The Man Who Would Be King - Couverture souple

Kipling, Rudyard; Rudyard Kipling, Kipling; Rudyard Kipling

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1594626324 ISBN 13 : 9781594626326

Editeur : Book Jungle, 2007

Synopsis

The Law, as quoted, lays down a fair conduct of life, and one not easy to follow. I have been fellow to a beggar again and again under circumstances which prevented either of us finding out whether the other was worthy. I have still to be brother to a Prince, though I once came near to kinship with what might have been a veritableKing and was promised the reversion of a Kingdom - army, law-courts, revenue and policy all complete. But, to-day, I greatly fear that my King is dead, and if I want a crown I must go and hunt it for myself.The beginning of everything was in a railway train upon the road to Mhow from Ajmir. There had been a deficit in the Budget, which necessitated travelling, not Second-class, which is only half as dear as First-class, but by Intermediate, which is very awful indeed. There are no cushions in the Intermediate class, and the population are either Intermediate, which is Eurasian, or native, which for a long night journey is nasty; or Loafer, which is amusing though intoxicated. Intermediates do not patronize refreshment-rooms. They carry their food in bundles and pots, and buy sweets from the native sweetmeat-sellers, and drink the roadside water. That is why in the hot weather Intermediates are taken out of the carriages dead, and in all weathers are most properly looked down upon.My particular Intermediate happened to be empty till I reached Nasirabad, when a huge gentleman in shirt-sleeves entered, and, following the custom of Intermediates, passed the time of day. He was a wanderer and a vagabond like myself, but with an educated taste for whiskey. He told tales of things he had seen and done, of out-of-the-way corners of the Empire into which he had penetrated, and of adventures in which he risked his life for a few days' food. "If India was filled with men like you and me, not knowing more than the crows where they'd get their next day's rations, it isn't seventy millions of revenue the land would be paying -it's seven hundred million," said he; and as I looked at his mouth and chin I was disposed to agree with him. We talked politics - the politics of Loaferdom that sees things from the underside where the lath and plaster is not smoothed off - and we talked postal arrangements because my friend wanted to send a telegram back from the next station to Ajmir, which is the turning-off place from the Bombay to the Mhow line as you travel westward. My friend had no money beyond eight annas which he wanted for dinner, and I had no money at all, owing to the hitch in the Budget before mentioned.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

"The Man Who Would Be King" (1888) is a novella by Rudyard Kipling. It is about two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan. The story was inspired by the exploits of James Brooke, an Englishman who became the first White Rajah of Sarawak in Borneo; and by the travels of American adventurer Josiah Harlan, who was granted the title Prince of Ghor in perpetuity for himself and his descendants. It incorporates a number of other factual elements such as locating the story in eastern Afghanistan's Kafiristan and the European-like appearance of many of Kafiristan's Nuristani people, and an ending modelled on explorer Adolf Schlagintweit. Welcome to a special edition of a renowned classic. This classic, difficult-to-find text has been reprinted using a print-on-demand service to provide you with an updated version of the text, at the best value possible! Several edits have been made for readability, including font, text size, spacing, and alignment changes. However, while our goal was to enhance the ease at which this book can be read, we did not alter or change the historic text. Experience this classic in all of its glory and historical significance!

Biographie de l'auteur

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936) was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist. 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. Near the end of his time at the school, it was decided that he lacked the academic ability to get into Oxford University on a scholarship and so his father obtained a job for him in Lahore, Punjab. Kipling was to be assistant editor of a small local newspaper, the Civil & Military Gazette. On 9 March 1889, Kipling left India, travelling first to San Francisco via Rangoon, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. He then travelled through the United States, writing articles for The Pioneer. In the course of this journey, he met Mark Twain. He then crossed the Atlantic, and reached Liverpool in October 1889. On 18 January 1892, he married Carrie Balestier.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Book Jungle
• Date d'édition: 2007
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1594626324
• ISBN 13: 9781594626326
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 144
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Allemagne