HUMOROUS TALES

First published in 1921, this volume collects some of the most comical stories Kipling published throughout his writing career. These tales derive their humour from absurd situations – a drunken Irish soldier worshipped as a god in the Indian holy city of Benares, a monkey let loose in an English village – and from lampooning the attitudes and discourses of the time.

While presenting many aspects which will be familiar to Kipling readers – rollicking adventures, exotic locales and an interest in the animal world – these Humorous Tales explore the more light-hearted and amusing side to the great master’s work.

Contains: ‘The Legend of Mirth’, ‘The Taking of Lungtungpen’, ‘Moti Guj – Mutineer’, ‘The Rout of the White Hussars’, ‘The First Sailor’, ‘Judson and the Empire’, ‘Namgay Doola’, ‘My Sunday at Home’, ‘Pig’, ‘Alnaschar and the Oxen’, ‘The Bull That Thought’, ‘A Flight of Fact’, ‘Private Learoyd’s Story’, ‘The Finances of the Gods’, ‘Prologue to the Master Cook’s Tale’, ‘His Gift’, ‘The Press’, ‘The Village That Voted the Earth Was Flat’, ‘The Puzzler (Poem)’, ‘The Puzzler (Tale)’, ‘The Incarnation of Krishna Mulvaney’, ‘Gallio’s Song’, ‘Little Foxes’, ‘My Lord the Elephant’, ‘“Brugglesmith”’, ‘The Sending of Dana Da’, ‘The Fabulists’, ‘The Vortex’, ‘The Song of Seven Cities’ and ‘The Necessitarian’.