting and run away,\nand all this would never have happened. What will he do for me?'\n\nAnd the Man said, 'If you choose, I will make a Magic, so that both\nthe deep water and the dry ground will be a home for you and your\nchildren--so that you shall be able to hide both on the land and in the\nsea.'\n\nAnd Pau Amma said, 'I do not choose yet. Look! there is that girl who\nsaw me running away at the Very Beginning. If she had spoken then, the\nEldest Magician would have called me back, and all this would never have\nhappened. What will she do for me?'\n\nAnd the little girl-daughter said, 'This is a good nut that I am eating.\nIf you choose, I will make a Magic and I will give you this pair of\nscissors, very sharp and strong, so that you and your children can eat\ncocoa-nuts like this all day long when you come up from the Sea to the\nland; or you can dig a Pusat Tasek for yourself with the scissors that\nbelong to you when there is no stone or hole near by; and when the earth\nis too hard, by the help of these same scissors you can run up a tree.'\n\nAnd Pau Amma said, 'I do not choose yet, for, all soft as I am, these\ngifts would not help me. Give me back my shell, O Eldest Magician, and\nthen I will play your play.'\n\nAnd the Eldest Magician said, 'I will give it back, Pau Amma, for eleven\nmonths of the year; but on the twelfth month of every year it shall grow\nsoft again, to remind you and all your children that I can make magics,\nand to keep you humble, Pau Amma; for I see that if you can run both\nunder the water and on land, you will grow too bold; and if you can\nclimb trees and crack nuts and dig holes with your scissors, you will\ngrow too greedy, Pau Amma.'\n\nThen Pau Amma thought a little and said, 'I have made my choice. I will\ntake all the gifts.'\n\nThen the Eldest Magician made a Magic with the right hand, with all five\nfingers of his right hand, and lo and behold, Best Beloved, Pau Amma\ngrew smaller and smaller and smaller, till at last there was only a\nlittle green crab swimming in the water alongside the canoe, crying in a\nvery small voice, 'Give me the scissors!'\n\nAnd the girl-daughter picked him up on the palm of her little brown\nhand, and sat him in the bottom of the canoe and gave him her scissors,\nand he waved them in his little arms, and opened them and shut them and\nsnapped them, and said, 'I can eat nuts. I can crack shells. I can dig\nholes. I can climb trees. I can breathe in the dry air, and I can find\na safe Pusat Tasek under every stone. I did not know I was so important.\nKun?' (Is this right?)\n\n'Payah-kun,' said the Eldest Magician, and he laughed and gave him his\nblessing; and little Pau Amma scuttled over the side of the canoe into\nthe water; and he was so tiny that he could have hidden under the shadow\nof a dry leaf on land or of a dead shell at the bottom of the sea.\n\n'Was that well done?' said the Eldest Magician.\n\n'Yes,' said the Man. 'But now we must go back to Perak, and that is\na weary way to paddle. If we had waited till Pau Amma had gone out of\nPusat Tasek and come home, the water would have carried us there by\nitself.'\n\n'You are lazy,' said the Eldest Magician. 'So your children shall be\nlazy. They shall be the laziest people in the world. They shall be\ncalled the Malazy--the lazy people;' and he held up his finger to the\nMoon and said, 'O Fisherman, here is the Man too lazy to row home. Pull\nhis canoe home with your line, Fisherman.'\n\n'No,' said the Man. 'If I am to be lazy all my days, let the Sea work\nfor me twice a day for ever. That will save paddling.'\n\nAnd the Eldest Magician laughed and said, 'Payah kun' (That is right).\n\nAnd the Rat of the Moon stopped biting the line; and the Fisherman let\nhis line down till it touched the Sea, and he pulled the whole deep Sea\nalong, past the Island of Bintang, past Singapore, past Malacca, past\nSelangor, till the canoe whirled into the mouth of the Perak River\nagain. Kun?' said the Fisherman of the Moon.\n\n'Payah kun,' said the Eldest Magician. 'See now that you pull the Sea\ntwice a day and twice a night for ever, so that the Malazy fishermen may\nbe saved paddling. But be careful not to do it too hard, or I shall make\na magic on you as I did to Pau Amma.'\n\nThen they all went up the Perak River and went to bed, Best Beloved.\n\nNow listen and attend!\n\nFrom that day to this the Moon has always pulled the sea up and down\nand made what we call the tides. Sometimes the Fisher of the Sea pulls a\nlittle too hard, and then we get spring tides; and sometimes he pulls\na little too softly, and then we get what are called neap-tides; but\nnearly always he is careful, because of the Eldest Magician.\n\nAnd Pau Amma? You can see when you go to the beach, how all Pau Amma's\nbabies make little Pusat Taseks for themselves under every stone\nand bunch of weed on the sands; you can see them waving their little\nscissors; and in some parts of the world they truly live on the dry\nland and run up the palm trees and eat cocoa-nuts, exactly as the\ngirl-daughter promised. But once a year all Pau Ammas must shake off\ntheir hard armour and be soft-to remind them of what the Eldest Magician\ncould do. And so it isn't fair to kill or hunt Pau Amma's babies just\nbecause old Pau Amma was stupidly rude a very long time ago.\n\nOh yes! And Pau Amma's babies hate being taken out of their little Pusat\nTaseks and brought home in pickle-bottles. That is why they nip you with\ntheir scissors, and it serves you right!\n\n\n     CHINA-GOING P's and O's\n     Pass Pau Amma's playground close,\n     And his Pusat Tasek lies\n     Near the track of most B.I.'s.\n     U.Y.K. and N.D.L.\n     Know Pau Amma's home as well\n     As the fisher of the Sea knows\n     'Bens,' M.M.'s, and Rubattinos.\n     But (and this is rather queer)\n     A.T.L.'s can not come here;\n     O. and O. and D.O.A.