The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Diversity of Creatures, by Rudyard Kipling

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Title: A Diversity of Creatures

Author: Rudyard Kipling

Release Date: August 2, 2004 [eBook #13085]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DIVERSITY OF CREATURES***

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A DIVERSITY OF CREATURES

By

RUDYARD KIPLING

1917

PREFACE

With two exceptions, the dates at the head of these stories show when
they were published in magazine form. 'The Village that Voted the Earth
was Flat,' and 'My Son's Wife' carry the dates when they were written.

RUDYARD KIPLING.

CONTENTS

As Easy as ABC

_MacDonough's Song_

Friendly Brook

_The Land_

In the Same Boat

'_Helen all Alone_'

The Honours of War

_The Children_

The Dog Hervey

_The Comforters_

The Village that Voted the Earth was Flat

_The Press_

In the Presence

_Jobson's Amen_

Regulus

_A Translation_

The Edge of the Evening

_Rebirth_

The Horse Marines

_The Legend of Mirth_

'My Son's Wife'

_The Floods_

_The Fabulists_

The Vortex

_The Song of Seven Cities_

'Swept and Garnished'

Mary Postgate

_The Beginnings_

A DIVERSITY OF CREATURES

As Easy as A.B.C.

(1912)

_The A.B.C., that semi-elected, semi-nominated body of a few score
persons, controls the Planet. Transportation is Civilisation, our motto
runs. Theoretically we do what we please, so long as we do not interfere
with the traffic_ and all it implies. _Practically, the A.B.C. confirms
or annuls all international arrangements, and, to judge from its last
report, finds our tolerant, humorous, lazy little Planet only too ready
to shift the whole burden of public administration on its shoulders_.

'With the Night Mail[1].'

[Footnote 1: _Actions and Reactions_.]

Isn't it almost time that our Planet took some interest in the
proceedings of the Aerial Board of Control? One knows that easy
communications nowadays, and lack of privacy in the past, have killed
al