A Penguin Classic

The Portable Kipling
contains selections from The Jungle Books and Soldiers Three; more than twenty stories, including “The Man Who Would Be King,” “The Cat that Walked by Himself,” “The Eye of Allah,”and the unsettling “Mary Postgate”; more than fifty poems; and three essays. The volume also includes a complete chronology and a critical introduction by Irving Howe that permits us to see the formal achievements of Kipling's work as well as to enjoy its abundant pleasures—not least of which is the sheer satisfaction of great storytelling.
By the Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India, to British parents on December 30, 1865. In 1871 Rudyard and his sister, Trix, aged three, were left to be cared for by a couple in Southsea, England. Five years passed before he saw his parents again. His sense of desertion and despair were later expressed in his story "Baa Baa, Black Sheep" (1888), in his novel The Light That Failed (1890), and in his autobiography, Something of Myself (1937). As late as 1935, Kipling still spoke bitterly of the "House of Desolation" at Southsea: "I should like to burn it down and plough the place with salt." Kipling and his wife settled in Brattleboro, Vermont, where Kipling wrote The Jungle Book (1894), The Second Jungle Book (1895), and most of Captains Courageous (1897). By this time Kipling's popularity and financial success were enormous. In 1899 the Kiplings settled in Sussex, England, where he wrote some of his best books: Kim (1901), Just So Stories (1902), and Puck of Pook's Hill (1906). In 1907 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. By the time he died, on January 18, 1936, critical opinion was deeply divided about his writings, but his books continue to be read by thousands. View titles by Rudyard Kipling
The Portable Kipling - Edited by Irving Howe Editor's Introduction
Chronology with Dates of Major Publications
I. Stories
STORIES OF INDIA
The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes
The Man Who Would Be King
Without Benefit of Clergy
Lispeth
The Head of the District
The Miracle of Purun Bhagat
The Story of Muhammad Din
Jews in Shushan

SOLDIERS' TALES
The Courting of Dinah Shadd
On Greenhow Hill
Black Jack

FROM THE JUNGLE BOOKS
Toomai of the Elephants
The King's Ankus

FROM JUST SO STORIES
How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin
The Cat That Walked by Himself

ENTERTAINMENTS
The Village That Voted the Earth Was Flat
Brugglesmith
Brother Square-Toes
"A Priest in Spite of Himself"

HISTORICAL STORIES
The Church That Was at Antioch
The Eye of Allah

UTOPIAN/ANTIUTOPIAN
As Easy as A.B.C.

LATE STORIES
Mrs. Bathurst
Friendly Brook
The Wish House
Mary Postgate
The Gardener
Dayspring Mishandled
II. Poems
L'Envoi
The Broken Men
McAndrew's Hymn
The "Mary Gloster"
The Last Chantey
The Long Trail
The Gipsy Trail
The Last of the Light Brigade
The Settler
My Boy Jack
The Vampire
When Earth's Last Picture Is Painted
The Holy War
France
Mesopotamia
The Veterans
The White Man's Burden
Recessional
"For All We Have and Are"
The Benefactors
The Craftsman
"When 'Omer Smote 'Is Bloomin' Lyre"
Epitaphs of the War
Danny Deever
Tommy
Gunga Din
The Widow at Windsor
Mandalay
Private Ortheris's Song
Shillin' a Day
That Day
The Ladies
The Sergeant's Weddin'
Chant-Pagan
Piet
The Return
"Cities and Thrones and Powers"
The Recall
The Way Through the Woods
Sir Richard's Song
A Charm
Cold Iron
The Waster
Harp Song of the Dane Women
A St. Helena Lullaby
The Fabulists
A Pict Song
MacDonough's Song
The Heritage
Mowgli's Song Against People
Song of the Galley-Slaves
The Roman Centurion's Song
Dane-geld
Norman and Saxon
Edgehill Fight
The Dutch in the Medway
III. Essays
Literature
An Interview with Mark Twain
My Great and Only

About

A Penguin Classic

The Portable Kipling
contains selections from The Jungle Books and Soldiers Three; more than twenty stories, including “The Man Who Would Be King,” “The Cat that Walked by Himself,” “The Eye of Allah,”and the unsettling “Mary Postgate”; more than fifty poems; and three essays. The volume also includes a complete chronology and a critical introduction by Irving Howe that permits us to see the formal achievements of Kipling's work as well as to enjoy its abundant pleasures—not least of which is the sheer satisfaction of great storytelling.