\n     Must go round another way.\n     Orient, Anchor, Bibby, Hall,\n     Never go that way at all.\n     U.C.S. would have a fit\n     If it found itself on it.\n     And if 'Beavers' took their cargoes\n     To Penang instead of Lagos,\n     Or a fat Shaw-Savill bore\n     Passengers to Singapore,\n     Or a White Star were to try a\n     Little trip to Sourabaya,\n     Or a B.S.A. went on\n     Past Natal to Cheribon,\n     Then great Mr. Lloyds would come\n     With a wire and drag them home!\n\n     You'll know what my riddle means\n     When you've eaten mangosteens.\n\nOr if you can't wait till then, ask them to let you have the outside\npage of the Times; turn over to page 2 where it is marked 'Shipping'\non the top left hand; then take the Atlas (and that is the finest\npicture-book in the world) and see how the names of the places that\nthe steamers go to fit into the names of the places on the map. Any\nsteamer-kiddy ought to be able to do that; but if you can't read, ask\nsome one to show it you.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CAT THAT WALKED BY HIMSELF\n\nHEAR and attend and listen; for this befell and behappened and became\nand was, O my Best Beloved, when the Tame animals were wild. The Dog was\nwild, and the Horse was wild, and the Cow was wild, and the Sheep was\nwild, and the Pig was wild--as wild as wild could be--and they walked in\nthe Wet Wild Woods by their wild lones. But the wildest of all the wild\nanimals was the Cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to\nhim.\n\nOf course the Man was wild too. He was dreadfully wild. He didn't even\nbegin to be tame till he met the Woman, and she told him that she\ndid not like living in his wild ways. She picked out a nice dry Cave,\ninstead of a heap of wet leaves, to lie down in; and she strewed clean\nsand on the floor; and she lit a nice fire of wood at the back of\nthe Cave; and she hung a dried wild-horse skin, tail-down, across the\nopening of the Cave; and she said, 'Wipe you feet, dear, when you come\nin, and now we'll keep house.'\n\nThat night, Best Beloved, they ate wild sheep roasted on the hot stones,\nand flavoured with wild garlic and wild pepper; and wild duck stuffed\nwith wild rice and wild fenugreek and wild coriander; and marrow-bones\nof wild oxen; and wild cherries, and wild grenadillas. Then the Man\nwent to sleep in front of the fire ever so happy; but the Woman sat up,\ncombing her hair. She took the bone of the shoulder of mutton--the big\nfat blade-bone--and she looked at the wonderful marks on it, and she\nthrew more wood on the fire, and she made a Magic. She made the First\nSinging Magic in the world.\n\nOut in the Wet Wild Woods all the wild animals gathered together where\nthey could see the light of the fire a long way off, and they wondered\nwhat it meant.\n\nThen Wild Horse stamped with his wild foot and said, 'O my Friends and O\nmy Enemies, why have the Man and the Woman made that great light in that\ngreat Cave, and what harm will it do us?'\n\nWild Dog lifted up his wild nose and smelled the smell of roast mutton,\nand said, 'I will go up and see and look, and say; for I think it is\ngood. Cat, come with me.'\n\n'Nenni!' said the Cat. 'I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all\nplaces are alike to me. I will not come.'\n\n'Then we can never be friends again,' said Wild Dog, and he trotted off\nto the Cave. But when he had gone a little way the Cat said to himself,\n'All places are alike to me. Why should I not go too and see and look\nand come away at my own liking.' So he slipped after Wild Dog softly,\nvery softly, and hid himself where he could hear everything.\n\nWhen Wild Dog reached the mouth of the Cave he lifted up the dried\nhorse-skin with his nose and sniffed the beautiful smell of the roast\nmutton, and the Woman, looking at the blade-bone, heard him, and\nlaughed, and said, 'Here comes the first. Wild Thing out of the Wild\nWoods, what do you want?'\n\nWild Dog said, 'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy, what is this that\nsmells so good in the Wild Woods?'\n\nThen the Woman picked up a roasted mutton-bone and threw it to Wild Dog,\nand said, 'Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods, taste and try.' Wild Dog\ngnawed the bone, and it was more delicious than anything he had ever\ntasted, and he said, 'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy, give me another.'\n\nThe Woman said, 'Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods, help my Man to hunt\nthrough the day and guard this Cave at night, and I will give you as\nmany roast bones as you need.'\n\n'Ah!' said the Cat, listening. 'This is a very wise Woman, but she is\nnot so wise as I am.'\n\nWild Dog crawled into the Cave and laid his head on the Woman's lap, and\nsaid, 'O my Friend and Wife of my Friend, I will help Your Man to hunt\nthrough the day, and at night I will guard your Cave.'\n\n'Ah!' said the Cat, listening. 'That is a very foolish Dog.' And he went\nback through the Wet Wild Woods waving his wild tail, and walking by his\nwild lone. But he never told anybody.\n\nWhen the Man waked up he said, 'What is Wild Dog doing here?' And the\nWoman said, 'His name is not Wild Dog any more, but the First Friend,\nbecause he will be our friend for always and always and always. Take him\nwith you when you go hunting.'\n\nNext night the Woman cut great green armfuls of fresh grass from the\nwater-meadows, and dried it before the fire, so that it smelt like\nnew-mown hay, and she sat at the mouth of the Cave and plaited a halter\nout of horse-hide, and she looked at the shoulder of mutton-bone--at the\nbig broad blade-bone--and she made a Magic. She made the Second Singing\nMagic in the world.