17. ‘57: The year of the Indian Mutiny.
18. heterodox women: The hetairai (companions) of ancient Athens were educated courtesans.
19. Vizier: Chief minister.
20. Ladakh: Area to the north of Kashmir.
21. Vox Populi is Vox Dei: The Voice of the People is the Voice of God.
22. Sirkar: Government.
23. Din: The Faith (cry of excited Moslems).
24. Hutt: Get out.
25. lakh: A hundred thousand.
26. bunnias: Merchants.
27. It is expedient… people: John 11:50: ‘… it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not’.
At the Pit’s Mouth
1. At the Pit’s Mouth: First published in Under the Deodars, 1888; subsequently collected in Wee Willie Winkie and Other Stories.
2. Jean Ingelow: Nineteenth-century poetess (1820–97), author of ‘The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire, 1571’, from which these lines are taken.
3. Tertium Quid: Latin phrase meaning ‘a third something’.
4. Jakko: Mountain at Simla.
5. Observatory Hill: Another feature of Simla topography, like Elysium, Summer Hill, etc., mentioned later in the story.
6. banian: Undershirt, singlet.
7. ayahs: Nursemaids.
8. Medusa: One of the Gorgons of Greek mythology – females with snakes for hair, whose gaze turned those who encountered them to stone.
The Man who would be King
1. The Man who would be King: First published in The Phantom Rickshaw and Other Tales, 1888; subsequently collected in Wee Willie Winkie and Other Stories.
2. The Law, as quoted: Presumably a principle of Freemasonry.
3. Backwoodsman: An allusion to the Allahabad Pioneer, for which Kipling was now working, having been transferred from the Civil and Military Gazette in autumn 1887.
4. Residents: British officials who acted as advisers to the rulers of independent ‘Princely States’ which did not come under direct British rule.
5. for certain reasons: The loafer is using Masonic phrases which the narrator, as a fellow-Mason, recognizes.
6. Harun-al-Raschid: Caliph of Baghdad in The Arabian Nights.
7. Politicals: Political agents or Residents (see note 4, above).
8. Zenana: Women’s quarters where female members of the family were kept in seclusion.
9. Mister Gladstone: The great Liberal Prime Minister, whom Kipling saw as an enemy of Empire.
10. Modred’s shield: Modred or Mordred, the nephew of King Arthur, carried a plain black shield.
11. Sar-a-whack: Win a kingdom of their own, as Sir James Brooke had done in Sarawak in 1841.
12. Kafiristan: A remote area of Afghanistan, hardly ever visited by Europeans in the nineteenth and even the twentieth century.
13. Roberts’ Army: The British force under Sir Frederick (later Lord) Roberts, VC, in the Second Afghan War of 1878–80.
14. Roum: Constantinople.
15. Pir Khan: Pir is a title of Moslem saints or religious instructors, but the precise reference is unidentified.
16. Roos: Russians.
17. Huzrut: Respectful form of address.
18. Hazar: Caution (i.e., ‘get ready’).
19. Martini: A Martini-Henry rifle.
20. Alexander… Semiramis: Alexander the Great invaded India from the northeast; Semiramis was a mythical queen of Assyria.
21. The Craft: Freemasonry.
22. jezails: Long Afghan muskets.
23. Rajah Brooke: See note 11, above.
24. our ’Fifty-Seven: Our Indian Mutiny.
25. in his habit as he lived: A quotation from Hamlet, Act III, Scene 4: ‘My father, in his habit as he lived!’
26. The Son of God… his train: From a hymn by Bishop Heber (1783–1826). The first line reads ‘The Son of Man’ in earlier editions of the story.
Baa Baa, Black Sheep
1. Baa Baa, Black Sheep: First published in the Week’s News, 21 December 1888; collected in Wee Willie Winkie and Other Stories. This story is based on Kipling’s own childhood experiences.
2. When I was… place: Cf. As You Like It, Act II, Scene 4: ‘When I was at home I was in a better place’.
3. ayah: Nursemaid.
4. hamal: Porter.
5. Surti: From Surat, on the west coast of India.
6. Ranee: Hindu princess.
7. Ghauts: Hills parallel with the east and west coasts of south India.
8. Nassick: A Hill Station about a hundred miles from Bombay.
9. Belait: Originally meaning a kingdom or province, this word came to be used for Europe and then England. Hence ‘Blighty’ in soldiers’ slang.
10. Parel: A suburb of Bombay.
11. Apollo Bunder: The main quay and landing-place at Bombay.
12. broom-gharri: Brougham (type of carriage).
13. Sonny, my soul: ‘Sun of my soul’ – the opening words of one verse of John Keble’s ‘Evening Hymn’.
14. Navarino: Naval battle of 1827 in which a British fleet under Admiral Codrington, together with French and Russian squadrons, destroyed the Turkish–Egyptian fleet, thus helping to ensure the national independence of Greece.
15. A. H. Clough: From his poem, ‘Easter Day, Naples, 1849’.
16. Frank Fairlegh: A novel by Francis E. Smedley (1818–64).
17. Tilbury: A high two-wheeled carriage with a hood.
18. Cometh up as a Flower: A novel by RhodaBroughton (1840–1920).
19. Journeys end… know: See Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene 3.
20. hubshi: Negro.
