Once upon a very early time, people lived in caves. There was a man named Tegumai. He was a man who never hurried. There was a woman named Teshumai. She was a lady who asked many questions. And there was a little girl named Taffy. She was a small person who sometimes forgot her manners.
They were very happy. No one knew how to read. No one knew how to write. In those days, nobody knew how!
One day, Tegumai and Taffy went to the river to catch fish for dinner. They walked through the swamp and past the woods. At the river, Tegumai used a long wooden spear with a shark’s tooth on the end. He jabbed it into the mud. SNAP! The spear broke in half.
“Oh, bother!” said Tegumai. “My spear is broken. It will take me hours to fix.”
“I could run home and get the big black spear,” said Taffy.
“No,” said Tegumai. “The swamp is too big for your little legs. I must fix it myself.”
Tegumai sat on the banks and started to work on the broken spear.
Taffy sat by the water. She thought very hard. “It is a big problem that our voices cannot travel through the swamp without us,” she said. “If only I could put my words onto a leaf. Then the leaf could tell Mummy what we need!”
Just then, a Stranger-man came walking along. He was a Tewara. He did not speak Taffy’s language.
“Come here!” called Taffy. “Do you know where my Mummy lives?”
“Um!” said the Stranger-man. He didn’t understand, but he smiled because Taffy was a cute little girl. He didn’t want to frighten her.
He sat on the grass. He watched Tegumai work. Tegumai was so busy he didn’t even look up.
The Stranger-man thought, “This man must be a Great Chief! He is so important that he does not even need to look at me.”
Taffy tapped the Stranger-man on the arm. She pointed at the swamp. The Stranger thought, “This is a wonderful child! She is trying to talk to me even without knowing my language. I am afraid the Great Chief will be angry if I do not help her.”
The Stranger-man gave Taffy a piece of white birch bark. He hoped she knew he was kind like the pure white bark.
Taffy’s eyes lit up. This was better than a leaf! She looked around for something sharp to scratch the bark. She saw a shark’s tooth on his necklace. She pulled it off to use as a pen.
The Stranger-man held his breath! In his tribe, anyone who touched that tooth would swell up or burst! But Taffy did not swell up. She did not burst. She just smiled.
The Stranger-man thought: “This child is more powerful than magic! I must be very polite to her.”
Taffy lay on her tummy and drew a picture. “I am drawing my Daddy,” she said. “And this is me, telling you my words. I drew his broken spear. Now I am drawing the black spear he needs.”
She winced. “Oops. It looks like it is sticking in his back in the picture, but that is only because the shark’s tooth slipped!”
She shook her head and continued. “Now I am drawing the beavers in the swamp to show you the way. And here is my Mummy outside our cave.”
The Stranger-man looked at the drawing. He thought, “Oh no! This is bad! This drawing shows a Great Chief being attacked by enemies with spears. These things must be others hiding in the swamp! I must run and get help!”
The Stranger-man ran as fast as the wind! He did not know where to go, but if he ran fast enough he might see someone that was from the Great Chief’s tribe. He found a cave with a woman in front with clothes like the little girl. He handed the bark to the lady. It was Teshumai, Taffy’s mother.
When Teshumai looked at the picture, she screamed! She thought, “Oh no! This Stranger-man has attacked my Tegumai.”
She called over her friends. “Look, he has drawn Tegumai full of spears! He has drawn Taffy’s hair standing on end with fear! And look at all these bad people coming out of the swamp to get them!”
Teshumai and all her friends gave the Stranger-man a big shove to the ground and filled his hair with mud. They were angry he had hurt their friends.
The whole tribe grabbed their spears. The Stranger-man was upset about the mud. He didn’t understand all their yelling. Still, he helped them run to the river to find Taffy. The little girl needed help!
When they arrived, they found Tegumai fishing and Taffy making daisy-chains. “I told you it would be a big surprise Daddy,” said Taffy.
“Why did you bring the whole tribe?” asked Tegumai. “And why is that poor man’s hair full of mud?”
“He brought a horrible picture!” cried Teshumai. “It showed you were full of spears!”
Taffy looked at her drawing. “Oh!” she said. “I only drew the spear three times to show which one to bring. The ‘bad people’ were my beavers showing the way home!”
Everyone looked at the picture. Then the Head Chief began to laugh. Then the Stranger-man laughed. It looked like the tribe had scared off the bad men. He was happy they found the little girl. Soon, the whole tribe was laughing so hard they fell on the grass!
“Small-person,” said the Head Chief, “you have made a great invention! Some day, people will call these talking-marks ‘writing.’ One day we will make letters so we can say exactly what we mean.”
They washed the mud out of the Stranger’s hair. They made him a “Brother of the Cave.” It meant he was always welcome to visit. The Stranger-man waved goodbye and ran home to his own daughter, happy to have made new friends through Taffy’s picture.
And that is how the very first letter was written.
About the Original Story
Original Title: ” How the First Letter Was Written”
From the Book: Just So Stories (1912)
Author: Rudyard Kipling
Type: This story is a Pourquoi Tale, a traditional legend or foundational story focused on explaining the origins of natural phenomena, animal physical traits, or cultural customs. These narratives serve as ancestral records and cultural adaptations that answer “how” or “why” a specific part of the natural world became the way it is today. Pourquoi is the French word for “why”.
History: Originally published in 1902, this story explains the origin of written communication. This version maintains the humor of the “Stranger-man (who was a Tewara)” while simplifying the complex tribal titles (like Neguses and Akhoonds) to make the plot easier for young children to follow.
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Disclaimer: The information published on Youth Activity Archive and The Badge Archive is built from the references listed below. These sources demonstrate that our content is grounded in facts and research, not opinion or speculation. Readers may consult them directly when looking for additional material.
- Kipling, Rudyard. Just so Stories. Doubleday Page & Company, 1912.
- Found on Gutenberg Library, 17 April 2026: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32488
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