This 1899 semi-autobiographical collection of stories about boys at a British boarding school in North Devon focuses on three chums-the eponymous Stalky, McTurk, and Beetle-who were stand-ins for Kipling himself and his boyhood friends. Rowdy and amusing, the stories are among Kipling's freshest.

"The Man Who Would Be King" is an enormously popular story by the legendary British writer, poet and journalist Rudyard Kipling. In the tale, the narrator - a British newspaperman in India modeled after Kipling himself - meets two ex-military rogues named Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnehan who have grand ambitions. They plan to load up on weapons, travel to the remote Afghan kingdom of Kafiristan and - through cunning and military force - become monarchs....

They, published in 1905, is a somber short story that recalls a tragedy of Kipling’s own life--the sudden death of his daughter, Josephine.

One New Year's Eve, in India, a group of British friends gets drunk at a club. One of them, Fleete, is so drunk that he desecrates the temple of the Monkey God. They expect lethal retribution, but are only confronted by a leper priest, who bites Fleete as punishment. But when Fleete begins to act strangely, they wonder if their punishment was as mild as it first seemed.

Excerpt: "In Northern India stood a monastery called The Chubara of Dhunni Bhagat. No one remembered who or what Dhunni Bhagat had been. He had lived his life, made a little money and spent it all, as every good Hindu should do, on a work of piety-the Chubara. That was full of brick cells, gaily painted with the figures of Gods and kings and elephants, where worn-out priests could sit and meditate on the latter end of things; the paths were brick...

Tor Classics are affordably-priced editions designed to attract the young reader. Original dynamic cover art enthusiastically represents the excitement of each story. All editions are complete and unabridged, and feature Introductions and Afterwords. This edition of The Jungle Book II includes a Foreword, Biographical Note, and Afterword by Jane Yolen. Mowgli was once the little man-cub raised by Mother Wolf. Now Mowgli is the Jungle Lord ruling over...

Excerpt: "The least that Findlayson, of the Public Works Department, expected was a C.I.E.; he dreamed of a C.S.I. Indeed, his friends told him that he deserved more. For three years he had endured heat and cold, disappointment, discomfort, danger, and disease, with responsibility almost to top-heavy for one pair of shoulders; and day by day, through that time, the great Kashi Bridge over the Ganges had grown under his charge. Now, in less than three...

Soldiers Three is a collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling. The three soldiers of the title are Learoyd, Mulvaney and Ortheris, who had also appeared previously in the collection Plain Tales from the Hills. The current version, dating from 1899 and more fully titled Soldiers Three and other stories, consists of three sections which each had previously received separate publication in 1888; Learoyd, Mulvaney and Ortheris appear only in the...

Profoundly suspicious of Calcutta's openness to new ideas and values, Kipling turns his attentions to liberalism and policies of native self-government, ridiculing the contribution of the Bengal Legislative Council to the running of the city. The 'ferocious stench' of refuse, bad water, and sewage is taken by Kipling as a metaphor of the corruption of the Council and the city.

"Plain Tales From the Hills" is a classic collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling. Contained here in this volume are the following tales: Lispeth, Three and-an Extra, Thrown Away, Miss Youghal's Sais, 'Yoked with an Unbeliever', False Dawn, The Rescue of Pluffles, Cupid's Arrows, The Three Musketeers, His Chance in Life, Watches of the Night, The Other Man, Consequences, The Conversion of Aurelian McGoggin, The Taking of Lungtungpen, A Germ-Destroyer,...