\n\nOut in the Wild Woods all the wild animals wondered what had happened to\nWild Dog, and at last Wild Horse stamped with his foot and said, 'I will\ngo and see and say why Wild Dog has not returned. Cat, come with me.'\n\n'Nenni!' said the Cat. 'I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all\nplaces are alike to me. I will not come.' But all the same he followed\nWild Horse softly, very softly, and hid himself where he could hear\neverything.\n\nWhen the Woman heard Wild Horse tripping and stumbling on his long mane,\nshe laughed and said, 'Here comes the second. Wild Thing out of the Wild\nWoods what do you want?'\n\nWild Horse said, 'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy, where is Wild Dog?'\n\nThe Woman laughed, and picked up the blade-bone and looked at it, and\nsaid, 'Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods, you did not come here for Wild\nDog, but for the sake of this good grass.'\n\nAnd Wild Horse, tripping and stumbling on his long mane, said, 'That is\ntrue; give it me to eat.'\n\nThe Woman said, 'Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods, bend your wild head\nand wear what I give you, and you shall eat the wonderful grass three\ntimes a day.'\n\n'Ah,' said the Cat, listening, 'this is a clever Woman, but she is not\nso clever as I am.' Wild Horse bent his wild head, and the Woman slipped\nthe plaited hide halter over it, and Wild Horse breathed on the Woman's\nfeet and said, 'O my Mistress, and Wife of my Master, I will be your\nservant for the sake of the wonderful grass.'\n\n'Ah,' said the Cat, listening, 'that is a very foolish Horse.' And he\nwent back through the Wet Wild Woods, waving his wild tail and walking\nby his wild lone. But he never told anybody.\n\nWhen the Man and the Dog came back from hunting, the Man said, 'What is\nWild Horse doing here?' And the Woman said, 'His name is not Wild Horse\nany more, but the First Servant, because he will carry us from place\nto place for always and always and always. Ride on his back when you go\nhunting.\n\nNext day, holding her wild head high that her wild horns should not\ncatch in the wild trees, Wild Cow came up to the Cave, and the Cat\nfollowed, and hid himself just the same as before; and everything\nhappened just the same as before; and the Cat said the same things as\nbefore, and when Wild Cow had promised to give her milk to the Woman\nevery day in exchange for the wonderful grass, the Cat went back through\nthe Wet Wild Woods waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone,\njust the same as before. But he never told anybody. And when the Man\nand the Horse and the Dog came home from hunting and asked the same\nquestions same as before, the Woman said, 'Her name is not Wild Cow any\nmore, but the Giver of Good Food. She will give us the warm white milk\nfor always and always and always, and I will take care of her while you\nand the First Friend and the First Servant go hunting.\n\nNext day the Cat waited to see if any other Wild thing would go up to\nthe Cave, but no one moved in the Wet Wild Woods, so the Cat walked\nthere by himself; and he saw the Woman milking the Cow, and he saw the\nlight of the fire in the Cave, and he smelt the smell of the warm white\nmilk.\n\nCat said, 'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy, where did Wild Cow go?'\n\nThe Woman laughed and said, 'Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods, go back\nto the Woods again, for I have braided up my hair, and I have put away\nthe magic blade-bone, and we have no more need of either friends or\nservants in our Cave.\n\nCat said, 'I am not a friend, and I am not a servant. I am the Cat who\nwalks by himself, and I wish to come into your cave.'\n\nWoman said, 'Then why did you not come with First Friend on the first\nnight?'\n\nCat grew very angry and said, 'Has Wild Dog told tales of me?'\n\nThen the Woman laughed and said, 'You are the Cat who walks by himself,\nand all places are alike to you. Your are neither a friend nor a\nservant. You have said it yourself. Go away and walk by yourself in all\nplaces alike.'\n\nThen Cat pretended to be sorry and said, 'Must I never come into the\nCave? Must I never sit by the warm fire? Must I never drink the warm\nwhite milk? You are very wise and very beautiful. You should not be\ncruel even to a Cat.'\n\nWoman said, 'I knew I was wise, but I did not know I was beautiful. So I\nwill make a bargain with you. If ever I say one word in your praise you\nmay come into the Cave.'\n\n'And if you say two words in my praise?' said the Cat.\n\n'I never shall,' said the Woman, 'but if I say two words in your praise,\nyou may sit by the fire in the Cave.'\n\n'And if you say three words?' said the Cat.\n\n'I never shall,' said the Woman, 'but if I say three words in your\npraise, you may drink the warm white milk three times a day for always\nand always and always.'\n\nThen the Cat arched his back and said, 'Now let the Curtain at the mouth\nof the Cave, and the Fire at the back of the Cave, and the Milk-pots\nthat stand beside the Fire, remember what my Enemy and the Wife of my\nEnemy has said.' And he went away through the Wet Wild Woods waving his\nwild tail and walking by his wild lone.\n\nThat night when the Man and the Horse and the Dog came home from\nhunting, the Woman did not tell them of the bargain that she had made\nwith the Cat, because she was afraid that they might not like it.\n\nCat went far and far away and hid himself in the Wet Wild Woods by his\nwild lone for a long time till the Woman forgot all about him. Only the\nBat--the little upside-down Bat--that hung inside the Cave, knew where\nCat hid; and every evening Bat would fly to Cat with news of what was\nhappening.\n\nOne evening Bat said, 'There is a Baby in the Cave. He is new and pink\nand fat and small, and the Woman is very fond of him.'