How the Whale Got His Throat

In the sea, once upon a time, Ô my Best Beloved, there was a Whale, and he ate fishes. He ate the starfish and the garfish, and the crab and the dab, and the plaice and the dace, and the skate and his mate, and the mackereel and the pickereel, and the really truly...

How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin

Once upon a time, on an uninhabited island on the shores of the Red Sea, there lived a Parsee whose hat reflected the rays of the sun in more-than-oriental splendour. The Parsee lived there with nothing but his hat, his knife and a cooking-stove of the kind that you...

How the Camel Got His Hump

This tale is about how the Camel got his big hump. In the beginning of years, when the world was so new, and the Animals were just beginning to work for Man, there was a Camel. He lived in the middle of a Howling Desert because he did not want to work; and besides, he...

The Selfish Giant

Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Giant’s garden. It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach-trees...

Jack and Gill

Jack and Gill Went up the hill, To fetch a pail of water; Jack fell down, And broke his crown, And Gill came tumbling after. Up Jack got And home did trot, As fast as he could muster; Went to bed To mend his head With vinegar and brown paper. Gill came in And she did...