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How the Whale Got his Throat

From Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling

This story comes from Just So Stories (1902) by Rudyard Kipling, a collection of playful origin tales that explain how animals came to be the way they are. Kipling invented the phrase 'just so' to describe something that happened in exactly one particular way and no other. This text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised. The tale is worth a child's time because it combines humour, inventive language, and the timeless pleasure of a trickster outwitted by someone even cleverer—all while answering the question of why whales eat only tiny fish.

Band

Green · Independent readers, earlyTypical starting range: ages 9–11

Length

medium · about 815 words in 5 sections · 3 pictures

Source

Just so stories, Rudyard Kipling

First published

1902

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (10 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Teacher’s Edition (members)

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.

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