Kim cover

Kim

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Original en 104531 words First published 1901 United Kingdom

Kipling's novel of India, published in 1901 and the book he wanted to be remembered for. Kimball O'Hara, an orphaned street boy in Lahore, is taken up as a chela, or disciple, by a Buddhist lama searching for a legendary river. But Kim is also a British soldier's son, and the secret service — the Great Game of intelligence played against Russia — has uses for a boy who can pass as anything and go anywhere. Between the lama's road to deliverance and the spy's road to power, Kipling builds a portrait of India at its most various: bazaars, railways, monasteries, hill roads and all its tangled faiths.

Text sourced from Project Gutenberg (public domain in the United States); the Project Gutenberg trademark and license text have been removed on import. Public-domain status determined by the author's death year + 50 years rule.

Table of Contents

  1. 001 O ye who tread the Narrow Way By Tophet-flare to Judgment Day, Be… 2506 words
  2. 002 Here was the devout Asita, the pendant of Simeon in the Christian… 2505 words
  3. 003 But Kim had danced off ere the end of the sentence, dodging pariah… 2629 words
  4. 004 And there was that on Mahbub Ali which he did not wish to keep an… 2500 words
  5. 005 “My brother is in a Jat regiment,” said the cultivator. 2570 words
  6. 006 He saw—Indian bungalows are open through and through—the Englishman… 2548 words
  7. 007 Sometimes men laughed, but more often heard the story out to the end… 2512 words
  8. 008 “Thou art not. That I can see. But I do not know that other. He… 2500 words
  9. 009 “Am I to be beaten before the police?” cried the carter. 2568 words
  10. 010 Kim marked down a gaily ornamented _ruth_ or family bullock-cart… 2531 words
  11. 011 “And?” “I spoke therefore of the Search, and of the Way, and of… 2532 words
  12. 012 Kim stared with all his eyes, his breath coming short and sharp between his teeth. 2502 words
  13. 013 “A phenomenal little liar,” muttered Bennett. 2526 words
  14. 014 “You will be sent to a school. 2520 words
  15. 015 “Will he pay?” said the spruce scribe, gathering up his desk and pens… 2508 words
  16. 016 The stallion bounded wildly. 2515 words
  17. 017 “Shall I meet my Holy One there?” Kim whimpered. 2506 words
  18. 018 “So soon, my _chela?_ I have never forgotten it. 2520 words
  19. 019 “Read,” said the Colonel, with a sigh of relief. 2511 words
  20. 020 “Well said. Especially are distances and numbers and the manner of… 2551 words
  21. 021 Swiftly—as Orientals understand speed—with long explanations, with… 2581 words
  22. 022 “I think that Lurgan Sahib wishes to make me afraid. 2507 words
  23. 023 “Oah!” The instinct of competition waked in his breast. 2615 words
  24. 024 Said the Babu when he had talked for an hour and a half “I hope some… 2542 words
  25. 025 “It must hold everything that thou hast seen or touched or considered. 2504 words
  26. 026 “Do not forget he made me that I am—though he did not know it. 2665 words
  27. 027 Hurree Babu stepped back a pace or two into the crowd at the entrance… 2548 words
  28. 028 “The Keeper of the Images in the Wonder House acquired merit by… 2780 words
  29. 029 “Yes,” he went on to the Kamboh, “I was in haste, and the cart… 2529 words
  30. 030 The lama stared through his spectacles as he had not stared at the… 2509 words
  31. 031 Each long, perfect day rose behind Kim for a barrier to cut him off… 2513 words
  32. 032 “The Colonel Sahib,” the boy from St Xavier’s corrected. 2577 words
  33. 033 At noon the Babu strapped up his brass-bound drug-box, took his… 2553 words
  34. 034 They crossed a snowy pass in cold moonlight, when the lama, mildly… 2534 words
  35. 035 “These are the men,” Hurree whispered, as the ritual went on and the… 2551 words
  36. 036 “I said it; I said it,” cried the bearer of that burden. 2509 words
  37. 037 “He will tell for the sake of a reward. 2521 words
  38. 038 “Shall we at least wait for the _hakim?_” “I know how long I shall live in this body. 2661 words
  39. 039 “Ye have acquired merit,” says the lama. 2539 words
  40. 040 Kim sat up and smiled. The terrible weakness had dropped from him… 2500 words
  41. 041 “I am Kim. I am Kim. And what is Kim?” His soul repeated it again and… 2733 words