The poem is excellent cold craft, but leaves us precisely in the state of mind in which it found us. The story which follows it is rooted in the same idea; but, where the one is a literary exercise, the other is a supreme feat of imagination.
Here, with The Miracle of Purun Bhagat, the story itself and not the dirge of the Langurs, we may conveniently leave the reputation of our author. Critics of a future generation may need to apologise for including within the limits of a brief monograph a specific chapter upon Mr Kipling's verse. They will not need to apologise for its brevity.
A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF RUDYARD KIPLING'S
PRINCIPAL WRITINGS
[Separate issues of single poems or stories have not generally been included in this list. Dates of first publication of books are given; new editions only when they involve revision of text, alteration of format or transference to a different publisher.]
Departmental Ditties and Other Verses (Lahore: The Civil and Military Gazette Press). 1886. New editions (London: Thacker). 1888; 1890; 1898; (Newnes). 1899; (Methuen). 1904; 1908; 1913.
Plain Tales from the Hills (Thacker). 1888. New editions (Macmillan). 1890; 1899; 1907.
Soldiers Three: A Collection of Stories (Allahabad: Wheeler). 1888. New edition (London: Sampson Low). 1890.
The Story of the Gadsbys: a Tale without a Plot (Allahabad: Wheeler). N.D. [1888]. New edition (London: Sampson Low). 1890.
In Black and White (Allahabad: Wheeler). N.D. [1888]. New edition (London: Sampson Low). 1890.