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âThe Elephant's Childâ
Rudyard Kipling's illustration for âThe Elephant's Childâ from Just So Stories (1902).
Just So Stories
work by Kipling
Just So Stories, collection of childrenâs animal fables linked by poems by Rudyard Kipling, published in 1902. Most of the stories include far-fetched descriptions of how certain animals developed their peculiar physical characteristics, as in âHow the Leopard Got His Spots.â In the stories, Kipling parodied the subject matter and style of several traditional works, such as the Buddhist Jataka tales and The Thousand and One Nights.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.
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