The Story of Little Black Sambo is a children's book written and illustrated by Helen Bannerman

Helen Bannerman

Helen Bannerman was the Scottish author of a number of children's books, the most notable being Little Black Sambo. She was born in Edinburgh and, because women were not admitted as students into British Universities, she sat external examinations set by the University of St. Andrews and attained...

, and first published by Grant Richards in October 1899 as one in a series of small-format books called The Dumpy Books for Children

Dumpy books

The Dumpy Books for Children were a series of small-format books selected by E. V. Lucas and published by British publisher Grant Richards between 1897 and 1904. Subsequent books were published by Chatto & Windus.-Books in the collection:-External links:*...

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Sambo is a South Indian

Dravidian peoples

Dravidian peoples is a term used to refer to the diverse groups of people who natively speak languages belonging to the Dravidian language family. Populations of speakers of around 220 million are found mostly in Southern India. Other Dravidian people are found in parts of central India, Sri Lanka,...

 boy who encounters four hungry tigers, and surrenders his colourful new clothes, shoes, and umbrella so they will not eat him. The tigers are vain and each thinks he is better dressed than the others.