Because of his "satiable curtiosity" about what the crocodile has for dinner, the elephant's child and all elephants thereafter have long trunks.

In the yellow hues of the African plains, hunting was easy for the leopard, whose light coat served as camouflage. When all the animals moved away, the hungry leopard had to follow them to the striped, spotted forest. But he didn't stand a chance of survival unless he acquired spots himself.

The Jungle Book key characters are Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves and Sher Khan, biggest tiger in India. As Baloo the sleepy brown bear, Bagheera the cunning black panther, Kaa the python, and his other animal friends teach their beloved "man-cub" the ways of the jungle, Mowgli gains the strength and wisdom he needs for his frightful fight with Shere Khan, the tiger who robbed him of his human family. But there are also the tales of Rikki-tikki-tavi...

With vivid characters and an hysterically funny choice of words, Rudyard Kipling's beloved stories "explain" how camels got humps, great whales got tiny throats, elephants got trunks and more.

This collection brings together seventeen of Kipling's early stories, written between 1885 and 1888, when Kipling was working as a journalist in India. Wry comedies of British officialdom alternate with glimpses into the harsh lives of the common soldiers and the Indian poor, revealing Kipling's legendary powers of observation, and in "Baa Baa, Black Sheep" his own miserable childhood. From Mrs. Hauksbee's Simla drawing-room to Mulvaney's cot in barracks,...

Presents the first volume of the classic short story collection with new illustrations, including such stories as "How the whale got his throat," and "The elephant's child."

Mowgli, lost in the deep jungle as a child, is adopted into a family of wolves. Hunted by Shere Khan, the Bengal tiger, Mowgli is allowed to run with the wolf pack under the protection of Bagheera, the black panther, and Baloo, the brown bear who teaches wolf cubs the Laws of the Jungle. Through his many adventures, Mowgli evolves from a vengeful member of the pack to a just and compassionate human being who at last returns to join perhaps to lead...