\n\n'Ah,' said the Cat, listening, 'but what is the Baby fond of?'\n\n'He is fond of things that are soft and tickle,' said the Bat. 'He is\nfond of warm things to hold in his arms when he goes to sleep. He is\nfond of being played with. He is fond of all those things.'\n\n'Ah,' said the Cat, listening, 'then my time has come.'\n\nNext night Cat walked through the Wet Wild Woods and hid very near the\nCave till morning-time, and Man and Dog and Horse went hunting. The\nWoman was busy cooking that morning, and the Baby cried and interrupted.\nSo she carried him outside the Cave and gave him a handful of pebbles to\nplay with. But still the Baby cried.\n\nThen the Cat put out his paddy paw and patted the Baby on the cheek, and\nit cooed; and the Cat rubbed against its fat knees and tickled it under\nits fat chin with his tail. And the Baby laughed; and the Woman heard\nhim and smiled.\n\nThen the Bat--the little upside-down bat--that hung in the mouth of the\nCave said, 'O my Hostess and Wife of my Host and Mother of my Host's\nSon, a Wild Thing from the Wild Woods is most beautifully playing with\nyour Baby.'\n\n'A blessing on that Wild Thing whoever he may be,' said the Woman,\nstraightening her back, 'for I was a busy woman this morning and he has\ndone me a service.'\n\nThat very minute and second, Best Beloved, the dried horse-skin\nCurtain that was stretched tail-down at the mouth of the Cave fell\ndown--whoosh!--because it remembered the bargain she had made with the\nCat, and when the Woman went to pick it up--lo and behold!--the Cat was\nsitting quite comfy inside the Cave.\n\n'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of my Enemy,' said the Cat,\n'it is I: for you have spoken a word in my praise, and now I can sit\nwithin the Cave for always and always and always. But still I am the Cat\nwho walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.'\n\nThe Woman was very angry, and shut her lips tight and took up her\nspinning-wheel and began to spin. But the Baby cried because the Cat had\ngone away, and the Woman could not hush it, for it struggled and kicked\nand grew black in the face.\n\n'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of my Enemy,' said the Cat,\n'take a strand of the wire that you are spinning and tie it to your\nspinning-whorl and drag it along the floor, and I will show you a magic\nthat shall make your Baby laugh as loudly as he is now crying.'\n\n'I will do so,' said the Woman, 'because I am at my wits' end; but I\nwill not thank you for it.'\n\nShe tied the thread to the little clay spindle whorl and drew it across\nthe floor, and the Cat ran after it and patted it with his paws and\nrolled head over heels, and tossed it backward over his shoulder and\nchased it between his hind-legs and pretended to lose it, and pounced\ndown upon it again, till the Baby laughed as loudly as it had been\ncrying, and scrambled after the Cat and frolicked all over the Cave till\nit grew tired and settled down to sleep with the Cat in its arms.\n\n'Now,' said the Cat, 'I will sing the Baby a song that shall keep him\nasleep for an hour. And he began to purr, loud and low, low and loud,\ntill the Baby fell fast asleep. The Woman smiled as she looked down upon\nthe two of them and said, 'That was wonderfully done. No question but\nyou are very clever, O Cat.'\n\nThat very minute and second, Best Beloved, the smoke of the fire at the\nback of the Cave came down in clouds from the roof--puff!--because\nit remembered the bargain she had made with the Cat, and when it had\ncleared away--lo and behold!--the Cat was sitting quite comfy close to\nthe fire.\n\n'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of My Enemy,' said the Cat,\n'it is I, for you have spoken a second word in my praise, and now I can\nsit by the warm fire at the back of the Cave for always and always and\nalways. But still I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are\nalike to me.'\n\nThen the Woman was very very angry, and let down her hair and put more\nwood on the fire and brought out the broad blade-bone of the shoulder of\nmutton and began to make a Magic that should prevent her from saying\na third word in praise of the Cat. It was not a Singing Magic, Best\nBeloved, it was a Still Magic; and by and by the Cave grew so still that\na little wee-wee mouse crept out of a corner and ran across the floor.\n\n'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of my Enemy,' said the Cat,\n'is that little mouse part of your magic?'\n\n'Ouh! Chee! No indeed!' said the Woman, and she dropped the blade-bone\nand jumped upon the footstool in front of the fire and braided up her\nhair very quick for fear that the mouse should run up it.\n\n'Ah,' said the Cat, watching, 'then the mouse will do me no harm if I\neat it?'\n\n'No,' said the Woman, braiding up her hair, 'eat it quickly and I will\never be grateful to you.'\n\nCat made one jump and caught the little mouse, and the Woman said,\n'A hundred thanks. Even the First Friend is not quick enough to catch\nlittle mice as you have done. You must be very wise.'\n\nThat very moment and second, O Best Beloved, the Milk-pot that stood by\nthe fire cracked in two pieces--ffft--because it remembered the bargain\nshe had made with the Cat, and when the Woman jumped down from the\nfootstool--lo and behold!--the Cat was lapping up the warm white milk\nthat lay in one of the broken pieces.\n\n'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of my Enemy, said the Cat,\n'it is I; for you have spoken three words in my praise, and now I can\ndrink the warm white milk three times a day for always and always and\nalways. But still I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are\nalike to me.'\n\nThen the Woman laughed and set the Cat a bowl of the warm white milk and\nsaid, 'O Cat, you are as clever as a man, but remember that your bargain\nwas not made with the Man or the Dog, and I do not know what they will\ndo when they come home.'