Rudyard Kipling

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'This, O my Best Beloved, is a story . . .' How did the Leopard get his spots? Or the Rhinoceros his skin? How was the Alphabet made? And why does the Cat walk by himself? Rudyard Kipling’s magical, witty Just So Stories is guaranteed to delight, whether you are familiar with the tales or discovering them for the first time. `Just So Stories was the first book I ever truly loved’ – Michael Morpurgo Egmont Classics are books to treasure.

"What are the bugles blowin' for?" said Files-on-Parade. "To turn you out, to turn you out", the Colour-Sergeant said. "What makes you look so white, so white?" said Files-on-Parade. "I'm dreadin' what I've got to watch", the Colour-Sergeant said. For they're hangin' Danny Deever, you can hear the Dead March play, The regiment's in 'ollow square-they're hangin' him to-day; They've taken of his buttons off an' cut his stripes away, An' they're hangin' Danny Deever in the mornin'.

The A. B. C., that semi-elected, semi-nominated body of a few score persons, controls the Planet. Transportation is Civilisation, our motto runs. Theoretically we do what we please, so long as we do not interfere with the traffic and all it implies. Practically, the A. B. C. confirms or annuls all international arrangements, and, to judge from its last report, finds our tolerant, humorous, lazy little Planet only too ready to shift the whole burden of public administration on its shoulders. 'With the Night Mail.' Actions and Reactions. Isn't it almost time that our Planet took some interest in the proceedings of the A rial Board of Control? One knows that easy communications nowadays, and lack of privacy in the past, have killed all curiosity among mankind, but as the Board's Official Reporter I am bound to tell my tale.