Youth Activity Archive

Long ago there lived a Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog and a Slow-Solid Tortoise. They lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon river. Turbid is a fancy word for a river that is very muddy, cloudy, and swirling with silt.

There also lived a Painted Jaguar. He was young, beautiful, and very hungry. When he couldn’t catch anything to eat, he would go to his mother for advice.

His mother, waving her tail, told him, “A Hedgehog must drop into the water to make him uncoil. A Tortoise, you must scoop out of his shell with your paw.”

One beautiful night, the Jaguar found the two friends sitting under a tree. The Hedgehog curled up and the Tortoise went into his shell. He wanted to follow his mother’s advice, but he could not remember which was which.

“Just a moment,” said the Jaguar. “My mother said a Hedgehog must drop into the water to make him uncoil. A Tortoise, I must scoop out of his shell with my paw. But which of you is which? To save my spots, I can’t tell!”

Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog uncurled a bit and winked at Slow-Solid Tortoise.

“What your Mummy told you?” asked Stickly-Prickly. “Are you quite sure? Did she say a Tortoise must uncoil by going in the water with a scoop? And when you paw a Hedgehog, drop him on his shell?”

“Are you quite sure?” added Slow-Solid. “Did she say you water a Hedgehog and drop him into your paw? Or how a Tortoise must be shelled to uncoil?”

The poor Jaguar felt very puzzled. “You are making my spots ache!” he cried. “I just wanted to know which of you is a Hedgehog and which is a Tortoise.”

“I won’t tell you,” said Stickly-Prickly as he curled back up, “but you can scoop me out of my shell if you like.”

“Ha!” the Jaguar cried. “Now I know you are the Tortoise.” He tried to scoop the Hedgehog, but his paddy-paw ended up full of prickles. The scoop pushed the Hedgehog into the bushes. It was too dark to find him again.

“I know he isn’t a Tortoise,” the Jaguar muttered, shaking his hurt paw. “How do I know the other is a Tortoise?”

“I am a Tortoise,” Slow-Solid said. “Your mother was right. You scoop me out of my shell with your paw.”

“You didn’t say that a minute ago,” the Jaguar said, pulling some prickles out of his paddy-paw.

“Did I?” the Tortoise pondered. “I don’t think it makes a difference. If she said what you said I said she said, it’s the same as if I said what she said she said. But if you think she said you uncoil me with a scoop, instead of dropping me with a paw, I can’t help you.”

“You said you wanted to be scooped out of your shell with my paw!” the Jaguar complained.

“Think what you want. I didn’t say that at all. I said your mother was right. You scoop me out of my shell with your paw,” Slow-Solid said.

“What will happen if I do?” the Jaguar sniffed.

“I don’t know. I’ve never been scooped out of my shell before. I do know I will swim away if you drop me into the water,” the Tortoise said from inside his shell.

“I don’t believe you,” the Jaguar said. “You’ve mixed all the things my mother said up. I don’t know what is what now! Tell me something I can understand that isn’t all mixed up. My momther said I was to drop one of you two in the water, and you don’t seem to want to be dropped. I think you should go into the water.”

“Your mother will not be happy with you. Don’t tell her I didn’t tell you,” said Slow-Solid.

“If you say one more word about my mother,” the Jaguar began. He didn’t finish his sentence before Slow-Solid dived into the turbid Amazon and swam under water for a long way. He came out on the bank where Stickly-Prickly was waiting for him.

“That was a close one,” Stickly-Prickly said, wiping his forehead. “I don’t like Jaguar. What did you tell him you were?”

“A Tortoise,” Slow-Solid replied. “He didn’t believe me and told me to get in the water. Now he’s crying for his mother. Listen.”

Sure enough, the Jaguar was roaring up and down among the trees and bushes until his mother came.

“What have you been doing?” she asked with her tail waving slowly behind her.

“I tried to scoop something that said it wanted to be scooped and now my paw is full of prickles!” the Jaguar cried.

Mother Jaguar shook her head. “That must have been a hedgehog. You drop those in the water.”

“I did that to the other one. He said he was a Tortoise, but I didn’t believe him. But now he’s in the water and won’t come back up! I haven’t eaten anything all day and I’m so hungry,” the Jaguar whined.