\n\n'What is that to me?' said the Cat. 'If I have my place in the Cave by\nthe fire and my warm white milk three times a day I do not care what the\nMan or the Dog can do.'\n\nThat evening when the Man and the Dog came into the Cave, the Woman\ntold them all the story of the bargain while the Cat sat by the fire and\nsmiled. Then the Man said, 'Yes, but he has not made a bargain with me\nor with all proper Men after me.' Then he took off his two leather boots\nand he took up his little stone axe (that makes three) and he fetched a\npiece of wood and a hatchet (that is five altogether), and he set them\nout in a row and he said, 'Now we will make our bargain. If you do not\ncatch mice when you are in the Cave for always and always and always, I\nwill throw these five things at you whenever I see you, and so shall all\nproper Men do after me.'\n\n'Ah,' said the Woman, listening, 'this is a very clever Cat, but he is\nnot so clever as my Man.'\n\nThe Cat counted the five things (and they looked very knobby) and he\nsaid, 'I will catch mice when I am in the Cave for always and always and\nalways; but still I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are\nalike to me.'\n\n'Not when I am near,' said the Man. 'If you had not said that last I\nwould have put all these things away for always and always and always;\nbut I am now going to throw my two boots and my little stone axe (that\nmakes three) at you whenever I meet you. And so shall all proper Men do\nafter me!'\n\nThen the Dog said, 'Wait a minute. He has not made a bargain with me or\nwith all proper Dogs after me.' And he showed his teeth and said, 'If\nyou are not kind to the Baby while I am in the Cave for always and\nalways and always, I will hunt you till I catch you, and when I catch\nyou I will bite you. And so shall all proper Dogs do after me.'\n\n'Ah,' said the Woman, listening, 'this is a very clever Cat, but he is\nnot so clever as the Dog.'\n\nCat counted the Dog's teeth (and they looked very pointed) and he said,\n'I will be kind to the Baby while I am in the Cave, as long as he does\nnot pull my tail too hard, for always and always and always. But still I\nam the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.'\n\n'Not when I am near,' said the Dog. 'If you had not said that last I\nwould have shut my mouth for always and always and always; but now I am\ngoing to hunt you up a tree whenever I meet you. And so shall all proper\nDogs do after me.'\n\nThen the Man threw his two boots and his little stone axe (that makes\nthree) at the Cat, and the Cat ran out of the Cave and the Dog chased\nhim up a tree; and from that day to this, Best Beloved, three proper Men\nout of five will always throw things at a Cat whenever they meet him,\nand all proper Dogs will chase him up a tree. But the Cat keeps his side\nof the bargain too. He will kill mice and he will be kind to Babies when\nhe is in the house, just as long as they do not pull his tail too hard.\nBut when he has done that, and between times, and when the moon gets up\nand night comes, he is the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are\nalike to him. Then he goes out to the Wet Wild Woods or up the Wet Wild\nTrees or on the Wet Wild Roofs, waving his wild tail and walking by his\nwild lone.\n\n\n     PUSSY can sit by the fire and sing,\n       Pussy can climb a tree,\n     Or play with a silly old cork and string\n       To'muse herself, not me.\n     But I like Binkie my dog, because\n       He Lnows how to behave;\n     So, Binkie's the same as the First Friend was,\n       And I am the Man in the Cave.\n\n     Pussy will play man-Friday till\n       It's time to wet her paw\n     And make her walk on the window-sill\n       (For the footprint Crusoe saw);\n     Then she fluffles her tail and mews,\n       And scratches and won't attend.\n     But Binkie will play whatever I choose,\n       And he is my true First Friend.\n\n     Pussy will rub my knees with her head\n       Pretending she loves me hard;\n     But the very minute I go to my bed\n       Pussy runs out in the yard,\n     And there she stays till the morning-light;\n       So I know it is only pretend;\n     But Binkie, he snores at my feet all night,\n       And he is my Firstest Friend!\n\n\n\n\nTHE BUTTERFLY THAT STAMPED\n\nTHIS, O my Best Beloved, is a story--a new and a wonderful story--a\nstory quite different from the other stories--a story about The Most\nWise Sovereign Suleiman-bin-Daoud--Solomon the Son of David.\n\nThere are three hundred and fifty-five stories about Suleiman-bin-Daoud;\nbut this is not one of them. It is not the story of the Lapwing who\nfound the Water; or the Hoopoe who shaded Suleimanbin-Daoud from the\nheat. It is not the story of the Glass Pavement, or the Ruby with\nthe Crooked Hole, or the Gold Bars of Balkis. It is the story of the\nButterfly that Stamped.\n\nNow attend all over again and listen!\n\nSuleiman-bin-Daoud was wise. He understood what the beasts said, what\nthe birds said, what the fishes said, and what the insects said. He\nunderstood what the rocks said deep under the earth when they bowed in\ntowards each other and groaned; and he understood what the trees\nsaid when they rustled in the middle of the morning. He understood\neverything, from the bishop on the bench to the hyssop on the wall, and\nBalkis, his Head Queen, the Most Beautiful Queen Balkis, was nearly as\nwise as he was.\n\nSuleiman-bin-Daoud was strong. Upon the third finger of the right hand\nhe wore a ring. When he turned it once, Afrits and Djinns came Out of\nthe earth to do whatever he told them. When he turned it twice, Fairies\ncame down from the sky to do whatever he told them; and when he turned\nit three times, the very great angel Azrael of the Sword came dressed\nas a water-carrier, and told him the news of the three worlds,\nAbove--Below--and Here.