How the Camel Got His Hump (Campfire Story)

Now this is the next tale, O Best Beloved, and it tells how the Camel got his big hump.

In the beginning of years, when the world was so new and all, 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. Besides, he was a Howler himself. So he ate sticks and thorns and prickles, most 'scruciating idle. And when anybody spoke to him, he said 'HUMPH!' Just 'HUMPH!' and no more.

Presently, on Monday morning, the HORSE came to him, with a saddle on his back and a bit in his mouth, and said, 'Camel, O Camel, come out and trot like the rest of us.'

'HUMPH!' said the Camel. And the HORSE went away and told the Man.

Presently the DOG came to him, with a stick in his mouth, and said, 'Camel, O Camel, come and fetch and carry like the rest of us.'

'HUMPH!' said the Camel. And the DOG went away and told the Man.

Presently the OX came to him, with the yoke on his neck, and said, 'Camel, O Camel, come and plow like the rest of us.'

'HUMPH!' said the Camel. And the OX went away and told the Man.

At the end of the day the Man called the HORSE and the DOG and the OX together, and said, 'Three, O Three, I'm very sorry for you, with the world so new and all. But that Humph-thing in the Desert can't work, or he would have been here by now. So I am going to leave him alone, and you must work double time to make up for it.'

That made the Three very angry, with the world so new and all. They held a palaver, and an indaba, and a punchayet, and a pow-wow on the edge of the Desert. And the Camel came chewing milkweed, most 'scruciating idle, and laughed at them. Then he said 'HUMPH!' and went away again.

Presently there came along the Djinn in charge of All Deserts, rolling in a cloud of dust. Djinns always travel that way, because it is Magic.

'Djinn of All Deserts,' said the HORSE, 'is it right for anyone to be idle, with the world so new and all?'

'Certainly not,' said the Djinn.

'Well,' said the HORSE, 'there's a thing in the middle of your Howling Desert with a long neck and long legs, and he hasn't done a stroke of work since Monday morning. He won't trot.'

'Whew!' said the Djinn, whistling. 'That's my Camel, for all the gold in Arabia! What does he say about it?'

'He says HUMPH!' said the DOG. 'And he won't fetch and carry.'

'Does he say anything else?'

'Only HUMPH!' said the OX. 'And he won't plow.'

'Very good,' said the Djinn. 'I'll humph him, if you will kindly wait a minute.'

The Djinn rolled himself up in his dust-cloak, and took a bearing across the desert, and found the Camel most 'scruciatingly idle, looking at his own reflection in a pool of water.

'My long and bubbling friend,' said the Djinn, 'what's this I hear of your doing no work, with the world so new and all?'

'HUMPH!' said the Camel.

The Djinn sat down, with his chin in his hand, and began to think a Great Magic, while the Camel looked at his own reflection in the pool.

'You've given the Three extra work ever since Monday morning, all on account of your 'scruciating idleness,' said the Djinn. And he went on thinking Magics, with his chin in his hand.

'HUMPH!' said the Camel.

'I shouldn't say that again if I were you,' said the Djinn. 'You might say it once too often. Bubbles, I want you to work.'

pause, and let the crowd say it with the biggest, laziest attitude they can

But no sooner had he said it than he saw his back, that he was so proud of, puffing up and puffing up into a great big lolloping humph.

'Do you see that?' said the Djinn. 'That's your very own humph that you've brought upon your very own self by not working. Today is Thursday, and you've done no work since Monday, when the work began. Now you are going to work.'

'How can I,' said the Camel, 'with this humph on my back?'

'That's made on purpose,' said the Djinn, 'all because you missed those three days. You will be able to work now for three days without eating, because you can live on your humph. And don't you ever say I never did anything for you. Come out of the Desert and go to the Three, and behave. Humph yourself!'

And the Camel humphed himself, humph and all, and went away to join the Three. And from that day to this, the Camel always wears a humph. We call it a hump now, so as not to hurt his feelings. But he has never yet caught up with the three days that he missed at the beginning of the world, and he has never yet learned how to behave.

Storyteller tips: HUMPH is the whole show, so let the crowd make it as rude and lazy as they like. Point to them each time the Camel opens his mouth. The Djinn's warning, "You might say it once too often," is the moment to pause, so they get to say it one last time and seal the Camel's fate.

Condensed from "How the Camel Got His Hump" in Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, 1902, now in the public domain. Kipling wrote them to be read aloud to his children exactly as written, which is why they're called Just So.