quotes_apr19_2009.htm

… he went on between the lilies and the loquats and the roses and the cannas and the heavy-scented ginger-plants that grew in the garden, till he came to the great camphor-tree that was called the Camphor Tree of Suleiman-bin-Daoud.

This is from “The Butterf;y that Stamped” in Just So Stories.

The great King Suleiman-bin-Daoud is walking in his garden, troubled by his quarrelsome wives, and his much loved Queen Balkis is watching over him. Later, by a wise stratagem, she arranges for an event that terrifies the wives into behaving properly.

‘When the carpet of Opportunity is unrolled before thee, do not consider where thou shalt sit, but leap swiftly into the middle thereof, and take firm hold on all four comers.’

This is from “Railway Reform in Great Britain”, uncollected until Vol. XXX of the Sussex Edition, but available on this site.

The story is a violebt tirade by Kipling against the incompetence of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in the form of a tale from the Arabian Nights.

‘And every day. And when all was done, and the People of the Graves were laid at ease and in honour, it pleased the Padishah to cross the little water between Belait and Frangistan, and look upon them.

This is from “The Debt” in Limits and Renewals.

An Indian ex-soldier describes to a small English boy how King Geirge V once travelled to France to see the graves of Great War soldiers, and told a sick general to put on his overcoat against the freezing cold.