The rhinoceros gets his loose skin and bad temper from the itching brought about by having cake crumbs under his hide.
The elephant’s trunk is the result of a tussle with a hungry crocodile, and the kangaroo’s shape and ability to jump came about when he was chased by a dingo for an entire day. So Kipling’s armadillo arises from the magical fusion of a hedgehog and a tortoise who practice swimming and curling up, respectively, until their shapes modify. Kipling himself was born and spent his very early life in India, and some of the inspiration for these stories comes from traditional tales he heard from his ayah and the family’s other servants. They follow the traditional genre of stories that explain how unusual natural phenomenon came about, often using fantastic and highly magical explanations. Kipling’s Just So Stories are among the most enduring classic children’s tales.
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