21. tout court: Just that.
The Head of the District
1. The Head of the District: First published in Macmillan’s Magazine and New York Tribune, January 1890; collected in Life’s Handicap, 1891.
2. Man that is born… hill: Cf. Job 14:1: ‘Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.’
3. the Very Greatest of All the Viceroys: Probably Lord Ripon, Viceroy from 1880 to 1884, whose Liberal policies endeared him to Indians but antagonized the Anglo-Indian community.
4. the Knight of the Drawn Sword: The Commander-in-Chief (India) or the Military Member of Council.
5. peshbundi: Stratagem.
6. civilians: Members of the Indian Civil Service.
7. his sisters and his cousins and his aunts: Cf. Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore.
8. screw-gun: Light artillery piece for mountain warfare, which could be dismantled, carried by mule and then re-assembled.
9. Ghazis: Fanatical Moslem warriors.
10. Jehannum: Hell.
11. Akbar: Mogul emperor of the sixteenth century.
12. Belooch Beshaklis: A fictional regiment.
13. Tommy Dodd: An innocent gambling game played at charity fêtes, with a pun here on roulette.
The Courting of Dinah Shadd
1. The Courting of Dinah Shadd: First published in Macmillan’s Magazine and Harper’s Weekly, March 1890; collected in Life’s Handicap.
2. Nordenfeldts: Machine-guns.
3. Eblis: The devil, in Moslem mythology.
4. lushin’: Drinking.
5. Wolseley was quite wrong: Lord Wolseley, previously Sir Garnet Wolseley (1833–1913), was one of Britain’s foremost generals. In the Soldier’s Pocket Book for Field Service (1869) he had described war correspondents as ‘those newly invented curses to armies, who eat the rations of fighting men and do no work at all’.
6. the opinion of Polonius: Cf. his advice to Laertes in Hamlet Act I, Scene 3: ‘Beware/Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,/Bear’t that th’ opposed may beware of thee.’
7. Black Tyrone: A fictional Irish regiment.
8. in another place: See ‘The Solid Muldoon’ in Soldiers Three and Other Stories.
9. plastrons on his epigastrons: Cloth facings on his midriff.
10. dah: Burmese sword.
&
nbsp; 11. C.B.: ‘Confined to barracks’ (Kipling).
12. lost my tip: Failed, ‘came a cropper’.
13. when he went mad with the home-sickness: See ‘The Madness of Private Ortheris’ in Plain Tales from the Hills.
14. Prometheus: A Titan chained to a rock, in Greek mythology, with vultures tearing out his liver, as punishment for his stealing fire from heaven for the benefit of mankind.
The Man Who Was
1. The Man Who Was: First published in Macmillan’s Magazine and Harper’s Weekly, April 1890; collected in Life’s Handicap.
2. White Hussars: A fictional regiment said to be based on the 9th Lancers.
3. Black Tyrone: A fictional Irish regiment.
4. sotnia: Squadron.
5. Lushkar Light Horse: Another fictional regiment.
6. Punjab Frontier Force: Irregular force under the control of the Punjab Government for policing the Frontier.
7. sambhur, nilghai, markhor: Large stag, great antelope, wild goat.
8. dinner-slips: Long white strips of cloth.
9. Shabash: Well done.
10. Ressaidar: Indian subaltern of irregular cavalry.
11. Boot and saddle: Trumpet signal to cavalry to mount.
12. the pit whence he was digged: Cf. Isaiah 51:1.
13. before Sebastopol: In the siege of Sebastopol in the Crimean War of 1854–6.
Without Benefit of Clergy
1. Without Benefit of Clergy: First published in Macmillan’s Magazine and Harper’s Weekly, June 1890; collected in Life’s Handicap. The phrase ‘benefit of clergy’ refers to the right of clerics in the Middle Ages to be tried in special ecclesiastical courts, but Kipling uses it here to indicate that the lovers have gone through no church ceremony of marriage, nor have they any protection from fate or the consequences of their actions.
2. Sheikh Badl: Badl was a Rajput hero of the fourteenth century.
3. log: People.
4. Ya illah!: O God!
5. Tobah: penitence; an exclamation of strong negation (sc. ‘No – shame!’).
6. sitar: Indian guitar.
7. Rajah Rasalu: A king in Sialkot in the third and fourth centuries, about whom legends abound.
8. scald-head: One infected with ringworm; a term of general opprobrium.
9. janee: Beloved.
10. burning-ghaut: Place by a river for pyres for the dead.
On Greenhow Hill
1. On Greenhow Hill: First published in Harper’s Weekly, 23 August 1890; collected in Life’s Handicap.
2. Rivals: by Kipling’s mother, Alice Kipling.
3. Aurangabadis: Fictional Indian regiment.
4. tewed up: Tied up, mixed up.
5. Lotharius: Lothario, the proverbial heartless libertine, from Nicholas Rowe’s The Fair Penitent (1703).
6. sumph: Sump, the lowest part of a mine.
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.
‘Rikki-Tikki-Tavi’
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.
The Miracle of Purun Bhagat
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.
The Maltese Cat
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.
Red Dog
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.
The Ship that Found Herself:
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.
William the Conqueror
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 Valedic
tion: 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.
The Devil and the Deep Sea
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.
‘Bread upon the Waters’
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.