(the poem)
Said the camel to his hump,
“You’re as ugly as can be.
To carry you around all day
Is a burden I’d like to free.”
“You’re a nuisance beyond compare,
You are heavy and in the road.
You’re less than pretty and you protrude,
Making it difficult to pack my load.
The hump, he slid plum off
When he found he was such a bother.
Camel, he celebrated with a song,
And he jumped and whooped and hollered.
He pranced in front of his friends,
Goat, giraffe, and rhinoceros.
They didn’t recognize the camel,
For camel that was the awfulest.
“It’s me, my friends, it’s me!”
The camel begged them all.
“Don’t you recognize me?”
But his friends saw what they saw.
Camel found his hump
And apologized with great apologies.
Now he knows that humps
Are more important than vanities.
The Camel and His Hump
(the story)
Once upon a time there was a camel. He wasn’t like the
other camels in that he was unhappy with himself. He didn’t
like the way he looked. Even though he looked like what ordinary
camels are suppose to look like. He was unhappy with the awful
hump that protruded from his back. It was heavy and difficult to
carry around.
One day the camel said to his hump, “Hump, could you please
leave me alone so I might be free of you?”
These were harsh and unkind words to Hump. In hearing this
he slid off and left the camel’s back. Hump was sad because the camel
was all he had ever known.
Camel was so excited with his new appearance that he decided
to dance. He was finally rid of a part of him that he felt was ugly and
most unbecoming on him. He pranced and sang and twirled about until
he was silly with laughter. In his excitement he decided to show off his
new appearance.
He strutted in front of his friends, goat, giraffe and rhinoceros. To
camel’s amazement they didn’t recognize him. Without Hump Camel’s
recognizibility was unrecognizable. “Don’t you recognize me?” Camel
blurted! His friends saw what they saw and turned and walked away.
For Camel that was the ‘awfulist.’ Suddenly looking different didn’t
matter so much anymore.
Camel decided to find his hump. This became more complicated
than he imagined. . . .
(the conclusion to this story),
plus other stories and poems can be found on:
MY HOUSE PLAYHOUSE AUDIO, "STORIES WITH THEIR POEMS," VOLUME 1