short summary of how the camel got his hump
Answers
It is a fable about a lazy camel that would not work and simply said ‘Humph!’ to everyone who would ask him to do some work. The story is set in a time when the world had just begun and the animals had started working for human beings. The horse, the ox and the dog would work all day, but the lazy camel never listened to them. Everyone worked, except the lazy camel that lived in the middle of the Howling Desert. He just ate sticks, prickles and thorns and didn’t exhibit interest in working like others. Whenever anyone asked him to work, he would simply say, ‘Humph!’.
One Monday morning, a horse with a saddle on his back went to the camel. He asked the camel to join the rest of them at work, but the lazy animal said ‘Humph!’. The horse informed this to the man. A little later, a dog visited the camel and asked him to do some work. But again, the camel replied ‘Humph!’. Later, an ox came and asked him to work. As usual, the camel replied ‘Humph!’ to the ox too.
Soon, the man summoned the horse, the ox and the dog. He asked them about their respective work and about the camel. They told him that the camel didn’t do any work. After hearing their complaints of the lazy camel, the man distributed the camel’s work among all the three animals to compensate for his work. This agitated all three of them and made them furious and they decided to hold a panchayat on the edge of the Desert. Suddenly, the Djinn of All Deserts arrived, rolling in a huge cloud of dust. All the three animals complained about the camel to the Djinn. The horse told him that the camel was very lazy and he would only utter ‘Humph!’ when asked. The Djinn assured that he would do something to set him right.
The Djinn found the camel sitting in the desert where he was busy looking at his reflection in the pond. He asked the camel to go and work but he casually said ‘Humph!’. Just as he said so, the Djinn punished him and a huge hump bulged out of the camel’s back. The camel who was very proud of his looks now had a strange looking hump on his back. He was astonished to see his reflection in the water and the Djinn explained to the camel that he was himself solely responsible for this transformation. The Djinn then asked the camel to work, but the latter replied that he couldn’t work as he had a huge hump on his back. The Djinn stated that as the camel didn’t work for three days previously, he could now work with his hump for three days without drinking or eating. Thus, the camel started working like other animals. This is how the camel got his hump.