Like many I remember the Just So Stories from childhood. Phrases like “the cat who walked by himself (or herself)” were part of my family’s vocabulary. I recall some of the Kipling illustrations but have no memory of the poems or the commentaries on the illustrations.
I love the language and the humor of the Just So Stories. I love the mix of magic and the detail of everyday life in the tales. And the explanations for “how this or that” seem perfectly plausible in terms of human nature. From my reading I think that Kipling based only the Crab on a known folk tale. The rest appear to have been made up whole cloth. Yet the Just So stories have the ring of myth wrapped in delightful word play. They are child-like and wise at once. They are great fun and at times make you laugh out loud or at the very least smile. Lessons are in the stories but they are tenderly given and seem quite practical advice and never overwhelm the pleasure of the tale.
For modern tastes the Kipling illustrations are probably too stark and the parallel commentary is foreign to us who assume we can interpret the pictures ourselves. We want color. Yet I think the Kipling illustrations and commentaries and the story text are so interwoven that it is a shame not to have them more widely know by today’s children. But I think in the original form, the entire work would have to be introduced to children, most suitably by reading the stories aloud and looking at and discussing the pictures and commentary together.
Some of the poems are charming like the companion to “How the Leopard Got His Spots” where a child (perhaps Kipling’s Josephine) urges her father to “melt into the landscape-just us two by our lones” but most are forgettable. I doubt they would hold much appeal for today’s child or adult reader for that matter.
The real charm of the book lies in the stories and in some stories more than others. “The Elephant’s Child” has been the most retold and re-illustrated and is probably the best known of the stories with good reason. I am also very fond of the Cat and the Alphabet but the Kangaroo and the First Letter do not so much appeal to me.
It is also with good reason that we now have a number of audio versions of the Just So Stories by the likes of Boris Karloff, and my favorite Geofrey Palmer, for they are meant to be read aloud. I find that adults that know the tales can fill in lines like “all set about with fever trees” when supplied with “great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River.” Kipling’s use of the repeated phrase or refrain and the rhythm of his words are pure pleasure.
Will the Just So Stories live on? Resoundingly, yes, but perhaps more as individual tales than as the integrated art of illustration, poem and story originally conceived by Kipling as the Just So Stories.