\n\nAnd yet Suleiman-bin-Daoud was not proud. He very seldom showed off, and\nwhen he did he was sorry for it. Once he tried to feed all the animals\nin all the world in one day, but when the food was ready an Animal came\nout of the deep sea and ate it up in three mouthfuls. Suleiman-bin-Daoud\nwas very surprised and said, 'O Animal, who are you?' And the Animal\nsaid, 'O King, live for ever! I am the smallest of thirty thousand\nbrothers, and our home is at the bottom of the sea. We heard that you\nwere going to feed all the animals in all the world, and my brothers\nsent me to ask when dinner would be ready.' Suleiman-bin-Daoud was more\nsurprised than ever and said, 'O Animal, you have eaten all the dinner\nthat I made ready for all the animals in the world.' And the Animal\nsaid, 'O King, live for ever, but do you really call that a dinner?\nWhere I come from we each eat twice as much as that between meals.' Then\nSuleiman-bin-Daoud fell flat on his face and said, 'O Animal! I gave\nthat dinner to show what a great and rich king I was, and not because I\nreally wanted to be kind to the animals. Now I am ashamed, and it serves\nme right. Suleiman-bin-Daoud was a really truly wise man, Best Beloved.\nAfter that he never forgot that it was silly to show off; and now the\nreal story part of my story begins.\n\nHe married ever so many wifes. He married nine hundred and ninety-nine\nwives, besides the Most Beautiful Balkis; and they all lived in a great\ngolden palace in the middle of a lovely garden with fountains. He\ndidn't really want nine-hundred and ninety-nine wives, but in those\ndays everybody married ever so many wives, and of course the King had to\nmarry ever so many more just to show that he was the King.\n\nSome of the wives were nice, but some were simply horrid, and the horrid\nones quarrelled with the nice ones and made them horrid too, and then\nthey would all quarrel with Suleiman-bin-Daoud, and that was horrid\nfor him. But Balkis the Most Beautiful never quarrelled with\nSuleiman-bin-Daoud. She loved him too much. She sat in her rooms in the\nGolden Palace, or walked in the Palace garden, and was truly sorry for\nhim.\n\nOf course if he had chosen to turn his ring on his finger and call\nup the Djinns and the Afrits they would have magicked all those nine\nhundred and ninety-nine quarrelsome wives into white mules of the desert\nor greyhounds or pomegranate seeds; but Suleiman-bin-Daoud thought that\nthat would be showing off. So, when they quarrelled too much, he only\nwalked by himself in one part of the beautiful Palace gardens and wished\nhe had never been born.\n\nOne day, when they had quarrelled for three weeks--all nine hundred and\nninety-nine wives together--Suleiman-bin-Daoud went out for peace\nand quiet as usual; and among the orange trees he met Balkis the Most\nBeautiful, very sorrowful because Suleiman-bin-Daoud was so worried.\nAnd she said to him, 'O my Lord and Light of my Eyes, turn the ring upon\nyour finger and show these Queens of Egypt and Mesopotamia and\nPersia and China that you are the great and terrible King.' But\nSuleiman-bin-Daoud shook his head and said, 'O my Lady and Delight of my\nLife, remember the Animal that came out of the sea and made me ashamed\nbefore all the animals in all the world because I showed off. Now, if\nI showed off before these Queens of Persia and Egypt and Abyssinia and\nChina, merely because they worry me, I might be made even more ashamed\nthan I have been.'\n\nAnd Balkis the Most Beautiful said, 'O my Lord and Treasure of my Soul,\nwhat will you do?'\n\nAnd Suleiman-bin-Daoud said, 'O my Lady and Content of my Heart, I\nshall continue to endure my fate at the hands of these nine hundred and\nninety-nine Queens who vex me with their continual quarrelling.'\n\nSo he went on between the lilies and the loquats and the roses and the\ncannas and the heavy-scented ginger-plants that grew in the garden, till\nhe came to the great camphor-tree that was called the Camphor Tree of\nSuleiman-bin-Daoud. But Balkis hid among the tall irises and the spotted\nbamboos and the red lillies behind the camphor-tree, so as to be near\nher own true love, Suleiman-bin-Daoud.\n\nPresently two Butterflies flew under the tree, quarrelling.\n\nSuleiman-bin-Daoud heard one say to the other, 'I wonder at your\npresumption in talking like this to me. Don't you know that if I stamped\nwith my foot all Suleiman-bin-Daoud's Palace and this garden here would\nimmediately vanish in a clap of thunder.'\n\nThen Suleiman-bin-Daoud forgot his nine hundred and ninety-nine\nbothersome wives, and laughed, till the camphor-tree shook, at the\nButterfly's boast. And he held out his finger and said, 'Little man,\ncome here.'\n\nThe Butterfly was dreadfully frightened, but he managed to fly up to\nthe hand of Suleiman-bin-Daoud, and clung there, fanning himself.\nSuleiman-bin-Daoud bent his head and whispered very softly, 'Little man,\nyou know that all your stamping wouldn't bend one blade of grass. What\nmade you tell that awful fib to your wife?--for doubtless she is your\nwife.'\n\nThe Butterfly looked at Suleiman-bin-Daoud and saw the most wise King's\neye twinkle like stars on a frosty night, and he picked up his courage\nwith both wings, and he put his head on one side and said, 'O King, live\nfor ever. She is my wife; and you know what wives are like.\n\nSuleiman-bin-Daoud smiled in his beard and said, 'Yes, I know, little\nbrother.\n\n'One must keep them in order somehow, said the Butterfly, and she has\nbeen quarrelling with me all the morning. I said that to quiet her.'\n\nAnd Suleiman-bin-Daoud said, 'May it quiet her. Go back to your wife,\nlittle brother, and let me hear what you say.'\n\nBack flew the Butterfly to his wife, who was all of a twitter behind\na leaf, and she said, 'He heard you! Suleiman-bin-Daoud himself heard\nyou!'\n\n'Heard me!' said the Butterfly. 'Of course he did. I meant him to hear\nme.'\n\n'And what did he say? Oh, what did he say?'\n\n'Well,' said the Butterfly, fanning himself most importantly, 'between\nyou and me, my dear--of course I don't blame him, because his Palace\nmust have cost a great deal and the oranges are just ripening,--he asked\nme not to stamp, and I promised I wouldn't.'\n\n'Gracious!' said his wife, and sat quite quiet; but Suleiman-bin-Daoud\nlaughed till the tears ran down his face at the impudence of the bad\nlittle Butterfly.\n\nBalkis the Most Beautiful stood up behind the tree among the red lilies\nand smiled to herself, for she had heard all this talk. She thought,\n'If I am wise I can yet save my Lord from the persecutions of these\nquarrelsome Queens,' and she held out her finger and whispered softly to\nthe Butterfly's Wife, 'Little woman, come here.' Up flew the Butterfly's\nWife, very frightened, and clung to Balkis's white hand.\n\nBalkis bent her beautiful head down and whispered, 'Little woman, do you\nbelieve what your husband has just said?'\n\nThe Butterfly's Wife looked at Balkis, and saw the most beautiful\nQueen's eyes shining like deep pools with starlight on them, and she\npicked up her courage with both wings and said, 'O Queen, be lovely for\never. You know what men-folk are like.'\n\nAnd the Queen Balkis, the Wise Balkis of Sheba, put her hand to her lips\nto hide a smile and said, 'Little sister, I know.'\n\n'They get angry,' said the Butterfly's Wife, fanning herself quickly,\n'over nothing at all, but we must humour them, O Queen. They never mean\nhalf they say. If it pleases my husband to believe that I believe he\ncan make Suleiman-bin-Daoud's Palace disappear by stamping his foot, I'm\nsure I don't care. He'll forget all about it to-morrow.'\n\n'Little sister,' said Balkis, 'you are quite right; but next time he\nbegins to boast, take him at his word. Ask him to stamp, and see what\nwill happen. We know what men-folk are like, don't we? He'll be very\nmuch ashamed.'\n\nAway flew the Butterfly's Wife to her husband, and in five minutes they\nwere quarrelling worse than ever.\n\n'Remember!' said the Butterfly. 'Remember what I can do if I stamp my\nfoot.'\n\n'I don't believe you one little bit,' said the Butterfly's Wife. 'I\nshould very much like to see it done. Suppose you stamp now.'\n\n'I promised Suleiman-bin-Daoud that I wouldn't,' said the Butterfly,\n'and I don't want to break my promise.'\n\n'It wouldn't matter if you did,' said his wife. 'You couldn't bend\na blade of grass with your stamping. I dare you to do it,' she said.\nStamp! Stamp! Stamp!'\n\nSuleiman-bin-Daoud, sitting under the camphor-tree, heard every word\nof this, and he laughed as he had never laughed in his life before. He\nforgot all about his Queens; he forgot all about the Animal that came\nout of the sea; he forgot about showing off. He just laughed with joy,\nand Balkis, on the other side of the tree, smiled because her own true\nlove was so joyful.\n\nPresently the Butterfly, very hot and puffy, came whirling back under\nthe shadow of the camphor-tree and said to Suleiman, 'She wants me to\nstamp! She wants to see what will happen, O Suleiman-bin-Daoud! You know\nI can't do it, and now she'll never believe a word I say. She'll laugh\nat me to the end of my days!'\n\n'No, little brother,' said Suleiman-bin-Daoud, 'she will never laugh at\nyou again,' and he turned the ring on his finger--just for the little\nButterfly's sake, not for the sake of showing off,--and, lo and behold,\nfour huge Djinns came out of the earth!\n\n'Slaves,' said Suleiman-bin-Daoud, 'when this gentleman on my finger'\n(that was where the impudent Butterfly was sitting) 'stamps his left\nfront forefoot you will make my Palace and these gardens disappear in\na clap of thunder. When he stamps again you will bring them back\ncarefully.'\n\n'Now, little brother,' he said, 'go back to your wife and stamp all\nyou've a mind to.'\n\nAway flew the Butterfly to his wife, who was crying, 'I dare you to do\nit! I dare you to do it! Stamp! Stamp now! Stamp!' Balkis saw the four\nvast Djinns stoop down to the four corners of the gardens with the\nPalace in the middle, and she clapped her hands softly and said, 'At\nlast Suleiman-bin-Daoud will do for the sake of a Butterfly what he\nought to have done long ago for his own sake, and the quarrelsome Queens\nwill be frightened!'\n\nThe the butterfly stamped. The Djinns jerked the Palace and the gardens\na thousand miles into the air: there was a most awful thunder-clap, and\neverything grew inky-black. The Butterfly's Wife fluttered about in the\ndark, crying, 'Oh, I'll be good! I'm so sorry I spoke. Only bring the\ngardens back, my dear darling husband, and I'll never contradict again.'\n\nThe Butterfly was nearly as frightened as his wife, and\nSuleiman-bin-Daoud laughed so much that it was several minutes before\nhe found breath enough to whisper to the Butterfly, 'Stamp again, little\nbrother. Give me back my Palace, most great magician.'\n\n'Yes, give him back his Palace,' said the Butterfly's Wife, still flying\nabout in the dark like a moth. 'Give him back his Palace, and don't\nlet's have any more horrid.magic.'\n\n'Well, my dear,' said the Butterfly as bravely as he could, 'you see\nwhat your nagging has led to. Of course it doesn't make any difference\nto me--I'm used to this kind of thing--but as a favour to you and to\nSuleiman-bin-Daoud I don't mind putting things right.'\n\nSo he stamped once more, and that instant the Djinns let down the Palace\nand the gardens, without even a bump. The sun shone on the dark-green\norange leaves; the fountains played among the pink Egyptian lilies; the\nbirds went on singing, and the Butterfly's Wife lay on her side under\nthe camphor-tree waggling her wings and panting, 'Oh, I'll be good! I'll\nbe good!'