How the Camel Got His Hump Summary Class 8 English It So Happened Chapter 1

Key Points of the Story

• "How the Camel Got His Hump" is a fable by Sir Rudyard Kipling.
• The story features a lazy camel who refuses to work and says "Humph!" to everyone.
• The Horse, Dog, and Ox are hardworking animals affected by the camel's laziness.
• The camel's refusal to work causes the Horse, Dog, and Ox to work double-time.
• The animals complain to the Djinn of All Deserts about the camel.
• The Djinn finds the camel and asks him to work, but the camel responds with "Humph!".
• The camel's back starts puffing up, forming a hump, as a result of his laziness.
• The Djinn explains that the hump allows the camel to work for three days without eating or drinking.
• The hump compensates for the three days of work the camel missed.
• The story teaches the consequences of laziness and the importance of hard work.

Detailed Summary

In this article, you will be reading How the Camel got his Hump Summary. This is a poem by Sir Rudyard Kipling. It is a fable. This is a story about a lazy camel. He would not work and would just say ‘Humph!’ to everyone who asked him to work. The horse, the dog, and the ox went to him to ask him to work. But he did not listen to them.All three had to work double-time due to this. Thus, they decided to complain about the camel to the Djinn of All Deserts. When the camel did not listen to the Djinn also, he punished him by giving him a hump. With the help of this hump, a camel can now work for three days without even eating or drinking.The poem describes a story about how the camel got his hump. The poet says that at the beginning of the world, everything was new. The animals had just started to work for human beings. The story is about a camel who lived in the middle of a Howling Desert. He ate sticks and thorns and was not interested to work for anyone. Whenever anyone spoke to him, he would say ‘Humph!’.On a Monday morning, the horse went to him. He told him to come out and sprint. But the camel, as usual, said ‘Humph!’. The horse told this to the man. After some time, a dog came to the camel and asked him to work. But again, the camel said ‘Humph!’. Later, the Ox came to him. As per his habit, the camel replied ‘Humph!’ to him too.The man summoned the horse, the dog, and the Ox. He asked them about the camel. All three animals told him what had happened. Even after hearing them, the man asked them to work double-time in order to compensate for the camel’s work. This made all three of them furious and angry. They decided to held a panchayat. In the panchayat, came the Djinn of All Deserts.During the panchayat, the horse complained about the camel to the Djinn. He told him that the camel would not work and only say ‘Humph!’ all the time. The Djinn promised them that he will set the camel right.The Djinn found the camel in the desert where he was looking at his reflection in the water. He asked the camel to work but as usual, the camel said ‘Humph!’. As soon as the camel uttered these words, he saw his beautiful back puffing up. This was very strange. The camel was very proud of his beautiful back but now it became ugly.The Djinn explained to the camel that it was his own hump. He is only responsible for this as he did not work. The Djinn now asked the camel to work but he said he can’t work due to this hump. He told the camel that as he did not work for three days, with this hump he can now work for three days without eating or drinking. From that day, the camel has a hump but still, it has not learned to behave.

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