Just So Stories
57 pages • 1-hour read
Rudyard KiplingJust So Stories
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Themes
Living with Morality and Integrity
The tales in Just So Stories contain a series of lessons to teach young readers about living with morality and integrity. The stories condemn vices like pride, laziness, and selfishness while celebrating virtues like hard work, obedience, humility, and curiosity. The characters in the stories are punished for their vices and rewarded for their virtues, illustrating the ethical code that one should live by in human society.
Most of the Just So Stories warn against pride, gluttony, and vanity. They teach that one should not be entitled or boastful and must avoid a sense of superiority over others. The Camel, for example, is “most ‘scruciating idle” (4) in the desert while the other animals are working hard for Man, doing everything that needs to be done at the start of the world. This is unfair to the other animals, and he is punished with his hump. Similarly, the Crab feels very important when he learns how much he has been disturbing the sea with his movements, but he is taught humility by losing his protective shell for one month every year. The Kangaroo is another particularly prideful character: When he asks to be made special and “different from all other animals” (24), the God Nqong makes him the victim of a practical joke, illustrating how pride makes individuals vulnerable.
The converse of vices like pride and vanity are the virtues of humility, kindness, and dedication. Throughout the text, the most virtuous characters are often children. Characters like the Elephant’s Child and Taffy are full of childish innocence and curiosity. Their endless questions and mischievousness often annoy the adults around them but lead to important and useful discoveries, even if they are hard to see at first. The Elephant’s Child’s new trunk, for example, seems like a punishment for his “‘satiable curtiosity” (17), but it soon turns out to be very useful. The same is true of Taffy’s misinterpreted drawing. While the misunderstanding almost results in the execution of the poor Stranger-man, the chief of the tribe soon celebrates Taffy’s discovery of letter-writing. These stories suggest that immense value can come from the playfulness and inquisitiveness of childhood, which is often inherently lacking in egocentrism.
Letting go of egotistical vices like pride and vanity opens the door to collaboration and cooperation. Many of the stories take place long ago when the world was new, and show men and animals working together to develop society and make life better for everyone. However, defectors like the Camel and the Crab illustrate how this system only works if we care about others and focus on something other than our own self-interest.
The Lasting Consequences of Actions
The texts in Just So Stories illustrate how both good and bad actions can have potentially permanent consequences. They suggest the importance of thinking before acting and of understanding the relationship between an action and its outcome.
Most of the Just So Stories explain how some features of the natural world came to be, painting characteristics of certain animals as consequences of some long-ago action. The Rhinoceros, for example, eats the Parsee man’s cake, and the Parsee man retaliates by putting crumbs in the Rhinoceros’s skin, which makes him itch until his skin has great folds in it. The Elephant’s Child’s trunk is similarly a consequence of his journey to find the Crocodile, and the Kangaroo’s strong legs are the consequence of asking to be made special from all the animals. These animals create a permanent physical change in the world through their actions. Not only does the animal itself pay for its actions, but all of its descendants for the rest of time bear the physical reminder of their ancestor’s deeds or misdeeds. However, the inverse is also true: Taffy’s development of letter-writing and the alphabet goes on to benefit all future generations. Similarly, the Elephant’s Child’s trunk is an asset for all future elephants.
In some stories, characters develop new features not as accidental consequences, but through an intentional effort to make themselves different in a certain way. The Leopard and the Ethiopian man, for example, change their colors to hunt more effectively in the forest, and the Tortoise and the Hedgehog teach each other new skills until they come to resemble an entirely new animal. Although these changes are more or less under the animals’ control, they are still largely permanent and represent how the actions of one individual can change future generations forever.
The Just So Stories illustrate how even something small can change the world. In fact, that is exactly how the world is created, one small action and its consequence at a time. Through our daily actions and choices, we shape ourselves and the world around us both intentionally and unintentionally. This provides both inspiration and caution for young readers: When every action has potential consequences, one must be aware of what they are doing and think about possible consequences before acting. One should let go of egotistical behavior and think about what the consequences might be for themselves and others.
The Relationship Between Man and Animals
Many of the Just So Stories explore the relationship between man and the natural world. The stories are somewhat biblical in nature, giving human beings an Adam-and-Eve-esque dominion over the earth and sea. Throughout the text, humans are directly involved in establishing some key features of the natural world, from installing the grate in the Whale’s throat to painting on the Leopard’s spots. Humans represent a controlling force, bringing order and structure to the chaos of nature.
Most Just So Stories take place “in the beginning of years” (4) and deal with not only the creation of the natural world but also the development of the structures and hierarchies of modern society. Humans are at the top of this hierarchy, generally thanks to their “infinite-resource-and-sagacity” (2). Repeatedly, Kipling illustrates the triumph of wit and intelligence over size and brute force. The Mariner bests the huge Whale, for example, because he can outsmart it. Man may not be the biggest and strongest animal, but he is the smartest, so the rest of the natural world is generally quick to obey. The Eldest Magician in “The Crab That Played With the Sea” explicitly calls the Man “too wise” to participate in the creation of the world with the other animals, and promises to make the natural world “obedient to [him]” (53).
Stories like “How the Camel Got His Hump” and “The Cat That Walked by Himself” show the domestication of animals like dogs, horses, and cows, most of whom are happy to work for the Man. However, some animals, like the Camel and the Crab, resist man’s dominance. In these instances, Man doesn’t generally force his dominance. In “How the Camel Got His Hump,” for example, the Man shrugs off the Camel’s refusal to work. However, some supernatural being generally intercedes on Man’s behalf. Beings like gods and magicians work to bring rebellious elements of the natural world under Man’s control: The Djinn punishes the Camel with his hump, and the Eldest Magician punishes the Crab for disrupting the sea.
This supernatural assistance suggests that Man’s superiority is inherent, part of the natural order of things, and going against that order must be stopped. The only apparent exception is “The Cat Who Walked by Himself,” as the Cat outsmarts the Woman and isn’t punished for his rebellion. He has to face the antagonism of the Man and the Dog, but he manages to enjoy the creature comforts of domesticated life without giving up his independence. Nevertheless, most of Just So Stories present hierarchies and the dynamics of domination as natural and desirable, reflecting some of the sociopolitical values and assumptions of Kipling’s own time.
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