The Story of Little Black Sambo
by
Helen Bannerman







Etext provided by John Horner





The Story of Little Black Sambo
By Helen Bannerman


PREFACE.

There is very little to say about the story of LITTLE BLACK
SAMBO. Once upon a time there was an English lady in India,
where black children abound and tigers are everyday affairs,
who had two little girls. To amuse these little girls she
used now and then to invent stories, for which, being
extremely talented, she also drew and coloured the pictures.
Among these stories LITTLE BLACK SAMBO, which was made up on a
long railway journey, was the favourite; and it has been put
into a DUMPY BOOK, and the pictures copies as exactly as
possible, in the hope that you will like it as much as the two
little girls did.



The Story of Little Black Sambo.

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 on 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-rrrrrr," and it got louder and louder. "Oh! dear!" said
Little Black Sambo, "there are all the Tigers coming back to
eat me up! 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 other's tails, as they wrangled and scrambled,
and so they found themselves in a ring round the tree.

Then, when the Tigers were very wee and very far away, Little
Black Sambo jumped up, and called out, "Oh! Tigers! why have
you taken off all your nice clothes? Don't you want them any
more?" But the Tigers only answered, "Gr-r-rrrr!"

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
other's tails, and so they could only say "Gr-r-r-rrrrrr!"

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 other's 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 they still 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.





The Story of Little Black Mingo
By Helen Bannerman




Once upon a time there was a little black girl, and her name
was Little Black Mingo.

She had no father and mother, so she had to live with a
horrid cross old woman called Black Noggy, who used to scold
her every day, and sometimes beat her with a stick, even
though she had done nothing naughty.

One day Black Noggy called her, and said, "Take this chatty
{ed. A chatty is a large ceramic vase used to carry water.}
down to the river and fill it with water, and come back as
fast as you can, QUICK NOW!"

So Little Black Mingo took the chatty and ran down to the
river as fast as she could, and began to fill it with water,
when Cr-r-rrrack!!! Bang!!! A horrible big Mugger {ed. A
Mugger is an alligator like creature.} poked its nose up
through the bottom of the chatty and said "Ha, ha!! Little
Mingo, I'm going to eat you up!"

Little Black Mingo did not say anything. She turned and ran
away as fast as ever she could, and the Mugger ran after
her. But the broken chatty round his neck caught his paws,
so he could not overtake her.

But when she got back to Black Noggy, and told her how the
Mugger had broken the chatty, Black Noggy was fearfully
angry. "You naughty girl," she said, "you have broken the
chatty yourself, I have a good mind to beat you." And if
she had not been in such a hurry for the water she WOULD
have beaten her.

Then she went and fetched the great big chatty that the
dhobi used to boil the clothes in. "Take this," said she,
"and mind you don't break it, or I WILL beat you."

"But I can't carry that when it is full of water," said
Little Black Mingo.

"You must go twice, and bring it half full each time," said
Black Noggy.

So Little Black Mingo took the dhobi's great big chatty, and
started again to go to the river. But first she went to a
little bank above the river, and peeped up and down, to see
if she could see the old Mugger anywhere. But she could not
see him, for he was hiding under the very bank she was
standing on, and though his tail stuck out a little she
never saw him at all.

She would have liked to run home, but she was too much
afraid that Black Noggy would beat her.

So Little Black Mingo crept down to the river, and began to
fill the big chatty with water. And while she was filling
it the Mugger came creeping softly down behind her and
caught her by the tail, saying, "Aha, Little Black Mingo,
now I've got you."

And Little Black Mingo said, "Oh! Please don't eat me up,
great big Mugger."

"What will you give me, if I don't eat you up?" said the
Mugger. But Little Black Mingo was so poor she had nothing
to give. So the Mugger caught her in his great cruel mouth
and swam away with her to an island in the middle of the
river and set her down beside a huge pile of eggs.

"Those are my eggs," said he; "to-morrow a little mugger
will come out of each, and then we will have a great feast,
and we will eat you up."

Then he waddled off to catch fish for himself, and left
Little Black Mingo alone beside the big pile of eggs.

And Little Black Mingo sat down on a big stone and hid her
face in her hands, and cried bitterly, because she couldn't
swim and she didn't know how to get away.

Presently she heard a queer little squeaky noise that
sounded like "Squeak, Squeak, Squeak!!! Oh Little Black
Mingo, help me or I shall be drowned." She got up and
looked to see what was calling, and she saw a bush coming
floating down the river with something wriggling and
scrambling about in it, and as it came near she saw that it
was a Mongoose that was in the bush. So she waded out as
far as she could, and caught hold of the bush and pulled it
in, and the poor Mongoose crawled up her arm on to her
shoulder, and she carried him to shore.

