Back to: CBSE Class 8 English Summary and Notes
Table of Contents
Introduction
A story about camel who got his hump.
Part 1
There was a lazy camel who did not want to work for humans. He ate thorns and sticks all day. A horse came and told him to work like him. “Humph!”, said the camel. A dog came and told him to fetch like him. The camel replied the same way, and the dog went to the man to tell him everything.
An ox came and advised him to plough like him, “Humph”, said the camel. The man summoned the dog, horse, and ox. He told them to work a double shift to compensate for the work the camel did not do. They held a panchayat, and the camel laughed at them.
A Djinn came visited there. He was in charge of the whole desert. The trio went to him to complain about the camel. Horse asked if it was all right not to work. “Certainly not”, the Djinn replied. They complained about the camel.
Part 2
The Djinn went to the camel, who was looking at his reflection in the water. The Djinn asked him about his idleness. He replied with the usual, “Humph”. Soon, he developed a hump on his back. The Djinn advised him to work as he was the cause for the more than usual work of the dog, horse and the ox.
The camel said he could not work with a hump on his back. The Djinn told him that the hump was to store food and water since he had not worked for three days. So, he must not eat, and this hump would help him store food.
The camel tried his best to work, but he could not catch the three days that he missed up to this day.