

For example, the Whale has a tiny throat because he swallowed a mariner, who tied a raft inside to block the whale from swallowing other men.

The Just So Stories typically have the theme of a particular animal being modified from an original form to its current form by the acts of man, or some magical being. In it, Mowgli hears the story of how the tiger got his stripes. A forerunner of these stories is Kipling’s “How Fear Came,” included in his The Second Jungle Book (1895). The stories, first published in 1902, are pourquoi (French for “why”) or origin stories, fantastic accounts of how various phenomena came about. Highly fantasised origin stories, especially for differences among animals, they are among Kipling’s best known works. The Just So Stories for Little Children are a collection written by the British author Rudyard Kipling.