\n\nSuleiman-bin-Daolld could hardly speak for laughing. He leaned back all\nweak and hiccoughy, and shook his finger at the Butterfly and said, 'O\ngreat wizard, what is the sense of returning to me my Palace if at the\nsame time you slay me with mirth!'\n\nThen came a terrible noise, for all the nine hundred and ninety-nine\nQueens ran out of the Palace shrieking and shouting and calling for\ntheir babies. They hurried down the great marble steps below the\nfountain, one hundred abreast, and the Most Wise Balkis went statelily\nforward to meet them and said, 'What is your trouble, O Queens?'\n\nThey stood on the marble steps one hundred abreast and shouted, 'What is\nour trouble? We were living peacefully in our golden palace, as is our\ncustom, when upon a sudden the Palace disappeared, and we were left\nsitting in a thick and noisome darkness; and it thundered, and Djinns\nand Afrits moved about in the darkness! That is our trouble, O Head\nQueen, and we are most extremely troubled on account of that trouble,\nfor it was a troublesome trouble, unlike any trouble we have known.'\n\nThen Balkis the Most Beautiful Queen--Suleiman-bin-Daoud's Very Best\nBeloved--Queen that was of Sheba and Sable and the Rivers of the Gold\nof the South--from the Desert of Zinn to the Towers of Zimbabwe--Balkis,\nalmost as wise as the Most Wise Suleiman-bin-Daoud himself, said, 'It\nis nothing, O Queens! A Butterfly has made complaint against his\nwife because she quarrelled with him, and it has pleased our Lord\nSuleiman-bin-Daoud to teach her a lesson in low-speaking and humbleness,\nfor that is counted a virtue among the wives of the butterflies.'\n\nThen up and spoke an Egyptian Queen--the daughter of a Pharoah--and she\nsaid, 'Our Palace cannot be plucked up by the roots like a leek for the\nsake of a little insect. No! Suleiman-bin-Daoud must be dead, and what\nwe heard and saw was the earth thundering and darkening at the news.'\n\nThen Balkis beckoned that bold Queen without looking at her, and said to\nher and to the others, 'Come and see.'\n\nThey came down the marble steps, one hundred abreast, and beneath his\ncamphor-tree, still weak with laughing, they saw the Most Wise King\nSuleiman-bin-Daoud rocking back and forth with a Butterfly on either\nhand, and they heard him say, 'O wife of my brother in the air, remember\nafter this, to please your husband in all things, lest he be provoked to\nstamp his foot yet again; for he has said that he is used to this magic,\nand he is most eminently a great magician--one who steals away the very\nPalace of Suleirnan-bin-Daoud himself. Go in peace, little folk!' And he\nkissed them on the wings, and they flew away.\n\nThen all the Queens except Balkis--the Most Beautiful and Splendid\nBalkis, who stood apart smiling--fell flat on their faces, for they\nsaid, 'If these things are done when a Butterfly is displeased with\nhis wife, what shall be done to us who have vexed our King with our\nloud-speaking and open quarrelling through many days?'\n\nThen they put their veils over their heads, and they put their hands\nover their mouths, and they tiptoed back to the Palace most mousy-quiet.\n\nThen Balkis--The Most Beautiful and Excellent Balkis--went forward\nthrough the red lilies into the shade of the camphor-tree and laid\nher hand upon Suleiman-bin-Daoud's shoulder and said, 'O my Lord and\nTreasure of my Soul, rejoice, for we have taught the Queens of Egypt and\nEthiopia and Abyssinia and Persia and India and China with a great and a\nmemorable teaching.'\n\nAnd Suleiman-bin-Daoud, still looking after the Butterflies where they\nplayed in the sunlight, said, 'O my Lady and Jewel of my Felicity, when\ndid this happen? For I have been jesting with a Butterfly ever since I\ncame into the garden.' And he told Balkis what he had done.\n\nBalkis--The tender and Most Lovely Balkis--said, 'O my Lord and Regent\nof my Existence, I hid behind the camphor-tree and saw it all. It was I\nwho told the Butterfly's Wife to ask the Butterfly to stamp, because I\nhoped that for the sake of the jest my Lord would make some great magic\nand that the Queens would see it and be frightened.' And she told him\nwhat the Queens had said and seen and thought.\n\nThen Suleiman-bin-Daoud rose up from his seat under the camphor-tree,\nand stretched his arms and rejoiced and said, 'O my Lady and Sweetener\nof my Days, know that if I had made a magic against my Queens for the\nsake of pride or anger, as I made that feast for all the animals, I\nshould certainly have been put to shame. But by means of your wisdom\nI made the magic for the sake of a jest and for the sake of a little\nButterfly, and--behold--it has also delivered me from the vexations of\nmy vexatious wives! Tell me, therefore, O my Lady and Heart of my Heart,\nhow did you come to be so wise?' And Balkis the Queen, beautiful and\ntall, looked up into Suleiman-bin-Daoud's eyes and put her head a little\non one side, just like the Butterfly, and said, 'First, O my Lord,\nbecause I loved you; and secondly, O my Lord, because I know what\nwomen-folk are.'\n\nThen they went up to the Palace and lived happily ever afterwards.\n\nBut wasn't it clever of Balkis?\n\n\n     THERE was never a Queen like Balkis,\n       From here to the wide world's end;\n     But Balkis tailed to a butterfly\n       As you would talk to a friend.\n\n     There was never a King like Solomon,\n       Not since the world began;\n     But Solomon talked to a butterfly\n       As a man would talk to a man.\n\n     She was Queen of Sabaea--\n       And he was Asia's Lord--\n     But they both of 'em talked to butterflies\n       When they took their walks abroad!"