Just So Stories - Illustrated #203468

Just So Stories (1902) by Rudyard Kipling, and illustrated by Joseph M. Gleeson and Rudyard Kipling. The Color Illustrations are by Joseph M. Gleeson and were originaly published by Doubleday & Company, in 1912 the Black & white images are by Rudyard Kipling.

This stories  are highly fantasised origin stories and are among Kipling's best known works.

The Just So Stories have a typical theme of a particular animal being modified from an original form to its current form by the acts of man, or some magical being. For example, the Whale has a tiny throat from a swallowed mariner who tied a raft in there to block the whale from swallowing others. The Camel has a hump given to him by a djinn as punishment for the camel refusing to work (the hump allows the camel to work longer between eating). The Leopard has spots painted on him by an Ethiopian (after the Ethiopian painted himself black). The Kangaroo gets its powerful hind legs, long tail, and hopping gait after being chased all day by a dingo...