Not Quite So Stories; How the Camel Really Got his Hump.

Not Quite So Stories

How the Camel Really Got his Hump

Now this is the tale of how the Camel got his hump.

In the beginning of years, when the world was so new and all, and Mother Nature had finished evolving the Plants and the Birds, the Fish and the Animals and all the little Creatures and Man was put in place as their Caretaker, there was a Camel (most blue and forlorn), and he lived in the middle of a Howling Desert.  He was a pitiful creature, a Howler himself, made of all the bits Mother Nature had left over.  He had the teeth of the Jackrabbit which caused him to drool, the thick wool of the Bear making him sweat and itch in the heat of the Howling Desert, the cloven hooves of the Deer  and knobbly knees that gave the impression of being put on backwards, making him ungainly.  The whole made him a bad-tempered fellow; and when anybody spoke to him he said "Humph!" Just "humph" and no more.  So he spent his time hiding in the Desert while Man put the other Animals to work.

Presently the Horse came to him on Monday morning, with a saddle on his back and a bit in his mouth, and said, "Camel, O Camel, come out and trot like the rest of us."

With his strange knees and cloven hooves Camel lacked the grace and speed of Horse and had no intention of enduring the humiliation of trotting alongside the proud creature, so he said simply, "Humph!" and the Horse went away and told the Man.

Presently the Dog came to him, with a stick in his mouth, and said, "Camel, O Camel, come and fetch and carry like the rest of us." And he nipped the poor Camel on the ankle for good measure.

With his drooling mouth and Jackrabbit teeth, Camel would be unable to fetch and carry, so "Humph!" he said; and the Dog went away and told the Man.

Presently the Ox came to him, with the yoke on his neck and said, "Camel, O Camel, come and plough like the rest of us."

With his thin neck, strange knees and hot, itchy wool, there was no way Camel would have half the strength and stamina of Ox. 

"Humph!" said the Camel; and the Ox went away and told the Man.

At the end of the day the Man called the Horse and the Dog and the Ox together, and said,

"Three, O Three, I'm very sorry for you (with the world so new-and-all); but that Humph-thing in the Desert can't work, or he would have been here by now, so I am going to leave him alone, and you must work double-time to make up for it."

That made the Three very angry (with the world so new-and-all), and they held a palaver, and an indaba and a punchayet, and a pow-wow on the edge of the Desert.  The Camel came upon them, but said simply "Humph!" and went away again.

Presently there came along a Djinn in charge of All Deserts, rolling in on a cloud of dust (for he was magic), and he stopped to join the palaver of the Three.

"Djinn of All Deserts," said the Horse, "Is it right for any one to be idle, with the world so new-and-all?"

"Certainly not," said the Djinn.

"Well," said the Horse, "there's a thing in the Howling Desert, a Camel (and he is a Howler himself); and he hasn't done a stroke of work since Monday morning and he won't trot."

"My goodness!" said the Djinn. "What does he say about it?"

"He says 'Humph!'" said the Dog, "and he won't fetch and carry."

"That's right," added the Ox, "and he won't plough."

"Very good," said the Djinn.  "I'll humph him if you will kindly wait a minute."

The Djinn rolled himself up in his dust-cloud and entered the Howling Desert, where presently he came across the Camel, most blue and forlorn, looking at his own reflection in a pool of water.

"My long and drooling friend," said the Djinn, "what's this I hear of your doing no work, with the world so new-and-all?"

And the Camel wanted to say his teeth were too big, his coat too woolly and his strange knees and cloven hooves too ungainly, but he was drooling as badly as ever, and all he could manage was, "Humph!"

So the Djinn sat down with his chin in his hand, and began to think a Great Magic, while the Camel looked at his own reflection in the pool of water, most blue and forlorn.

"You’ve given the Three extra work ever since Monday morning, all on account of your blue forlorn-ness," said the Djinn; and he went on thinking his Magic.

"Humph!" said the Camel.

"I shouldn't say that again if I were you," said the Djinn, "you might say it once too often.  Howler, I want you to work."

And the Camel said "Humph!" again; but no sooner had he said it than he saw his back, puffing up and puffing up into a great big lolloping humph.

"Do you see that?" said the Djinn, "That's your very own humph and you've brought it upon yourself by not working.  You have the work of Three to make up for, and this humph will enable you to do that - you will be able to work now without food for three days, because you can live on your humph.  Now come out of the Desert and go to work with the Three.  Humph yourself!"

And the Camel humphed himself, humph and all, and went to join to the Three.

And to this day, the Camel works the hardest of all the Animals, though his knees are too knobbly, his wool too thick and his mouth drooling, the heavy hump adding to his burden; and Man beats him most severely of all the Animals for his lack of grace or strength.

It is no wonder the Camel is the most bad-tempered of Animals, prone to kicking and spitting at his Masters, and most blue and forlorn, all because Mother Nature saw fit to make him out of spare parts.