And the best boy of them all — who could have become anything — was wounded in the thigh as he was leading his men up the ramp of a fortress. All he said was, “Put me up against that tree and take my men on”; and when his men came back he was dead.
Ages and ages ago, when Queen Victoria was shot at by a man in the street, the School paper made some verses about it that ended like this:
One school of many, made to make
Men who shall hold it dearest right
To battle for their ruler’s sake,
And stake their being in the fight,
Sends greeting, humble and sincere,
Though verse be rude and poor and mean,
To you, the greatest as most dear,
Victoria, by God’s Grace, our Queen!
Such greetings as should come from those
Whose fathers faced the Sepoy hordes,
Or served you in the Russian snows
And dying, left their sons their swords.
For we are bred to do your will
By land and sea, wherever flies
The Flag to fight and follow still,
And work your empire’s destinies.
Once more we greet you, though unseen
Our greetings be, and coming slow.
Trust us, if need arise, O Queen!
We shall not tarry with the blow.
And there are one or two places in the world that can bear witness how the School kept its word.
A Counting-Out Song
WHAT is the song the children sing
When doorway lilacs bloom in Spring,
And the Schools are loosed, and the games are played
That were deadly earnest when Earth was made?
Hear them chattering, shrill and hard,
After dinner-time, out in the yard,
As the sides are chosen and all submit
To the chance of the lot that shall make them “It.”
(Singing) “Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo!
Catch a nigger by the toe!
If he hollers let him go
Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo!
You — are — It!”
Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, and Mo
Were the First Big Four of the Long Ago,
When the Pole of the Earth sloped thirty degrees,
And Central Europe began to freeze,
And they needed Ambassadors staunch and stark
To steady the Tribes in the gathering dark:
But the frost was fierce and flesh was frail,
So they launched a Magic that could not fail.
(Singing) “Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo!
Hear the wolves across the snow!
Some one has to kill ‘em — so
Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo
Make — you — It!”
Slowly the Glacial Epoch passed,
Central Europe thawed out at last;
And, under the slush of the melting snows,
The first dim shapes of the Nations rose.
Rome, Britannia, Belgium, Gaul —
Flood and avalanche fathered them all;
And the First Big Four, as they watched the mess,
Pitied Man in his helplessness.
(Singing) “Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo!
Trouble starts when Nations grow.
Some one has to stop it-so
Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo
Make — you — It!”
Thus it happened, but none can tell
What was the Power behind the spell —
Fear, or Duty, or Pride, or Faith —
That sent men shuddering out to death —
To cold and watching, and, worse than these,
Work, more work, when they looked for ease —
To the day’s discomfort, the night’s despair,
In the hope of a prize that they never would share.
(Singing) “Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo!
Man is born to toil and woe.
One will cure the other — so
Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo
Make — you — It.”
Once and again, as the Ice went North
The grass crept up to the Firth of Forth.
Once and again, as the Ice came South
The glaciers ground over Lossiemouth.
But, grass or glacier, cold or hot,
The men went out who would rather not,
And fought with the Tiger, the Pig and the Ape,
To hammer the world into decent shape.
(Singing) “Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo!
What’s the use of doing so?
Ask the Gods, for we don’t know;
But Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo
Make — us — It!”
Nothing is left of that terrible rune
But a tag of gibberish tacked to a tune
That ends the waiting and settles the claims
Of children arguing over their games;
For never yet has a boy been found
To shirk his turn when the turn came round;
Or even a girl has been known to say
“If you laugh at me I shan’t play.”
For — ”Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo,
(Don’t you let the grown-ups know!)
You may hate it ever so,
But if you’re chose you’re bound to go,
When Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo
Make — you — It!”
DEBITS AND CREDITS
This collection of fourteen stories, nineteen poems and two scenes from a play was first published in 1926.