When they got to shore the Mongoose shook himself, and
Little Black Mingo wrung out her petticoat, and so they both
very soon got dry.

The Mongoose then began to poke about for something to eat,
and very soon he found the great big pile of Mugger's eggs.
"Oh, joy!" said he, "what's this?"

"Those are Mugger's eggs," said Little Black Mingo.

"I'm not afraid of Muggers!" said the Mongoose; and he sat
down and began to crack the eggs, and eat the little muggers
as they came out. And he threw the shells into the water,
so that the old Mugger should not see that any one had been
eating them. But he was careless, and he left one eggshell
on the edge, and he was hungry and he ate so many that the
pile got much smaller, and when the old Mugger came back he
saw at once that some one had been meddling with them.

So he ran to Little Black Mingo, and said, "How dare you eat
my eggs?"

"Indeed, indeed I didn't," said Little Black Mingo.

"Then who could it have been?" said the Mugger, and he ran
back to the eggs as fast as he could, and sure enough when
he got back he found the Mongoose had eaten a whole lot
more!!

Then he said to himself, "I must stay beside my eggs till
they are hatched into little muggers, or the Mongoose will
eat them all." So he curled himself into a ring round the
eggs and went to sleep.

But while he was asleep the Mongoose came to eat some more
of the eggs, and ate as many as he wanted, and when the
Mugger woke this time, oh! WHAT a rage he was in, for there
were only six eggs left! He roared so loud that all the
little muggers inside the shells gnashed their teeth, and
tried to roar too.

Then he said, "I know what I'll do, I'll fetch Little Black
Mingo's big chatty and cover my eggs with that, then the
Mongoose won't be able to get at them." So he swam across
to the shore, and fetched the dhobi's big chatty, and
covered the eggs with it. "Now, you wicked little Mongoose,
come and eat my eggs if you can," said he, and he went off
quite proud and happy.

By and by the Mongoose came back, and he was terribly
disappointed when he found the eggs all covered with the big
chatty.

So he ran off to Little Black Mingo, and asked her to help
him, and Little Black Mingo came and took the big chatty off
the eggs, and the Mongoose ate them every one.

"Now," said he, "there will be no little muggers to make a
feast for tomorrow."

"No," said Little Black Mingo, "but the Mugger will eat me
all by himself I am afraid."

"No he won't," said the Mongoose, "for we will sail away
together in the big chatty before he comes back."

So he climbed on to the edge of the chatty, and Little Black
Mingo pushed the chatty out into the water, and then she
clambered into it and paddled with her two hands as hard as
she could, and the big chatty just sailed beautifully.

So they got across safely, and Little Black Mingo filled the
chatty half full of water and took it on her head, and they
went up the bank together.

But when the Mugger came back, and found only empty egg-
shells he was fearfully angry. He roared and he raged, and
he howled and he yelled, till the whole island shook, and
his tears ran down his cheeks and pattered on the sand like
rain.

So he started to chase Little Black Mingo and the Mongoose,
and he swam across the river as fast as ever he could, and
when he was half way across he saw them landing, and as he
landed they hurried over the first ridge.

So he raced after them, but they ran, and just before he
caught them they got into the house, and banged the door in
his face. Then they shut all the windows, so he could not
get in anywhere.

"All right," said he, "you will have to come out some time,
and then I will catch you both, and eat you up."

So he hid behind the back of the house and waited.

Now Black Noggy was just coming home from the bazaar with a
tin of kerosene on her head, and a box of matches in her
hand.

And when he saw her the Mugger rushed out and gobbled her
up, kerosene tin, matches and all!!!

When Black Noggy found herself in the Muggers' dark inside,
she wanted to see where she was, so she felt for the match-
box and took out a match and lit it. But the Mugger's teeth
had made holes in the kerosene tin, so that the flame of the
match caught the kerosene, and BANG!! the kerosene
exploded, and blew the old Mugger and Black Noggy into
little bits.

At the fearful noise Little Black Mingo and the Mongoose
came running out, and there they found Black Noggy and the
old Mugger all blown to bits.

So Little Black Mingo and the Mongoose got the nice little
house for their very own, and there they lived happy ever
after. And Little Black Mingo got the Mugger's beard for her
seat, and the Mongoose got Black Noggy's handkerchief for
his. But he was so wee he used to put it on the Mugger's
nose, and there they sat, and had their tea every evening.







 


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