(Dec 7th to 13th)
Format: Triple
‘…What’s the use o’ them advantages to you ? Man the Oppressor comes along, an’ sees you’re likely an’ good-lookin’, an’ grinds you to the face o’ the earth. What for ? For his own pleasure: for his own convenience ! Young an’ old, black an’ bay, white an’ grey, there’s no distinctions made between us. We’re ground together under the remorseless teeth o’ the engines of oppression !’… |
This is from “A Walking Delegate” in The Day’s Work. A group of horses are chatting together in a Vermont hill pasture. One of them, a wall-eyed idle ugly yellow horse, is – like an industrial rabble-rouser – trying to stir up the other horses against Men. But the others are not impressed. |
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…saddle and bridle were stripped off, and the handsome creature was left alone in the centre of the straw yard. Then the fun began. A naked horse does not offer any obvious points to lay hold of, and this one lashed out in front and behind; and filled in the pauses with trying to bite… |
This is from “Captain Hayes and the Horse”, originally written for the CMG of 14 April 1886, included in Sussex Scrapbboks 28/3, collected in Thomas Pinney’s Kipling’s India and on this site. It describes the breaking of a horse by the redoubtable Captain Hayes, a famous authority on horses in India in Kipling’s day. |
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…he behaved himself very politely, and ate bread dipped in salt, and was petted all round the table, moving gingerly; and they drank his health, because he had done more to win the cup than any man or horse on the ground. |
This is from “The Maltese Cat”, in The Day’s Work. The Upper India Free for All Polo Cup has been won by a native Pioneer Regiment, nicknamed ‘The Skidars’, against much more expensive opposition. The hero of the hour has been the pony of the Skidars’ captain, Lutyens, ‘The Maltese Cat’, a past-master in Playing the Game. |
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