Synopsis
How did the leopard get his spots? How did the camel get his hump? How did an inquisitive little elephant change the lives of elephants everywhere? Kipling's imagined answers to such questions draw on the beast fables he heard as a child in India, as well as on fold traditions he later collected all over the world.
Children's Literature
Kipling loved the pourquoi tale and conjured up all sorts of preposterous explanations for the whims of nature. This is not a retelling, but a volume of Kipling's stories-classic because children and adults can appreciate them in their original and delightful language. These are his simple, reasonable interpretations of how the leopard got his spots, how armadillos came to be and how the camel got his hump. Pourquoi tales can qualify as fables if there is a lesson to be learned and a moral to the story. All Kipling's tales are laced with bits of Indian culture and studies of human behavior told with his genius for energetic, rhythmic language. The dynamic woodcuts, full of bright contrasts, decorate each tale.