Plain Tales From The Hills

by Rudyard Kipling

Overview

Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( 30 December 1865 - 18 January 1936)was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist chiefly remembered for his tales and poems ofBritish soldiers in India, and his tales for children. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907. He was born in Bombay, in the Bombay Presidency of British India, and was taken by his family to England when he was five years old. Kipling is best known for his works of fiction, including The Jungle Book (a collection of stories which includes "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"), Just So Stories (1902) (1894), Kim (1901) (a tale of adventure), many short stories, including "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888); and his poems, including "Mandalay" (1890), "Gunga Din" (1890), "The White Man's Burden" (1899) and "If-" (1910). He is regarded as a major "innovator in the art of the short story"; his children's books are enduring classics of children's literature; and his best works are said to exhibit "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".
-wikipedia

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781478382799
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	08/08/2012
Pages:	290
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Rudyard Joseph Kipling was born in the then named Bombay, India on 30th December 1865. Aged six, he was sent to England to be educated, firstly in Southsea, where he was cared for in a foster home, and later at Westward Ho, a United Services College in Devon. A life of misery at the former was described in his story 'Baa Baa Black Sheep', whilst Westward Ho was used as a basis for his questioning the public school ethic in 'Stalky and Co'. Kipling returned to India in 1882 to work as an assistant editor for the Civil and Military Gazette of Lahore. His reputation as a writer was established with stories of English life in India, published there in 1888/9. ‘The Phantom Rickshaw’, ‘Soldiers Three’ and ‘Under the Deodars’ are amongst these early works. Returning to England in 1889, Kipling settled in London and continued to earn a living as a writer. In 1892 he married Caroline Balestier, an American. They travelled extensively in the following four years, including a spell living in America, and it was in this time most of his enduring work was written, not least ‘The Jungle Book’ and ‘The Second Jungle Book’. Kipling once again returned to England in 1896 and continued his writing career, although tragedy hit the family when his eldest daughter, Josephine, died in 1899. Nonetheless, in 1901 he completed ‘Kim’, often considered to be his best work. The following year, having settled in Sussex, he published ‘Just So Stories’, a book he had planned to write for Josephine. Having refused the position of Poet Laureate, which was offered in 1895, he did accept the Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming the first English author to be so honoured. By 1910, however, Kipling’s appeal was waning. His poems and stories were based on values that were perceived as outdated. There was widespread reaction against Victorian imperialism, highlighted by the incompetent management of the Boer War. When World War I came, Kipling had difficulty in adapting to the mood of the public and after his only son, John, was reported missing in action believed killed in 1915, he became very active on the War Graves Commission. After the war he became an increasingly isolated figure, although some of his best writing was to come, with ‘Debits and Credits’ in 1926 and ‘Limits and Renewals’ in 1932. Kipling died in 1936 in London and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Today, however, he is once again avidly read not just for the quality of his writing and storytelling, but through a renewed interest in the behaviour and values he represented.

Table of Contents

General Preface vii

Introduction xii

Note on the Text xxiii

Select Bibliography xxx

A Chronology of Kipling's Life and Works xxxiii

Plain Tales From The Hills

Dedication 3

Preface 5

Lispeth 7

Three and-an Extra 12

Thrown Away 16

Miss Youghal's Sais 24

'Yoked with an Unbeliever' 30

False Dawn 35

The Rescue of Pluffles 43

Cupid's Arrows 48

The Three Musketeers 53

His Chance in Life 59

Watches of the Night 65

The Other Man 71

Consequences 75

The Conversion of Aurelian McGoggin 81

The Taking of Lungtungpen 86

A Germ-Destroyer 92

Kidnapped 97

The Arrest of Lieutenant Golightly 102

In the House of Suddhoo 108

His Wedded Wife 116

The Broken-Link Handicap 122

Beyond the Pale 127

In Error 133

A Bank Fraud 137

Tod's Amendment 144

The Daughter of the Regiment 150

In the Pride of his Youth 156

Pig 162

The Rout of the White Hussars 169

The Bronckhorst Divorce-Case 179

Venus Annodomini 185

The Bisara of Pooree 190

A Friend's Friend 195

The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows 201

The Madness of Private Ortheris 207

The Story of Muhammad Din 215

On the Strength of a Likeness 218

Wressley of the Foreign Office 224

By Word of Mouth 229

To be Filed for Reference 234

Appendix A Bitters Neat 243

Appendix B Haunted Subalterns 247

Explanatory Notes 252