CONTENTS
The Enemies to Each Other
With Apologies to the Shade of Mirza Mirkhond
The Changelings
Sea Constables
A Tale of ‘15
The Vineyard
‘Banquet Night’
‘In the Interests of the Brethren’
To the Companions
The United Idolaters
The Centaurs
‘Late Came the God’
The Wish House
Rahere
The Survival
The Janeites
Jane’s Marriage
The Portent
The Prophet and the Country
Gow’s Watch
The Bull that Thought
Alnaschar and the Oxen
Gipsy Vans
A Madonna of the Trenches
Gow’s Watch
The Birthright
The Propagation of Knowledge
A Legend of Truth
A Friend of the Family
We and They
On the Gate
A Tale of ‘16
The Supports
Untimely
The Eye of Allah
The Last Ode
The Gardener
The Burden
The Enemies to Each Other
With Apologies to the Shade of Mirza Mirkhond
IT is narrated (and God knows best the true state of the case) by Abu Ali Jafir Bin Yakub-ul-Isfahani that when, in His determinate Will, The Benefactor had decided to create the Greatest Substitute (Adam), He despatched, as is known, the faithful and the excellent Archangel Jibrail to gather from Earth clays, loams, and sands endowed with various colours and attributes, necessary for the substance of our pure Forefather’s body. Receiving the Command and reaching the place, Jibrail put forth his hand to take them, but Earth shook and lamented and supplicated him. Then said Jibrail: ‘Lie still and rejoice, for out of thee He will create that than which (there) is no handsomer thing-to wit a Successor and a Wearer of the Diadem over thee through the ages.’ Earth said: ‘I adjure thee to abstain from thy purpose, lest evil and condemnation of that person who is created out of me should later overtake him, and the Abiding (sorrow) be loosed upon my head. I have no power to resist the Will of the Most High, but I take refuge with Allah from thee.’ So Jibrail was moved by the lamentations and helplessness of Earth, and ret
urned to the Vestibule of the Glory with an empty hand.
After this, by the Permission, the Just and Terrible Archangel Michael next descended, and he, likewise, hearing and seeing the abjection of Earth, returned with an empty hand. Then was sent the Archangel Azrael, and when Earth had once again implored God, and once again cried out, he closed his hand upon her bosom and tore out the clays and sands necessary.
Upon his return to the Vestibule it was asked if Earth had again taken refuge with Allah or not? Azrael said: ‘Yes.’ It was answered ‘If it took refuge with Me why didst thou not spare?’ Azrael answered: ‘Obedience (to Thee) was more obligatory than Pity (for it).’ It was answered: ‘Depart! I have made thee the Angel of Death to separate the souls from the bodies of men.’ Azrael wept, saying: ‘Thus shall all men hate me.’ It was answered: ‘Thou hast said that Obedience is more obligatory than Pity. Mix thou the clays and the sands and lay them to dry between Tayif and Mecca till the time appointed.’ So, then, Azrael departed and did according to the Command. But in his haste he perceived not that he had torn out from Earth clays and minerals that had lain in her at war with each other since the first; nor did he withdraw them and set them aside. And in his grief that he should have been decreed the Separator of Companions, his tears mingled with them in the mixing, so that the substance of Adam’s body was made unconformable and ill-assorted, pierced with burning drops, and at issue with itself before there was (cause of) strife.
This, then, lay out to dry for forty years between Tayif and Mecca and, through all that time, the Beneficence of the Almighty leavened it and rained upon it the Mercy and the Blessing, and the properties necessary to the adornment of the Successorship. In that period, too, it is narrated that the Angels passed to and fro above it, and among them Eblis the Accursed, who smote the predestined Creation while it was drying, and it rang hollow. Eblis then looked more closely and observing that of which it was composed to be diverse and ill-assorted and impregnated with bitter tears, he said: ‘Doubt not I shall soon attain authority over this; and his ruin shall be easy.’ (This, too, lay in the foreknowledge of The Endless.)
When time was that the chain of cause and effect should be surrendered to Man’s will, and the vessels of desire and intention entrusted to his intelligence, and the tent of his body illuminated by the lamp of vitality, the Soul was despatched, by Command of the Almighty, with the Archangel Jibrail, towards that body. But the Soul being thin and subtle refused, at first, to enter the thick and diverse clays, saying: ‘I have fear of that (which is) to be.’ This it cried twice, till it received the Word: ‘Enter unwillingly, and unwillingly depart.’ Then only it entered. And when that agony was accomplished, the Word came: ‘My Compassion exceedeth My Wrath.’ It is narrated that these were the first words of which our pure Forefather had cognisance.
