Rudyard Kipling

Just So Stories Rudyard Kipling

N the sea, once upon a time, O my Best Beloved, there was a Whale, and he ate fishes. He atethe starfish and the garfish, and the crab and the dab, and the plaice and the dace, and the skate andhis mate, and the mackereel and the pickereel, and the really truly twirly-whirly eel. All the fishes hecould find in all the sea he ate with his mouth-so! Till at last there was only one small fish left in allthe sea, and he was a small 'Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the Whale's right ear, so as to beout of harm's way. Then the Whale stood up on his tail and said, 'I'm hungry.' And the small 'StuteFish said in a small 'stute voice, 'Noble and generous Cetacean, have you ever tasted Man?''No, ' said the Whale. 'What is it like?''Nice, ' said the small 'Stute Fish. 'Nice but nubbly.''Then fetch me some, ' said the Whale, and he made the sea froth up with his tail.'One at a time is enough, ' said the 'Stute Fish. 'If you swim to latitude Fifty North, longitudeForty West (that is magic), you will find, sitting on a raft, in the middle of the sea, with nothing onbut a pair of blue canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders (you must not forget the suspenders, BestBeloved), and a jack-knife, one ship-wrecked Mariner, who, it is only fair to tell you, is a man ofinfinite-resource-and-sagacity.'So the Whale swam and swam to latitude Fifty North, longitude Forty West, as fast as he couldswim, and on a raft, in the middle of the sea, with nothing to wear except a pair of blue canvasbreeches, a pair of suspenders (you must particularly remember the suspenders, Best Beloved), and ajack-knife, he found one single, solitary shipwrecked Mariner, trailing his toes in the water. (He hadhis mummy's leave to paddle, or else he would never have done it, because he was a man of infiniteresource-and-sagacity.) Then the Whale opened his mouth back and back and back till it nearly touched his tail, and heswallowed the shipwrecked Mariner, and the raft he was sitting on, and his blue canvas breeches, and the suspenders (which you must not forget), and the jack-knife-He swallowed them all downinto his warm, dark, inside cup-boards, and then he smacked his lips-so, and turned round threetimes on his tail. But as soon as the Mariner, who was a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity, found himself trulyinside the Whale's warm, dark, inside cup-boards, he stumped and he jumped and he thumped andhe bumped, and he pranced and he danced, and he banged and he clanged, and he hit and he bit, and he leaped and he creeped, and he prowled and he howled, and he hopped and he dropped, andhe cried and he sighed, and he crawled and he bawled, and he stepped and he lepped, and he dancedhornpipes where he shouldn't, and the Whale felt most unhappy indeed. (Have you forgotten thesuspenders?) So he said to the 'Stute Fish, 'This man is very nubbly, and besides he is making me hiccough. What shall I do?''Tell him to come out, ' said the 'Stut