Orakel Classics
Kim
Kim by Rudyard Kipling, prepared as a public-domain Orakel edition with 15 chapter-aware companion links.
Chapters
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CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I from Kim. O ye who tread the Narrow Way By Tophet-flare to Judgment Day, Be gentle when “the heathen” pray To Buddha at
Open2CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II from Kim. And whoso will, from Pride released; Contemning neither creed nor priest, May feel the Soul of all the East. About him at
Open3CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III from Kim. Yea, voice of every Soul that clung To life that strove from rung to rung When Devadatta’s rule was young, The warm wind brings
Open4CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV from Kim. Good Luck, she is never a lady, But the cursedest quean alive, Tricksy, wincing, and jady— Kittle to lead or drive. Greet her—she’s hailing a stranger! Meet her—she’s busking to leave! Let her alone for a shrew to the bone And the hussy comes plucking your sleeve! Largesse! Largesse, O Fortune! Give or hold at your will. If I’ve no care for Fortune, Fortune must follow me
Open5CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V from Kim. Here come I to my own again Fed, forgiven, and known again Claimed by bone of my bone again, And sib to flesh of my flesh! The fatted calf is dressed for me, But the husks have greater zest for me ... I think my pigs will be best for me, So I’m off to the styes
Open6CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI from Kim. Now I remember comrades— Old playmates on new seas— Whenas we traded orpiment Among the savages. Ten thousand leagues to southward, And thirty years removed— They knew not noble Valdez, But me they knew and
Open7CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII from Kim. Unto whose use the pregnant suns are poised With idiot moons and stars retracing stars? Creep thou betweene—thy coming’s all unnoised. Heaven hath her high, as Earth her baser, wars. Heir to these tumults, this affright, that fraye (By Adam’s, fathers’, own, sin bound alway); Peer up, draw out thy horoscope and say Which planet mends thy threadbare fate or
Open8CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII from Kim. Something I owe to the soil that grew— More to the life that fed— But most to Allah Who gave me two Separate sides to my
Open9CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX from Kim. S’ doaks was son of Yelth the wise— Chief of the Raven clan. Itswoot the Bear had him in care To make him a
Open10CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X from Kim. Your tiercel’s too long at hack, Sire. He’s no eyass But a passage-hawk that footed ere we caught him, Dangerously free o’ the air. Faith! were he mine (As mine’s the glove he binds to for his tirings) I’d fly him with a make-hawk. He’s in yarak Plumed to the very point—so manned, so weathered... Give him the firmament God made him for, And what shall take the air of him?—Old
Open11CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI from Kim. Give the man who is not made To his trade Swords to fling and catch again, Coins to ring and snatch again, Men to harm and cure again, Snakes to charm and lure again— He’ll be hurt by his own blade, By his serpents disobeyed, By his clumsiness bewrayed,” By the people mocked to scorn— So ’tis not with juggler born! Pinch of dust or withered flower, Chance-flung fruit or borrowed staff, Serve his need and shore his
Open12CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII from Kim. Who hath desired the Sea—the sight of salt-water unbounded? The heave and the halt and the hurl and the crash of the comber wind-hounded? The sleek-barrelled swell before storm—grey, foamless, enormous, and growing? Stark calm on the lap of the Line—or the crazy-eyed hurricane blowing? His Sea in no showing the same—his Sea and the same ’neath all showing— His Sea that his being fulfils? So and no otherwise—so and
Open13CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII from Kim. Who hath desired the Sea—the immense and contemptuous surges? The shudder, the stumble, the swerve ere the star-stabbing bowsprit merges— The orderly clouds of the Trades and the ridged roaring sapphire thereunder— Unheralded cliff-lurking flaws and the head-sails’ low-volleying thunder? His Sea in no wonder the same—his Sea and the same in each wonder— His Sea that his being fulfils? So and no otherwise—so and no
Open14CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV from Kim. My brother kneels (so saith Kabir) To stone and brass in heathen wise, But in my brother’s voice I hear My own unanswered agonies. His God is as his Fates assign— His prayer is all the world’s—and
Open15CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV from Kim. I’d not give room for an Emperor— I’d hold my road for a King. To the Triple Crown I’d not bow down— But this is a different thing! I’ll not fight with the Powers of Air— Sentries pass him through! Drawbridge let fall—He’s the Lord of us all— The Dreamer whose dream came
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