Just So Stories · Chapter
The Beginning of the Armadillos explained
In the High and Far-Off Times, Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog and Slow-Solid Tortoise live on the banks of the turbid Amazon.
What happens
In the High and Far-Off Times, Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog and Slow-Solid Tortoise live on the banks of the turbid Amazon. Painted Jaguar, following his mother's advice, tries to eat them but is confused by their clever wordplay. After a series of tricks, the Hedgehog and Tortoise adapt by learning to swim and curl, respectively, transforming into a new creature called the Armadillo. The Jaguar's mother advises him to leave them alone, and from then on, they are known as Armadillos.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Rising action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
The emotional and psychological peak occurs when the Woman creates the First Singing Magic, transforming the C…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Cunning and Resourcefulness
The Hedgehog and Tortoise use clever wordplay and adaptation to outsmart the Jaguar, leading to their transformation into Armadillos.
- Adaptation and Camouflage
The Hedgehog and Tortoise physically change by learning new skills (swimming and curling), resulting in a new species with scaly armor.
Characters to notice
- Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog
Lives on the Amazon banks, eats snails, and uses clever wordplay to confuse the Jaguar. Learns to swim and becomes part of the Armadillo.
- Slow-and-Solid Tortoise
Lives on the Amazon banks, eats lettuces, and collaborates with the Hedgehog to trick the Jaguar. Learns to curl and becomes part of the Armadillo.
- Painted Jaguar
Tries to eat the Hedgehog and Tortoise but is outwitted. Gets pricked and confused, eventually reports to his mother.
- Mother Jaguar
Gives advice to her son about eating hedgehogs and tortoises. Later suggests the name 'Armadillo' for the new creature.
- Best Beloved
The narrator's audience, addressed throughout the story.
Key passages
“When you find a Hedgehog you must drop him into the water and then he will uncoil, and when you catch a Tortoise you must scoop him out of his shell with your paw.”
To eat a hedgehog, put it in water to make it uncurl; to eat a tortoise, use your paw to remove it from its shell.
Mother Jaguar's instructions to her son about how to eat hedgehogs and tortoises.
“Perhaps she said that when you uncoil a Tortoise you must shell him out of the water with a scoop, and when you paw a Hedgehog you must drop him on the shell.”
Maybe your mother meant that to uncurl a tortoise, you scoop it from the water, and to handle a hedgehog, you drop it onto a shell.
The Hedgehog deliberately misinterprets Mother Jaguar's advice to confuse the Jaguar.
“A Hedgehog is a Hedgehog, and can’t be anything but a Hedgehog; and a Tortoise is a Tortoise, and can never be anything else.”
A hedgehog is always a hedgehog, and a tortoise is always a tortoise; they cannot change.
Mother Jaguar insists on fixed identities, unaware of the animals' transformation.
