The Story Of Little Black Sambo [Helen]
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ONCE upon a time there was a little black boy,
and his name was Little Black Sambo.
And his Mother was called Black Mumbo.
And his Father was called Black Jumbo.
And Black Mumbo made him a beautiful little Red Coat and a pair of beautiful little Blue Trousers.
And Black Jumbo went to the Bazaar and
bought him a beautiful Green Umbrella and a lovely little Pair of Purple Shoes
with Crimson Soles and Crimson Linings.
And then wasn't Little Black Sambo grand?
So he put on all his fine clothes and went out for a walk in the Jungle. And by and by he met a Tiger. And the Tiger said to him, ''Little Black Sambo, I'm going to eat you up!”
And Little Black Sambo said, ''Oh! Please, Mr.
Tiger, don't eat me up, and I’ll give you my beautiful little Red Coat.” So the
Tiger said, “Very well, I won't eat you this time, but you must give me your
beautiful little Red Coat." So the Tiger got poor Little Black Sambo's
beautiful little Red Coat, and went away saying, "Now I'm the grandest
Tiger in the Jungle."
And Little Black Sambo went on, and by and by he met another Tiger, and it said to him, "Little Black Sambo, I'm going to eat you up!" And Little Black Sambo said, ''Oh! Please, Mr. Tiger, don't eat me up, and I'll give you my beautiful little Blue Trousers." So the Tiger said, ' -Very well, I won't eat you this time, but you must give me your beautiful little Blue Trousers." So the Tiger got poor Little Black Sambo's beautiful little Blue Trousers, and went away saying, ''Now I'm the grandest Tiger in the Jungle."
And Little Black Sambo
went on, and by and by he met another Tiger, and it said to him, "Little
Black Sambo, I'm going to eat you up!" And Little Black Sambo said, ''Oh!
Please, Mr. Tiger, don’t eat me up, and I'll give you my beautiful little
Purple Shoes with Crimson Soles and Crimson Linings."
But the Tiger said, “What use would your shoes be
to me? I've got four feet, and you've got only two; you haven't got enough
shoes for me."
But Little Black Sambo said, ''You could wear them
on your ears."
"So I could," said the Tiger;
"that's a very good idea. Give them to me, and I won't eat you this
time."
So the Tiger got poor Little Black Sambo's beautiful little Purple Shoes with Crimson Soles and Crimson Linings, and went away saying, "Now I'm the grandest Tiger in the Jungle."
And by and by Little Black
Sambo met another Tiger, and it said to him, ''Little Black Sambo, I'm going to
eat you up!" And Little Black Sambo said, ''Oh, Please, Mr. Tiger, don't
eat me up, and I'll give you my beautiful Green Umbrella." But the Tiger
said, "How can I carry an umbrella, when I need all my paws for walking
with?"
''You could tie a knot in your tail, and carry it
that way," said Little Black Sambo. ''So I could," said the Tiger.
''Give it to me, and I won't eat you this time," So he got poor Little
Black Sambo's beautiful Green Umbrella, and went away saying, ''Now I'm the
grandest Tiger in the Jungle."
And poor Little Black Sambo went away crying,
because the cruel Tigers had taken all his fine clothes.
Presently he heard a horrible noise that sounded
like "Gr-r-r-r-rrrrrrr," and it got louder and louder, ''Oh,
dear!" said Little Black Sambo, "there are all the Tigers coming back
to eat me up I What shall I do?" So he ran quickly to a palm-tree and
peeped round it to see what the matter was.
And there he saw all the Tigers fighting and
disputing which of them was the grandest. And at last they all got so angry
that they jumped up and took off all the fine clothes and began to tear each
other with their claws, and bite each other with their great big white teeth.
And they came, rolling and tumbling right to the foot of the very tree where Little Black Sambo was hiding, but he jumped quickly in behind the umbrella. And the Tigers all caught hold of each others tails as they wrangled and scrambled, and so they found themselves in a ring around the tree.
Then, when he was quite a
little distance away from the Tigers, Little Black Sambo jumped up and called
out, "Oh! Tigers, why have you taken off all your nice clothes?' Don't you
want them anymore?" But the Tigers only answered, “Gr-r-rrrrrr!"
Then Little Black Sambo said, 'If you want them,
say so, or I'll take them away." But the Tigers would not let go of each
others' tails, and so they could only say “Gr-r-r-rrrrrrrr!"
So Little Black Sambo put on all his fine clothes
again and walked off.
And the Tigers were very, very angry, but still
they would not let go of each others' tails. And they were so angry that they
ran round the tree, trying to eat each other up, and they ran faster and
faster, till they were whirling round so fast that you couldn't see their legs
at all.
And still they ran faster and faster and faster,
till they all just melted away, and there was nothing left but a great big pool
of melted butter (or ''ghi," as it is called in India) round the foot of
the tree.
Now Black Jumbo was just coming home from his
work,' with a great big brass pot in his arms, and when he saw what was left of
all the Tigers he said, ''Oh! what lovely melted butter ! I'll take that home
to Black Mumbo for her to cook with."
So he put it all into the great big brass pot and
took it home to Black Mumbo to cook with.
When Black Mumbo saw the melted butter, wasn't she
pleased! ''Now," said she, "we'll all have pancakes for supper!"
So she got flour and eggs and milk and sugar and
butter, and she made a huge big plate of most lovely pancakes. And she fried
them in the melted butter which the Tigers had made, and they were just as yellow
and brown as little Tigers.
And then they all sat down to supper. And Black
Mumbo ate Twenty-seven pancakes, and Black Jumbo ate Fifty-five, but Little
Black Sambo ate a Hundred and Sixty nine, because he was so hungry.
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