Reviews

By the Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

Author

Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India, to British parents on December 30, 1865. In 1871 Rudyard and his sister, Trix, aged three, were left to be cared for by a couple in Southsea, England. Five years passed before he saw his parents again. His sense of desertion and despair were later expressed in his story "Baa Baa, Black Sheep" (1888), in his novel The Light That Failed (1890), and in his autobiography, Something of Myself (1937). As late as 1935, Kipling still spoke bitterly of the "House of Desolation" at Southsea: "I should like to burn it down and plough the place with salt." Kipling and his wife settled in Brattleboro, Vermont, where Kipling wrote The Jungle Book (1894), The Second Jungle Book (1895), and most of Captains Courageous (1897). By this time Kipling's popularity and financial success were enormous. In 1899 the Kiplings settled in Sussex, England, where he wrote some of his best books: Kim (1901), Just So Stories (1902), and Puck of Pook's Hill (1906). In 1907 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. By the time he died, on January 18, 1936, critical opinion was deeply divided about his writings, but his books continue to be read by thousands. View titles by Rudyard Kipling

Table of Contents

The Portable Kipling - Edited by Irving Howe Editor's Introduction
Chronology with Dates of Major Publications
I. Stories
STORIES OF INDIA
The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes
The Man Who Would Be King
Without Benefit of Clergy
Lispeth
The Head of the District
The Miracle of Purun Bhagat
The Story of Muhammad Din
Jews in Shushan

SOLDIERS' TALES
The Courting of Dinah Shadd
On Greenhow Hill
Black Jack

FROM THE JUNGLE BOOKS
Toomai of the Elephants
The King's Ankus

FROM JUST SO STORIES
How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin
The Cat That Walked by Himself

ENTERTAINMENTS
The Village That Voted the Earth Was Flat
Brugglesmith
Brother Square-Toes
"A Priest in Spite of Himself"

HISTORICAL STORIES
The Church That Was at Antioch
The Eye of Allah

UTOPIAN/ANTIUTOPIAN
As Easy as A.B.C.

LATE STORIES
Mrs. Bathurst
Friendly Brook
The Wish House
Mary Postgate
The Gardener
Dayspring Mishandled
II. Poems
L'Envoi
The Broken Men
McAndrew's Hymn
The "Mary Gloster"
The Last Chantey
The Long Trail
The Gipsy Trail
The Last of the Light Brigade
The Settler
My Boy Jack
The Vampire
When Earth's Last Picture Is Painted
The Holy War
France
Mesopotamia
The Veterans
The White Man's Burden
Recessional
"For All We Have and Are"
The Benefactors
The Craftsman
"When 'Omer Smote 'Is Bloomin' Lyre"
Epitaphs of the War
Danny Deever
Tommy
Gunga Din
The Widow at Windsor
Mandalay
Private Ortheris's Song
Shillin' a Day
That Day
The Ladies
The Sergeant's Weddin'
Chant-Pagan
Piet
The Return
"Cities and Thrones and Powers"
The Recall
The Way Through the Woods
Sir Richard's Song
A Charm
Cold Iron
The Waster
Harp Song of the Dane Women
A St. Helena Lullaby
The Fabulists
A Pict Song
MacDonough's Song
The Heritage
Mowgli's Song Against People
Song of the Galley-Slaves
The Roman Centurion's Song
Dane-geld
Norman and Saxon
Edgehill Fight
The Dutch in the Medway
III. Essays
Literature
An Interview with Mark Twain
My Great and Only