NCERT Book Class 8 English (It So Happened) Chapter 1 How the camel got his hump

1 How the Camel got his hump
I
• The world had just begun, and the animals were working for
humans.
• There was one lazy animal that did nothing, and said nothing
but ‘Humph’.
• Even the clever Djinn was at his wit’s end.

IN the beginning, when the world was new and the Animals were just
beginning to work for Man, there was a Camel, and he lived in the
middle of a Howling Desert because he did not want to work. He ate
sticks and thorns and prickles, and when anybody spoke to him he
said “Humph!” Just “Humph!” and no more.
Presently the Horse came to
him on Monday morning, with a
saddle on his back and said,
“Camel, O Camel, come out and
trot like the rest of us.”
“Humph!” said the Camel, and
the Horse went away and told the
Man.
Presently the Dog came to him,
with a stick in his mouth, and said,

Djinn: (pronounced ‘jin’ and variously spelt as ‘genie’, ‘genii’, ‘jinnee’, ‘djinni’, ‘djinny’): a
spirit that has strange powers and can assume any form, human or animal