Afterwards, by the operation of the determinate Will, there arose in Adam a desire for a companion, and an intimate and a friend in the Garden of the Tree. It is narrated that he first took counsel of Earth (which had furnished) his body. Earth said: ‘Forbear. Is it not enough that one should have dominion over me?’ Adam answered: ‘There is but one who is One in Earth or Heaven. All paired things point to the Unity, and my soul, which came not from thee, desires unutterably.’ Earth said: ‘Be content in innocence, and let thy body, which I gave unwillingly, return thus to (me) thy mother.’ Adam said: ‘I am motherless. What should I know?’
At that time came Eblis the Accursed who had long prepared an evil stratagem and a hateful device against our pure Forefather, being desirous of his damnation, and anxious to multiply causes and occasions thereto. He addressed first his detestable words to the Peacock among the birds of the Garden, saying: ‘I have great amity towards thee because of thy beauty; but, through no fault of mine, I am forbidden the Garden. Hide me, then, among thy tail-feathers that I may enter it, and worship both thee and our Lord Adam, who is Master of thee.’ The Peacock said: ‘Not by any contrivance of mine shaft thou enter, lest a judgment fall on my beauty and my excellence. But there is in the Garden a Serpent of loathsome aspect who shall make thy path easy.’ He then despatched the Serpent to the Gate and after conversation and by contrivance and a malign artifice, Eblis hid himself under the tongue of the Serpent, and was thus conveyed past the barrier. He then worshipped Adam and ceased not to counsel him to demand a companion and an intimate that the delights might be increased, and the succession assured to the Regency of Earth. For he foresaw that, among multitudes, many should come to him. Adam therefore made daily supplication for that blessing. It was answered him: ‘How knowest thou if the gratification of thy desire be a blessing or a curse?’ Adam said: ‘By no means; but I will abide the chance.’
Then the somnolence fell upon him, as is narrated; and upon waking he beheld our Lady Eve (upon whom be the Mercy and the Forgiveness). Adam said: ‘O my Lady and Light of my Universe, who art thou?’ Eve said: ‘O my Lord and Summit of my Contentment, who art thou?’ Adam said: ‘Of a surety I am thine.’ Eve said: ‘Of a surety I am throe.’ Thus they ceased to inquire further into the matter, but were united, and became one flesh and one soul, and their felicity was beyond comparison or belief or imagination or apprehension.
Thereafter, it is narrated that Eblis the Stoned consorted with them secretly in the Garden, and the Peacock with him; and they jested and made mirth for our Lord Adam and his Lady Eve and propounded riddles and devised occasions for the stringing of the ornaments and the threading of subtleties. And upon a time when their felicity was at its height, and their happiness excessive, and their contentment expanded to the uttermost, Eblis said: ‘O my Master and my Mistress, declare to us, if it pleases, some comparison or similitude that lies beyond the limits of possibility.’ Adam said: ‘This is easy. That the Sun should cease in Heaven or that the Rivers should dry in the Garden is beyond the limits of possibility.’ And they laughed and agreed, and the Peacock said: ‘O our Lady, tell us now something of a jest as unconceivable and as beyond belief as this saying of thy Lord.’ Our Lady Eve then said: ‘That my Lord should look upon me otherwise than is his custom is beyond this saying.’ And when they had laughed abundantly, she said: ‘O our Servitors, tell us now something that is further from possibility or belief than my saying.’ Then the Peacock said: ‘O our Lady Eve, except that thou shouldst look upon thy Lord otherwise than is thy custom, there is nothing further than thy saying from possibility or belief or imagination.’ Then said Eblis: ‘Except that the one of you should be made an enemy to the other, there is nothing, O my Lady, further than thy saying from possibility, or belief, or imagination, or apprehension.’ And they laughed immoderately all four together in the Garden.
But when the Peacock had gone and Eblis had seemed to depart, our Lady Eve said to Adam ‘My Lord and Disposer of my Soul, by what means did Eblis know our fear?’ Adam said: ‘0 my Lady, what fear?’ Eve said: ‘The fear which was in our hearts from the first, that the one of us might be made an enemy to the other.’ Then our pure Forefather bowed his head on her bosom and said: ‘O Companion of my Heart, this has been my fear also from the first, but how didst thou know?’ Eve said: ‘Because I am thy flesh and thy soul. What shall we do?’
