Tuesday Poem-The Camel’s hump is an ugly lump-Rudyard Kipling

The Camel’s hump is an ugly lump
Which well you may see at the Zoo;
But uglier yet is the hump we get
From having too little to do.

Kiddies and grown-ups too-oo-oo,
If we haven’t enough to do-oo-oo,
We get the hump—
Cameelious hump—
The hump that is black and blue!

We climb out of bed with a frouzly head
And a snarly-yarly voice.
We shiver and scowl and we grunt and we growl
At our bath and our boots and our toys;

And there ought to be a corner for me
(And I know there is one for you)
When we get the hump—
Cameelious hump—
The hump that is black and blue!

The cure for this ill is not to sit still,
Or frowst with a book by the fire;
But to take a large hoe and a shovel also,
And dig till you gently perspire;

And then you will find that the sun and the wind.
And the Djinn of the Garden too,
Have lifted the hump—
The horrible hump—
The hump that is black and blue!

I get it as well as you-oo-oo—
If I haven’t enough to do-oo-oo—
We all get hump—
Cameelious hump—
Kiddies and grown-ups too!

The picture below is a woodcut by Rudyard Kipling. It shows the Djinn magicing the camel’s hump.

Quote from Wikipaedia…A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back…

What marvellous words these are!

This poem goes with the story, How the Camel Got his Hump,  one of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So stories. Rudyard Kipling, born in Bombay, lived 1865 – 18 January 1936. He was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist. Kipling , who received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907,  has a huge and fascinating writer’s history. It has been said that The Just So stories are a satire of Darwin’s Theory Of Man. If this topic is of interest go here

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