ese reasons the
actual, as distinguished from the legendary, Mr Kipling is not easily
discovered. Mainly it is a work of excavation.

Mr Kipling has been writing short stories for nearly thirty years. His
tales are too numerous for disparate discussion. It will be necessary
to take them in groups. One or two stories in each group will be taken
as typical of the rest. Thereby we shall avoid repetition and be able
to show some sort of plan to the maze of Mr Kipling's diversity of
subjects and manners.

II

SIMLA

Mr Kipling's Indian stories fall into three groups. There are (1) the
tales of Simla, (2) the Anglo-Indian tales, and (3) the tales of native
India. There is also _Kim_, which is more--much more--than a tale of
India.

Mr Kipling's Indian stories necessarily tend to fill a disproportionate
amount of space. They are of less account than their number or the
attention they have received would seem to imply. Their discussion in
this and the two following chapters will be more of a political than a
literary discussion. Mr Kipling as journalist and very efficient
colourman in words has made much of India in his time. He has
perceived in India a subject susceptible of being profitably worked
upon. Here was a vast continent, the particular concern of the
English, where all kinds of interesting work was being done, where
stories grew too thickly for counting, and where there was, ready to
the teller's eye, a richness and diversity of setting which beggared
the most eager penmanship. Moreover, this continent was virtually
untouched in the popular literature of the day. Naturally Mr Kipling
made full use of his opportunity. He did not write of India because
India was essential to his genius, but because he was shrewd enough to
realise that nothing could better serve the purpose of a young author
than to exploit his first-hand acquisition of an inexhaustible store of
fresh and excellent material. India was annexed by Mr Kipling at
twenty-two for his own literary purposes. He was not born to interpret
India, nor does he throw his literary heart and soul into the business.
When, in the Indian stories, we meet with pages sincerely inspired we
discover that their inspiration has very little to do with India and a
great deal to do with Mr Kipling's impulse to celebrate the work of the
world, and even more to do with his impulse to escape the intellectual
casuistry of his generation in a region where