Ten Stories

by Rudyard Kipling

A special edition of Ten Stories by Rudyard Kipling reissued with a bright retro design to celebrate Pan’s 70th anniversary.

This selection of Rudyard Kipling’s short stories features ten of his most brilliant creations – a thrilling mix of mysteries, adventures, science fiction and horror. In these tales of shipwrecks and tidal waves, blackmailers and false kings, hallucinating poets and shell-shocked gardeners, Kipling uses the full force of his creative powers to devastating effect.

An entertaining collection from the much loved author of The Jungle Book , and the first book ever published as a Pan paperback.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

289 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was a journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist.

Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). His poems include Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), 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 classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".

Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 41, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."

Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, Kipling suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died less than a week later on 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Kipling's death had in fact previously been incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."

Reviews

[David Levell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This selection showcases Kipling's mastery of short fiction. There isn't a weak story among the lot. His range of subject matter and narrative strength are formidable. His writing requires attention, however; he's not a man for stating the bleedin' obvious and doesn't always care to spell things out too directly. He also slips in many a subtle undercurrent well worth catching.

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1888) is a bloody, action-packed tale of two reckless adventurers seeking to carve themselves a kingdom from a remote corner of Afghanistan. This is full-tilt vaulting ambition and avarice, cruelty and hubris, all epic sweep and ethics in tumult. It's the longest story here but absolutely belts along. You won't be bored, you might be shocked and you'll probably be thoroughly entertained. The framing plot, set in a 19th-century Indian newspaper office, carries semi-autobiographical authority and is interesting on its own.

Two other tales also concern India. ON THE CITY WALL (1889) offers a charismatic courtesan, a religious riot and the hoodwinking of British authorities oblivious to the subtleties of the Indian society they outwardly rule. Adding interest from a historical perspective is the protagonist's view on the British Raj. THE STORY OF MUHAMMAD DIN (1886) is a brief, affecting account of friendship between an English official and an Indian child.

Now for the stories dealing with personal aftermaths of the Great War. Sadly, Kipling knew this subject only too well - his only son went missing in action in 1915 at 18 years of age. FAIRY-KIST (1927) combines a suspicious death, amateur sleuthing and post-traumatic stress disorder. The unexpectedly mystical finale of THE GARDENER (1925) - as surprising as it is moving and effective - reveals a thread of hidden ambiguity enabling two very different interpretations of what we've just read. The sheer cleverness of its construction only hits you in hindsight, and my lingering impression is admiration for Kipling's technical brilliance in bringing this off.

Three other stories are more directly fantastical. THE HOUSE SURGEON (1909) is a quasi-ghost story in which a tragic family secret unfolds, and is based on the feelings Kipling's Torquay home actually induced in both his wife and himself. Here some things are not as they seem, and some are. WIRELESS (1902) introduces a psychic dimension to radiotelegraphy when it appears to make a man channel Keats. Kipling gradually draws a parallel between the mystery of artistic inspiration and messages arriving from thin air via what was then very new technology.

In A MATTER OF FACT (1892), a sea monster furnishes three travelling journalists the literally unbelievable scoop of a lifetime. This is basically a semi-comic satire of falsified reporting, but I feel its lasting power lies more in the sense of wonder evoked by Kipling's word-painting of his abyssal creatures. Haunting and somewhat sad, they remind me a little of Ray Bradbury's sea dinosaur in "The Foghorn".

Kipling's gift for comic writing is more overt in another maritime yarn, BREAD UPON THE WATERS (1896), and in the rural MY SON'S WIFE (1913). The first has an unjustly dismissed ship's engineer obtaining ingenious revenge on his former employers, while the latter concerns an urban armchair leftist unexpectedly inheriting a country estate. Both are clever romps with a brush of social commentary Kipling-style, if you care to see it, but the focus is more on character and plot. The estate's tenant farmer in "My Son's Wife" is unforgettable in a "Cold Comfort Farm" kind of way. The title is apparently a quotation; how it relates to the story I've no idea. Properly handled, it would make a good film ("The Man Who Would Be King" already has).

[Robert Hudder · Rating 3 out of 5]

On a delayed train ride, finished this as my second book. It is always uncomfortable reading stories from the turn of the previous century. Mark Twain has the same feel.

You know that they are more or less sympathetic but we have been taught that these words can only mean one thing.

Overall the stories are by turn adventurous and funny. There aren't many twists in the tale but there are often clever tales in themselves.

[Thomas Bothner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of novellas, including the very good ones 'The man who would be King', 'A matter of fact', 'On the city wall', 'Fairy-Kist' and 'The Gardener'. Definitely worth a read, although one has to look past the recurring elements of colonialism.

[Seema Dubey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The edition I read is 1947.

[Val · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories set in the Indian sub-continent are better known than the supernatural ones or the seafaring ones. Together they make an interesting and varied collection.