How the Camel Got his Hump

How the Camel Got his Hump

Original Text
"Just So Verses," Rudyard Kipling's Verse: Definitive Edition (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1940): 604-05.
1The Camel's hump is an ugly lump
2   Which well you may see at the Zoo;
3But uglier yet is the hump we get
4   From having too little to do.
5Kiddies and grown-ups too-oo-oo,
6   If we haven't enough to do-oo-oo,
7      We get the hump--
8      Cameelious hump--
9The hump that is black and blue!
12We shiver and scowl and we grunt and we growl
13   At our bath and our boots and our toys;
14And there ought to be a corner for me
15   (And I know there is one for you)
16      When we get the hump--
17      Cameelious hump--
18The hump that is black and blue!
19The cure for this ill is not to sit still,
21But to take a large hoe and a shovel also,
22   And dig till you gently perspire;
23And then you will find that the sun and the wind,
25      Have lifted the hump--
26      The horrible hump--
27The hump that is black and blue!
28I get it as well as you-oo-oo--
29If I haven't enough to do-oo-oo!
30      We all get hump--
31      Cameelious hump--
32Kiddies and grown-ups too!

Notes

10] frouzly: frouzy, ill-kempt. Back to Line
11] snarly-yarly: an invented word, meaning cross and inclined to snap. Back to Line
20] frowst: settle down comfortably and warm. Back to Line
24] Djinn: Arabic term for a magical creature, a genie. Back to Line
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2007
Rhyme