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Just So Stories (version 2)

by Rudyard KIPLING (1868 - 1936)

How the Whale Got His Throat

The stories, first published in 1902, are fantastic accounts of how various natural phenomena came about. The original editions of Just So Stories were illustrated with woodcuts by Kipling himself. Read along online and see the illustrations at mainlesson.com. Each story is accompanied by a poem, in a somewhat ballad style. Many of the stories are addressed to "Best Beloved" (they were first written for Kipling's eldest daughter, Josephine, who had died during an outbreak of influenza in 1899), and throughout they use a comically elevated style inspired by the formal speech of India, full of long and improbable-sounding words, some of them made up. As a result, it is a delight to read them aloud, and easy to memorise passages from them. (Summary from Wikipedia)

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Listen next episodes of Just So Stories (version 2):
How the Alphabet was Made , How the Camel Got His Hump , How the First Letter was Written , How the Leopard Got His Spots , How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin , The Beginning of the Armadillos , The Butterfly that Stamped , The Cat who Walked by Himself , The Crab that Played with the Sea , The Elephant's Child , The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo