Selected Stories (98 page)

7
.
jealoused
: Suspected.

8
.
clemmed
: Pinched.

9
.
brayed
: Pounded.

10
.
the Widdy
: The Widow; i.e., Queen Victoria.

11
.
Forders
: Drivers of hansom cabs, named after the manufacturers.

12
.
boggart
: Ghost.

13
.
tram: A
small vehicle on rails for carrying loads in a mine.

14
.
fresh
: Tipsy.

1
. ‘
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi'
: First published in
St Nicholas Magazine
and
Pall Mall Magazine
, November 1893; collected in
The Jungle Book
, 1894.

2
.
Nag
: ‘Native name for the Cobra. Pronounced
Narg
' (Kipling).

3
.
Brahm
: The supreme God of Hinduism.

1
.
The Miracle of Purun Baghat
: First published in New York
World, Pall Mall Gazette
and
Pall Mall Budget
, October 1894; collected in
The Second Jungle Book
, 1895. A
Baghat
is a Holy Man.

2
.
Langurs
: Large monkeys.

3
.
Brahmin
: A member of the highest priestly class.

4
.
Pioneer
: Kipling himself had worked for this newspaper from late 1887 to early 1889.

5
.
Dewan
: Chief Minister.

6
. coco-de-mer: Coconut shell.

7
.
Kala Pir
: The Black Saint (?).

8
.
Jogis
: Yogis, followers of Yoga practices of meditation.

9
.
Simla
: The summer capital of the Government of India, in the lower Himalayas.

10
.
Kali
: Hindu goddess, wife of the great god Siva, associated with death and destruction.

11
. mushick-nabha: A type of deer.

12
. Bhai: Brother.

13
.
D.C.L., Ph.D.
: Doctor of Civil Law, Doctor of Philosophy.

1
.
The Maltese Cat
: First published in
Pall Mall Gazette
, 26 and 27 June 1895; collected in
The Day's Work
, 1898.

2
.
Archangels, Skidars
: Nicknames for fictional regiments.

3
.
tiffin
: Lunch.

4
.
flea-bitten
: Having a light coat spotted with patches of reddish hair.

5
.
ekka
: A one-horse carriage often used by Indians.

6
.
thirteen three
: Thirteen hands, three inches (four feet, seven inches to the shoulder), the maximum height for polo ponies under Calcutta Turf Club rules.

7
.
anything
: i.e., to drink.

8
.
three thousand
: Sc, rupees.

1
.
Red Dog
: First published in the
Pall Mall Gazette
, 29 and 30 July 1895; collected in
The Second Jungle Book
.

2
. sambhur: A large stag.

3
.
the letting in of the Jungle
: See the story ‘Letting in the Jungle' in
The Second Jungle Book
.

4
.
Mowgli
: The central figure of the
Jungle Books
, a human child brought up by wolves and instructed by Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther.

5
.
Hathi
: The elephant.

6
.
Akela
: The lone wolf, former leader of the pack.

7
.
Shere Khan
: A tiger killed by Mowgli.

8
.
Dekkan
: Central plateau of South India.

9
. bandar-log: Monkey-people.

10
.
Chil
: The kite.

1
.
The Ship that Found Herself
: First published in
The Idler
, December 1895; collected in
The Day's Work
. Kipling later modified, some of the ship's vital statistics.

2
.
modulus of elasteecity
: A technical term for the ratio of stress imposed on a substance to the resulting strain within the elastic limit.

3
.
paresis
: Partial paralysis, affecting power of movement.

1
.
William the Conqueror
: First published in the
Gentlewoman
and
Ladies' Home Journal
, December 1895–January 1896; collected in
The Day's Work
.

2
. The Undertaking: A poem by John Donne (1572–1631).

3
.
fifteen-anna
: There were sixteen annas to a rupee, so fifteen-anna means almost the maximum.

4
. Pioneer: See note 4 to ‘The Miracle of Purun Baghat'.

5
. Kubber-kargaz…: Newspaper-extra.

6
.
the Famine Code
: Emergency regulations introduced in 1869.

7
. ek dum: Immediately.

8
.
a Punjabi
: i.e., an administrator who had served in the Punjab.

9
. bundobust: Organization, or capacity to organize.

10
.
a Jubilee Knight
: He had been knighted in Queen Victoria's Jubilee Honours in 1887.

11
.
thrice-born civilian
: Very high caste (ironic). Brahmins, or members of the highest priestly class, were called twice-born once they had been initiated into their caste. A ‘civilian' was a member of the Indian Civil Service.

12
.
the Benighted Presidency
: Madras (cf. note 4 to ‘The Daughter of the Regiment'); a contemptuous term used by North India men.

13
.
the one daily paper…
: The
Civil and Military Gazette
, published in Lahore.

14
. pukka: Genuine, proper.

15
. phulkaris: Embroidered cotton sheets used as wall-hangings.

16
.
Murree
: A Hill Station in North India.

17
. Little Henry and His Bearer: By Mary Martha Sherwood (1775–1851), published in 1832.

18
.
puggaree
: Turban, or, as here, scarf wound around a hat.

19
.
Gehenna
: Hell.

20
. A Valediction: A poem by John Donne.

21
.
cross the Bias River
: i.e., return to the Punjab.

22
.
gunny-bags
: Coarse sacking.

23
.
Paris
: A son of King Priam and the lover of Helen of Troy.

24
.
the Pauper Province
: i.e., the Punjab.

25
.
tucked up
: Exhausted.

26
.
the Lawrence Hall
: In Lahore.

27
.
Settlement
: Review of tax assessments for Land Revenue over a given area, determining in the process the boundaries and ownership of all holdings.

28
.
Derajat
: An area of the Punjab.

29
.
Mr Chucks
: A character in one of Frederick Marryat's novels,
Peter Simple
, while Midshipman Easy is the hero of another.

30
.
cinchona
: The shrub from which quinine derives.

31
. pagal: Out of his mind.

32
. tez: Fiery, hot.

33
.
nullah
: Dry river bed.

1
.
The Devil and the Deep Sea
: First published in the
Graphic
, Christmas No., 1895; collected in
The Day's Work
.

2
.
Noumea
: The capital of New Caledonia, the site of a French penal colony.

3
.
trying-out
: Boiling whale blubber to extract oil.

4
.
donkey
: Donkey engine, a small auxiliary used for loading cargo, etc.

5
.
cuddy
: Cabin.

6
.
Kismet
: Fate.

7
.
worm
: A shaft with a spiral groove meshing with a toothed wheel.

8
.
proa
: Swift Malay sailing vessel.

9
.
the honest… traders
: i.e., pirates.

10
.
tripang
: Edible sea-slug.

1
. ‘
Bread upon the Waters'
: First published in the
Graphic
and
McClure's Magazine
, December 1896; collected in
The Day's Work
. For the title see Ecclesiastes 11:1: ‘Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.' The opening sentence refers to the story ‘Brugglesmith' in
Many Inventions
.

2
.
Gerald Massey
: Poet, editor and author (1829–1907), associated with Christian Socialism.

3
.
Bouverie-Byzantine style
: Elaborate journalese, Bouverie Street, off Fleet Street in London, being the place of publication of several newspapers.

4
.
Dinah
: See ‘The Courting of Dinah Shadd'.

5
. garance: A red dye from the madder root.

6
.
chow-chow
: Chinese preserve of ginger, orange peel etc., in syrup.

7
.
deaf as the adders o' Scripture
: Psalms 58:4: ‘even like the deaf adder which stoppeth her ears; which refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer: charm he never so wisely.'

8
.
Shekinah
: Vision of the divine presence; with a sense here of what he reveres most.

9
.
compound
: Engine with multiple stages in which steam used in one is used again in another.

10
.
donkeys
: Donkey-engines; small auxiliary engines for loading cargo, etc.

11
. non plus ultra: More correctly
ne plus ultra
: the ultimate limit (Latin).

12
. Quem Deus vult… dementat: Whom God wishes to destroy he first drives mad (Latin).

13
.
Hoor
: Whore. (Cf. Revelation 17:1–18.)

14
.
Gehenna
: Hell.

15
.
cuddy
: Cabin.

16
.
gyte
: Mad.

17
. seriatim: In sequence (Latin).

18
.
speered
: Enquired.

19
.
Gowk
: Idiot.

20
.
bitts
: Strong posts on a ship's deck for securing mooring lines.

21
.
lazareetes
: Sc. lazarettes, small lockers at the stern or between the decks of a ship.

22
.
crack
: Up to the mark.

23
.
Eddystone
: A lighthouse marking dangerous rocks.

24
.
Judeeas Apella
: Sc. Judaeus Apella, Apella the Jew, in Horace,
Satires
, i:5.

1
. ‘
They'
: First published in
Scribner's Magazine
, August 1904; collected in
Traffics and Discoveries
, 1904. Behind the delicate pathos of this story lies Kipling's grief at the death of his little daughter Josephine, aged six, in 1899.

2
.
that precise hamlet
: Washington, in Sussex (though Washington, DC, is named after the first President of the United States, not after this village).

3
.
the Egg
: A reference to the ancient belief that the world was egg-shaped and derived from an egg hatched by a Creator – sometimes this is termed the mundane egg. Here it seems to image spiritual reality.

4
.
tax cart
: Light farm-cart exempt from taxation.

5
.
Æculapius
: God of medicine. The oath is the Hippocratic Oath (Hippocrates being ‘the father of medicine' and a follower of Aesculapius) in which doctors undertake to practise their art for the benefit of their patients.

6
.
the Fathers
: i.e., the Fathers of the Church.

7
.
In the pleasant orchard-closes
…: From ‘The Lost Bower' by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61).

8
.
no unpassable iron
: Referring to the folklore belief that iron could drive away spirits or stop them from entering.

1
.
The Mother Hive
: First published in
Collier's Weekly
, 20 November 1908; collected in
Actions and Reactions
, 1909.

2
.
Melissa
: Greek word for a bee.

3
. carissima: dearest (Italian).

4
.
what the trumpet was to Job's war-horse
: A summons to battle, joyfully accepted. (‘He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting' Job 39:2.)

5
. La Reine le veult: The Queen wishes it. In parliamentary usage this phrase indicates the Royal Assent.

6
.
garmed
: Smeared.

7
.
kopje
: Boer word for small hill.