Sighing, Mother Jaguar, waited for Jaguar to calm a little. “A Hedgehog curls up into a ball and his prickles stick out all over. This is how you know it’s a Hedgehog. A Tortoise can’t curl up. He just draws his head and legs into his shell. This is how you know it’s a Tortoise.”

She left her son behind and the Jaguar sat by the banks, making a little song to remember.

“Can’t curl, but can swim— Tortoise, that’s him!

Curls up, but can’t swim—Hedgehog, that’s him!”

“He’ll never forget it now,” Stickly-Prickly said sadly. “Help me out Slow-Solid. I’m going to try and learn to swim.”

“Great idea!” He held up Sitckly-Prickly’s chin while Stickly-Prickly kicked in the water.

“You’ll make a fine swimmer,” said Slow-Solid. “Could you unlace my back plates a little now? I’ll try curling up.” Stickly-Prickly helped to unlace Tortoise’s back-plates. Slow-Solid twisted and strained and managed to curl up a little tiny bit.

They practiced all night long. The Tortoise swam with the Hedgehog while Stickly-Prickly kicked and splashed in the water. The Hedgehog helped the Tortoise unlace more of his back-plates so he could learn to bend and twist.

By morning, they looked completely different. Stickly-Prickly’s prickles were wet and melting into one another. He looked more like a pinecone instead of the prickle bush he was before. Slow-Solid’s shell plates didn’t lay side by side. They overlapped like shiny scales.

Watching Slow-Solid curl up and roll, Stickly-Prickly clapped. “This is wonderful. Jaguar will be so surprised.”

They dived together just like the practice, Stickly-Prickly now able to keep up with Slow-Solid. As they dried off on the bank, the Tortoise said, “You need to hold your breath a little better, and you can keep up with any of my family. I can now wrap my hind legs around my ears like you. Jaguar won’t know who is who.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Stickly-Prickly said. “Let’s go find him.”

The both swam towards the Jaguar’s resting spot. He watched them from the bank as they stopped near him and came out of the water. When the Painted Jaguar saw them out of the water, he was so astonished he fell over his own tail. “You aren’t a Hedgehog, and you aren’t a Tortoise!” he cried. “I don’t know your name!”

“That isn’t very nice,” Stickly Prickly said. “You tried to scoop me out of my shell with your paw just yesterday.”

“You didn’t have a shell. That was all prickles,” cried Jaguar. “Just look at my poor paw.”

“You told me to go into the water,” said Slow-Solid. “Why are you so rude today?”

“Don’t you remember what your mother said?” asked Stickly-Prickly.

The two small friend sang the chant together.

“Can’t curl, but can swim— Tortoise, that’s him!

Curls up, but can’t swim—Hedgehog, that’s him!”

Then they both curled themselves up and rolled around the Jaguar until his eyes turned around in his head. He ran for his mother.

“Mother,” Jaguar cried. “There are two new animals. The one you said couldn’t swim, swam! The one you said couldn’t curl up, curls! They both may have prickles because they both look scaly all over. They’re rolling round and round in circles. It’s crazy!”

His mother slowly waved her tail, ignoring her son’s frustration. “A Hedgehog is a Hedgehog. A Tortoise is a Tortoise.”

“These weren’t Hedgehogs. They weren’t Tortoises. A little of both, and I don’t know it’s name.

“Everything has a proper name,” said Mother Jaguar. “I shall call it Armadillo until I find out the real one. Leave it alone until I do.”

Jaguar did as he was told. From that day to this, on the banks of the muddy Amazon, Stickly-Prickly and Slow-Solid have always been called Armadillos. There are still Hedgehogs and Tortoises, but the old and clever ones have scales that overlap each other like pinecone scales. They live on the banks of the turbid Amazon and are called Armadillos because they were clever.

About the Original Story

Original Title: “The Beginning of the Armadillos”

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 1900, this story is known for its wordplay (the “she-said-I-said” logic). This modernization preserves that linguistic fun while ensuring the plot (the Hedgehog learning to swim and the Tortoise learning to curl) remains the central focus for children. It introduces the biological concept of scales and camouflage.

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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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