Thus, then, they came at moonrise to the Tree that had been forbidden to them, and Eblis lay asleep under it. But he waked merrily and said ‘O my Master and my Mistress, this is the Tree of Eternity. By eating her fruit, felicity is established for ever among mankind; nor after eating it shall there be any change whatever in the disposition of the hearts of the eaters.’
Eve then put out her hand to the fruit, but Adam said: ‘It is forbidden. Let us go.’ Eve said: ‘O my Lord and my Sustainer, upon my head be it, and upon the heads of my daughters after me. I will first taste of this Tree, and if misfortune fall on me, do thou intercede for me; or else eat likewise, so that eternal bliss may come to us together.’
Thus she ate, and he after her; and at once the ornaments of Paradise disappeared from round them, and they were del
ivered to shame and nudity and abjection. Then, as is narrated, Adam accused Eve in the Presence; but our Lady Eve (upon whom be the Pity and the Recompense) accepted (the blame of) all that had been done.
When the Serpent and the Peacock had each received their portion for their evil contrivances (for the punishment of Eblis was reserved) the Divine Decree of Expulsion was laid upon Adam and Eve in these words: ‘Get ye down, the one of you an enemy to the other.’ Adam said: ‘But I have heard that Thy Compassion exceeds Thy Wrath.’ It was answered: ‘I have spoken. The Decree shall stand in the place of all curses.’ So they went down, and the barriers of the Garden of the Tree were made fast behind them.
It is further recorded by the stringers of the pearls of words and the narrators of old, that when our pure Forefather the Lord Adam and his adorable consort Eve (upon whom be the Glory and the Sacrifice) were thus expelled, there was lamentation among the beasts in the Garden whom Adam had cherished and whom our Lady Eve had comforted. Of those unaffected there remained only the Mole, whose custom it was to burrow in earth and to avoid the light of the Sun. His nature was malignant and his body inconspicuous, but, by the Power of the Omnipotent, Whose Name be exalted, he was then adorned with eyes far-seeing both in the light and the darkness.
When the Mole heard the Divine Command of Expulsion, it entered his impure mind that he would extract profit and advancement from a secret observation and a hidden espial. So he followed our Forefather and his august consort, under the earth, and watched those two in their affliction and their abjection and their misery, and the Garden was without his presence for that time.
When his watch was complete and his observation certain, he turned him swiftly underneath the earth and came back saying to the Guardians of the Gate: ‘Make room! I have a sure and a terrible report.’ So his passage was permitted, and he lay till evening in the Garden. Then he said: ‘Can the Accursed by any means escape the Decree?’ It was answered: ‘By no means can they escape or avoid.’ Then the Mole said ‘But I have seen that they have escaped.’ It was answered: ‘Declare thy observation.’ The Mole said: ‘The enemies to each other have altogether departed from Thy worship and Thy adoration. Nor are they in any sort enemies to each other, for they enjoy together the most perfect felicity, and moreover they have made them a new God.’ It was answered: ‘Declare the shape of the God.’ The Mole said: ‘Their God is of small stature, pinkish in colour, unclothed, fat and smiling. They lay it upon the grass and, filling its hands with flowers, worship it and desire no greater comfort.’ It was answered: ‘Declare the name of the God.’ The Mole said: ‘Its name is Quabil (Cain), and I testify upon a sure observation that it is their God and their Uniter and their Comforter.’ It was answered: ‘Why hast thou come to Us?’ The Mole said: ‘Through my zeal and my diligence; for honour and in hope of reward.’ It was answered: ‘Is this, then, the best that thou canst do with the eyes which We gave thee?’ The Mole said: ‘To the extreme of my ability!’ It was answered: ‘There is no need. Thou hast not added to their burden, but to thine own. Be darkened henceforward, upon earth and under earth. It is not good to spy upon any creature of God to whom alleviation is permitted.’ So, then, the Mole’s eyes were darkened and contracted, and his lot was made miserable upon and under the earth to this day.
Complete Works of Rudyard Kipling (Illustrated) Page 523