Topic: Poetry and Poets
In his Just So Stories, originally written for his daughter and published in 1902, Rudyard Kipling describes 'How the Camel Got His Hump'. The story goes that, when the world was new, there was a Camel who did not want to work for Man and who was most 'scruciating idle; and when anybody spoke to him he said 'Humph!' Just 'Humph!' and no more. The Horse, the Dog and the Ox got very angry and so, when the Djinn in charge of All Deserts stopped by to chat, they told him all about the Camel's laziness.
The Djinn went to see the Camel, who said, 'Humph!' He asked the Camel to work. 'Humph!' And then, the Camel's back puffed up into a great big lolloping humph. The Djinn told the Camel that, as he had missed three days of work, he would now be able to work for three days without eating because he could live off his humph.
And from that day to this, the Camel always wears a humph, (which we now call a hump). But he never caught up with the three days he missed and he never learned how to behave.
THE Camel's hump is an ugly lump
Which well you may see at the Zoo;
But uglier yet is the hump we get
From having too little to do.
Kiddies and grown-ups too-oo-oo,
If we haven't enough to do-oo-oo,
We get the hump --
Cameelious hump --
The hump that is black and blue!
We climb out of bed with a frouzly head,
And a snarly-yarly voice.
We shiver and scowl and we grunt and we growl
At our bath and our boots and our toys;
And there ought to be a corner for me
(And I know' there is one for you)
When we get the hump --
Cameelious hump --
The hump that is black and blue!
The cure for this ill is not to sit still,
Or frowst with a book by the fire;
But to take a large hoe and a shovel also,
And dig till you gently perspire;
And then you will find that the sun and the wind,
And the Djinn of the Garden too,
Have lifted the hump --
The horrible hump --
The hump that is black and blue!
I get it as well as you-oo-oo-
If I haven't enough to do-oo-oo!
We all get hump --
Cameelious hump --
Kiddies and grown-ups too!