The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo

"The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo" is a short story — one of the Just So stories by Rudyard Kipling.

The story was first told aloud by the author to his daughter Josephine as part of their oral tradition.[1] It was then written down and first published in Ladies' Home Journal in June 1900.[2]

It involves a vain kangaroo who asks three gods to make him unlike other animals, and sought-after. Two of them, the Little God Nqa and the Middle God Nquing, refuse, and only the third, the Big God Nqong, accepts. The result is Yellow-Dog Dingo trying to catch Kangaroo all across Australia, explaining how kangaroos came to have strong legs.

References

1. David Adams Leeming, Marion Sader (1997), Storytelling encyclopedia, Oryx Press
2. A Bibliography of Rudyard Kipling