Just So Stories for Little Children was published by Macmillan in 1902 with Kipling’s own illustrations. The twelve stories are “pourquoi tales” — origin myths explaining how animals acquired their distinctive features. Kipling invented them as bedtime stories for his daughter Josephine (who died of pneumonia in 1899, aged six; the book is haunted by this loss).
The stories: “How the Whale Got His Throat” (a mariner tricks the whale with a grating), “How the Camel Got His Hump” (a lazy camel is cursed for saying “humph”), “How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin” (cake crumbs under his skin make it baggy), “The Elephant’s Child” (insatiable curiosity leads to the crocodile stretching his nose), “How the Leopard Got His Spots,” “The Cat That Walked by Himself” (the most philosophically complex — about domestication and the price of independence).
The stories are designed for reading aloud — Kipling insisted they must be told “just so,” word for word, because children notice any variation. The cadences are incantatory: “In the High and Far-Off Times the Elephant, O Best Beloved, had no trunk.” The prose rhythms embed themselves in childhood memory with the permanence of nursery rhymes.
Josephine
Josephine Kipling died of pneumonia in New York in March 1899, aged six. Kipling had been telling her these stories since she was old enough to listen. The book, published three years after her death, is haunted by her absence: the phrase “Best Beloved” — the child the stories address — is Josephine. This knowledge gives the stories an emotional weight that transcends their whimsical surfaces. The insistence that they must be told “just so” — word for word, without variation — is a father’s attempt to preserve the exact form of something shared with a child who is gone.
Kipling’s Illustrations
Kipling illustrated the book himself — detailed pen-and-ink drawings that are integral to the stories. The illustrations include elaborate, explanatory captions that add narrative information not contained in the text. They are sophisticated compositions that combine naturalistic animal drawing with decorative borders and symbolic elements. The book cannot properly be experienced without them.
Collecting Just So Stories
First edition (Macmillan, London, 1902): Red cloth boards with gilt elephant on cover. Illustrated by Kipling throughout.
Approximate market values:
- First edition, fine: $1,000–$3,000
- Very good: $400–$1,000
- US first (Doubleday, 1902): $200–$600
Value trajectory (2016–2026): Moderate appreciation.
Projected values (2026–2036): Fine copies should reach $3,000–$6,000.
Frequently Asked Questions
What age are these for? The stories were composed for a child of three to six. They work best when read aloud — the rhythms are designed for the speaking voice, and the repetitions (“O Best Beloved”) create a hypnotic effect that calms and enchants.
Which is the best story? “The Elephant’s Child” — with its “insatiable curiosity” and the crocodile stretching its nose — is the most popular. “The Cat That Walked by Himself” — about a cat who negotiates its own terms with humanity — is the most thematically complex and the one that adults tend to prefer.