1 h 39 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 41 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 41 pagesAbout this book
What if two penniless wanderers could make themselves kings—and mistake their own boldness for the right to rule?
On a sweltering night train in India, a newspaper journalist meets a stranger who asks a small favour. Soon Daniel Dravot and Peachey Carnehan arrive at his office with a far bigger scheme: travel to a remote mountain land beyond Afghanistan and claim kingdoms of their own.
In Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King, the pair turn boastful talk into careful plans, with disguises, guns and a pact to rule. Their destination is Kafiristan. Their greatest gamble is not simply reaching it, but staking their ambitions on people and beliefs they scarcely understand.
What you’ll discover
- Two rogues with ambition Meet bold, charming Dravot and his loyal partner Carnehan as they plan an extraordinary gamble.
- A road beyond Afghanistan Follow a carefully planned journey toward remote mountains, where dreams of kingship take concrete shape.
- Empire under a sharp eye Look beneath the daring adventure to find a sly, unsettling examination of imperial confidence.
- Power built on illusions Explore the dangerous gap between claiming authority and understanding the people you hope to rule.
- A tale within a tale Enter through a journalist’s watchful account and encounter Carnehan’s own rough voice.
Who will love it
For readers who love fast adventure with a dark edge, and anyone curious about how the British Empire saw itself. It is also a good first taste of Kipling.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A stranger on a train asks a favour
- Two rogues sign a pact to rule
- Disguise, guns and a road north
- A ruined man returns with a tale
- Empire, pride and the cost of ambition
- A tale inside a tale, told in two voices
Who’s who
- The narratorA newspaper journalist in India who meets the two adventurers, witnesses their contract and later hears the whole tale.
- Daniel DravotA big, red bearded former soldier, bold and charming, who dreams of ruling a kingdom of his own.
- Peachey CarnehanDravot's partner, a sturdy wanderer and former tradesman, loyal to his friend, who later tells the story in his own rough voice.
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
- 1 h 39 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 9 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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The Man Who Would Be King
by Rudyard Kipling · 1888
Two adventurers sign a pact to make themselves kings beyond Afghanistan, where confidence puts their lives at stake.
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In short
The Man Who Would Be King is a long short story by Rudyard Kipling, first published in 1888, when he was a young newspaperman in British India. It was gathered into a small collection of tales that year.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A stranger on a train asks a favour
The story opens in India, in the hot season, with a narrator who works for a small newspaper. He is travelling by a slow train on a night so hot that sleep is hard. Beside him in the carriage sits a black bearded man who is a talker and a wanderer. His name is Peachey Carnehan, and he has the manner of a man who has tried many trades and failed at most.
Carnehan is looking for his partner, Daniel Dravot, who is somewhere on a different line. He asks the narrator to carry a message to Dravot at a place called Marwar Junction. The message is that Carnehan has gone south for the week. Because the narrator is going that way, he agrees. It is a small kindness and he thinks nothing of it.
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What is The Man Who Would Be King about?
It is about two British adventurers in India who plan to travel to a remote mountain land and make themselves kings. A journalist narrator meets them, signs as witness to their pact and later hears what happened to them.
When was The Man Who Would Be King written?
Kipling published it in 1888, while he was a young journalist in India. It appeared in a collection of tales and is a work of fiction, though it draws on real places like Afghanistan and the mountain region of Kafiristan.
What is Kafiristan in the story?
Kafiristan is a remote mountain region north of India, beyond Afghanistan, where Dravot and Carnehan plan to set up as kings. Kipling presents it as a land little known to outsiders, with fighting valleys and old customs.
The author
Rudyard Kipling
1865–1936 · English novelist and poet
Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) was an English writer and poet born in Bombay, India. He lived in India, England and the United States. He wrote The Jungle Book (1894), The Second Jungle Book (1895), Kim (1901) and Just So Stories (1902). He died in London in 1936.
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