I’ve just moved across the country and, with the packing and unpacking and general rearrangement of stuff the goes on when you move, I came across a copy of Kipling’s Just So Stories that’s lain dormant for many years.
Of course I had to re-read them…I’d forgotten what a clever wordsmith Mr. Kipling was! Any other Just So Stories fans out there? Here’s your chance to nominate your favourite one. I’m putting forward “How the Rhinoceros got his Skin”, or “How the Elephant got his Trunk” (because it has spanking )
My favourites are the two where the alphabet is created (I can’t remember their titles) and The Cat Who Walked by Himself. I still remember the various “explanations” for the various letters of the alphabet, although the only one that comes to mind was the letter A was supposed to be a carp’s open mouth.
And then, the Cat has been a hero of mine since I was about six. I’ve since lost my copy of the book, unfortunately, and I don’t remember the exact details of the story, but I loved that Cat.
Ah, it’s all coming back to me now… O Best Beloved…
The alphabet-ralated ones were “The First Letter” and “How the Alphabet Was Made.” I liked those and “The Cat that Walked by Itself.” Even as a kid, though, that whole “Best Beloved” thing played on my nerves.
I loved “The Elephant’s Child”, and am possessed of 'satiable curiosity myself. But my absolute favourite was “The Crab who Played with the Sea.” It’s got a lovely folkloric quality to it.
I was a huge fan of the *Just So Stories[/] when I was a kid, and it is hard to say which of the stories was my favorite. I remember liking them all.
Also, there is now a musical for children called *Just So[/]. It goes through a few of the stories put to fun music. I was able to see the American premiere at North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, MA about two years ago. It came over from England, and I don’t know where else it has gone in the states. It is well worth it for anyone who likes the stories, and you happen to see it come around. It is very upbeat and sticks to the stories fairly well.
I’m a huge fan of Kipling, but the Just So stories never did anything for me. Maybe I’ll try 'em out on the Bambina. Kim was the first book I ever read to her, and that was in the hospital.
I love these stories so much! In fact, I used “full of satiable curtiosity” as my sig line in the early days of the board. My favorite is probably “The Cat That Walked By Himself” – especially the first line: “Hear and attend and listen; for this befell and behappened and became and was, O my Best Beloved, when the Tame animals were wild.” What an ear the man had!
My aunt is a librarian who often works with children there. She regularly memorizes entire stories that use language in a unique way, and recites them to the kids that come in for story hour. She’s an absolutely brilliant storyteller, whether it’s her own stuff or not. Anyway, she practiced “The Elephant’s Child” on all of us (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) around the campfire at our cabin, and had us all in tears, it was so funny.
There is such wonderful rhythm to: “the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees.”
But my favorite line from it is from the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake:
I, too, vote for the Elephant Child. Used to read it around the campfire when we took our kids camping. Thanks for starting up this thread, it’s been years and years…
If I had to pick just one favorite, it would be The Cat Who Walked by Himself. All of the Just So Stories, like all of Kipling’s writings, delight me.
I first read him at a very young age and thought that as I grew older I would no longer care for his stuff. I like it even better now!
‘And at the last what wilt thou do?’
‘At the last I shall die.’
‘And after?’
‘Let the Gods order it. I have never pestered them with prayers: I do not think they will pester me. Look you, I have noticed in my long life that those who eternally break in upon Those Above with complaints and reports and bellowings and weepings are presently sent for in haste…
I have never wearied the Gods. They will remember this and give me a quite place where I can drive my lance in the shade, and wait to welcome my sons.’
Loved 'em all, but the alphabet ones best, being the wordie that I am. We named a dog Taffy because she was, after all, a small person without any manners who ought to be spanked. Second choice would be How the Leopard Got His Spots. Best poem has to be "I keep six honest serving men / (They taught me all I knew); / Their names are What and Where and When / and How and Why and Who. . . . "
Hm. Guess what tonight’s bathtub/bedtime reading material will be?
I don’t have specific favorites, but I think the Elephant’s Child has the most great outtake lines (most of which have already been mentioned in this thread).
My dad would read these to me when I was small, and I could always tell how much he enjoyed reading them aloud. Which, I guess, was part of Kipling’s genius - the stories are obviously meant to be read aloud to a “best-beloved” child. Something he & Milne had in common.
Mom still has the book, a wonderful hardcover with gorgeous color plates opposite the title page of each story - wonderful paintings of a scene from that story. There are also b&w drawings peppered throughout, which, IIRC may have been drawn by Kipling himself.
“How the Whale Got his Throat” - I remember very little of the text itself, but the gyst of the story remains in my mind. And, of course, one of those b&w drawings of the whale’s mouth opening HUGE to swallow the man on the raft.
…
Wow. I just found this page, 'pon which are collected many of Kipling’s works, in full text. I think I’m gonna do some re-reading…
Wow. I haven’t read or even thought much about those stories in… what, fifteen years? This thread was a real trip down memory lane. I vividly remember the alphabet and whale ones.
)
Second choice would be How the Leopard Got His Spots. Best poem has to be "I keep six honest serving men / (They taught me all I knew); / Their names are What and Where and When / and How and Why and Who. . . . "