Plain Tales from the Hills (published 1888) is the first collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...

. Out of its 40 stories, "eight-and-twenty", according to Kipling's Preface, were initially published in the Civil and Military Gazette

Civil and Military Gazette

The Civil and Military Gazette was a daily English language newspaper founded in 1872 in British India. It was published from Lahore, Simla and Karachi, some times simultaneously, until its closure in 1963.-History:...

in Lahore

Lahore

Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...

, Punjab

Punjab (British India)

Punjab was a province of British India, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British rule. With the end of British rule in 1947 the province was split between West Punjab, which went to Pakistan, and East Punjab, which went to India...

, British India

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

, between November 1886 and June 1887. "The remaining tales are, more or less, new." (Kipling had worked as a journalist for the CMG - his first job - since 1882, when he was not quite 20.)

The title refers, by way of a pun on 'Plain' as the reverse of 'Hills', to the deceptively simple narrative style; and to the fact that many of the stories are set in the Hill Station of Simla

Shimla

Shimla , formerly known as Simla, is the capital city of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of the British Raj in India. A popular tourist destination, Shimla is often referred to as the "Queen of Hills," a term coined by the British...

 - the 'summer capital of the British Raj' during the hot weather. Not all of the stories are, in fact, about life in 'the Hills': Kipling gives sketches of many aspects of life in British India.

The tales include the first appearances, in book form, of Mrs. Hauksbee

Mrs. Hauksbee

Mrs. Hauksbee is a fictional character in many short stories by Rudyard Kipling. In the first, Three and - an Extra she is introduced asMrs Hauksbee appeared on the horizon; and where she existed was fair chance of trouble. At Simla her by-name was the 'Stormy Petrel'. She had won that title five...

, the policeman Strickland

Strickland

The English surname Strickland is derived from the Norse word Stercaland, which is found in Westmorland to the south of Penrith. It did not become a family name until after 1179, when Walter de Castlecarrock married Christian de Leteham, an heiress to the local estate that now includes the villages...

 and the Soldiers Three

Soldiers 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...

 (Privates Mulvaney, Ortheris and Learoyd).

The stories are:

• "Lispeth
  Lispeth
  Lispeth is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on November 29th 1886; its first appearance in book form was in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and it later appeared in subsequent editions of that collection...
  
  "
• "Three and - an Extra
  Three and - an Extra
  "Three and - an Extra" is the earliest appearance in Kipling's books of the character Mrs. Hauksbee. It was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on November 17th 1886, and first in book form in Plain Tales from the Hills, in 1888. It reports a defeat of "the clever, witty, brilliant...
  
  "
• "Thrown Away
  Thrown Away
  Thrown Away is a short story by British author Rudyard Kipling. It was published in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills , and in subsequent editions of that collection....
  
  "
• "Miss Youghal's Sais
  Miss Youghal's Sais
  "Miss Youghal's Sais" is a short story in Rudyard Kipling's collection Plain Tales from the Hills . It is the first appearance in book form of the fictional character Strickland...
  
  "
• "Yoked with an Unbeliever
  Yoked with an Unbeliever
  Yoked with an Unbeliever is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on December 7, 1886, and in book form in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888...
  
  '"
• "False Dawn
  False Dawn (Kipling story)
  False Dawn is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection....
  
  "
• "The Rescue of Pluffles
  The Rescue of Pluffles
  The Rescue of Pluffles is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. Its first appearance in book form was in Kipling's first collection of short stories, Plain Tales from the Hills ; it was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on November 20, 1886. It centres on Mrs Hauksbee, and beginsMrs....
  
  "
• "Cupid's Arrows
  Cupid's Arrows
  Cupid's Arrows is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection...
  
  "
• "The Three Musketeers
  The Three Musketeers (Kipling)
  This page is about the short story by Rudyard Kipling. For other uses, see The Three Musketeers ."The Three Musketeers" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling which introduces three fictional British soldiers serving in India in the later nineteenth century: the privates Mulvaney, Ortheris and...
  
  "
• "His Chance in Life
  His Chance in Life
  His Chance in Life is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills , and in subsequent editions of that collection. The story is illuminating about Kipling's attitudes to race, which are less cut-and-dried than is often thought...
  
  "
• "Watches of the Night
  Watches of the Night
  Watches of the Night is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on March 25, 1887; in book form, first in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888; and in the many subsequent editions of that collection...
  
  "
• "The Other Man
  The Other Man (Kipling story)
  The story was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on November 13, 1886, in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection....
  
  "
• "Consequences
  Consequences (Kipling story)
  Consequences is the title of a short story by Rudyard Kipling, first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on December 9, 1886; and first in book form in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills , and in subsequent editions of that collection.The story is an illustration of the...
  
  "
• "The Conversion of Aurelian McGoggin
  The Conversion of Aurelian McGoggin
  The Conversion of Aurelian McGoggin is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on April 28, 1887, and first in book form in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection.Aurelian...
  
  "
• "The Taking of Lungtungpen
  The Taking of Lungtungpen
  The Taking of Lungtungpen is a short story by Rudyard Kipling which was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on April 11, 1887, and in book form in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection...
  
  "
• "A Germ-Destroyer
  A Germ-Destroyer
  A Germ-Destroyer is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on May 17, 1887, in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection...
  
  "
• "Kidnapped
  Kidnapped (Kipling story)
  The Rudyard Kipling story Kidnapped was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on March 21, 1887, in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection....
  
  "
• "The Arrest of Lieutenant Golightly
  The Arrest of Lieutenant Golightly
  The Arrest of Lieutenant Golightly is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on November 23 1886, in book form in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection...
  
  "
• "In the House of Suddhoo
  In the House of Suddhoo
  In the House of Suddhoo is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. The story was published in the Civil and Military Gazette on April 30, 1886 under the title Section 420, I.P.C....
  
  "
• "His Wedded Wife
  His Wedded Wife
  His Wedded Wife by Rudyard Kipling was published in the Civil and Military Gazette on February 25, 1887, and in book form in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection...
  
  "
• "The Broken-link Handicap"
• "Beyond the Pale"
• "In Error"
• "A Bank Fraud"
• "Tods' Amendment"
• "The Daughter of the Regiment"
• "In the Pride of his Youth"
• "Pig"
• "The Rout of the White Hussars"
• "The Bronckhorst Divorce-case"
• "Venus Annodomini"
• "The Bisra of Pooree"
• "A Friend's Friend"
• "The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows"
• "The Madness of Private Ortheris"
• "The Story of Muhammad Din"
• "On the Strength of a Likeness"
• "Wressley of the Foreign Office"
• "By Word of Mouth"
• "To be Filed for Reference"

Some of the characters in these stories reappear in the novel Kim

Kim (novel)

Kim is a picaresque novel by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published serially in McClure's Magazine from December 1900 to October 1901 as well as in Cassell's Magazine from January to November 1901, and first published in book form by Macmillan & Co. Ltd in October 1901...

.

External links

• Plain Tales from the Hills, audio book at Librivox
• Works by Kipling
  • Note that as Kipling's writing is mostly in the public domain, a large number of individual websites contain parts of his work; these two sites are comprehensive, containing almost everything publicly available.
• Something of Myself, Kipling's autobiography
• The Kipling Society website
• Kipling Readers' Guide from the Kipling Society; annotated notes on stories and poems.