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What does courage look like when a mongoose, a man-cub and a small boy face dangers far larger than themselves?
The Kipling Reader brings together short stories by Rudyard Kipling about animals, children and army life in India. Its selections include Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Mowgli's Brothers and Wee Willie Winkie. Across a garden, the jungle and an army station, small lives carry high stakes, and bravery means more than being strong.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi finds a home with a family, but the cobras Nag and Nagaina threaten their garden. Mowgli grows among wolves, learning the jungle's rules from Baloo while Shere Khan wants him for himself. Meanwhile, young Percival William Williams takes his soldier's honour seriously when someone he loves faces danger.
What you’ll discover
- A garden under threat Follow a curious mongoose as protecting his new family brings him face to face with cobras.
- A place among wolves Meet Mowgli, a human child whose survival depends on learning how the jungle works.
- Teachers in the wild Discover Baloo's lessons and Bagheera's care as Mowgli finds his place among the wolves.
- A boy's serious honour Meet Wee Willie Winkie, a colonel's young son determined to protect a friend.
- Courage in small bodies Explore what bravery costs through vivid tales of duty, danger and those we protect.
Who will love it
Readers who love animal tales, adventure and brisk short stories will enjoy this book. It suits anyone curious about India under the British, the lives of children, and poems about home, duty and the sea.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A small guardian finds his purpose
- Belonging depends on more than welcome
- Service reveals what people are
- Loyalty carries Winkie beyond the rules
- Some truths cannot become news
- Past violence haunts a night march
- Knowledge comes from those overlooked
- Home connects loyalty and longing
- Small figures often see most clearly
Who’s who
- Rikki-Tikki-TaviA young mongoose adopted by an English family who protects them and their garden from the cobras Nag and Nagaina.
- MowgliA human child raised by wolves who is hunted by the tiger Shere Khan and must find where he belongs.
- BagheeraA black panther born among men who speaks for Mowgli and teaches him the ways of the jungle.
- Shere KhanA lame tiger who hunts men and wants Mowgli for his prey.
- William MartynA spirited young woman who follows her brother into a famine zone and runs a camp for abandoned babies.
- ScottA quiet irrigation engineer who drives grain carts through the famine and feeds babies with goat milk.
- Wee Willie WinkieThe six-year-old colonel's son, who names everyone on sight and keeps his word as a matter of honor.
- Namgay DoolaA red-haired log-snatcher in a tiny Himalayan kingdom who refuses to pay taxes and sings a strangely familiar song.
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The Kipling Reader: Selections from the Books of Rudyard Kipling in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Kipling Reader: Selections from the Books of Rudyard Kipling
A young mongoose, a wolf-raised boy and an engineer feeding babies with goat milk face cobras, tigers and famine.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“After you have read Kipling's fifty or seventy-five best stories you realize that few men have written this many stories of this much merit, and that very few have written more and better stories.”
In short
What does a small mongoose do when two cobras stand between a family and their garden? He runs and finds out, and then he fights.
The Kipling Reader: Selections from the Books of Rudyard Kipling at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 10 min3 h 20 min fast, 5 h slow
- Length
- 59,800 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A small mongoose guards a family from cobras
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi begins with a flood. A summer torrent sweeps a young mongoose from his burrow and leaves him half drowned on a garden path. A small boy named Teddy finds him, and the family wraps him in cotton wool until he sneezes awake.
The motto of his family is Run and find out, so Rikki explores the bathtubs, puts his nose in the ink and sleeps on Teddy's pillow. In the garden he meets Darzee, a tailor-bird, whose baby the cobra Nag has just eaten. Rikki escapes Nag and his wife Nagaina only because Darzee shouts a warning.
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Details
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 40 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Kipling, Rudyard. The Kipling Reader: Selections from the Books of Rudyard Kipling. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-kipling-reader-selections-from-the-books-of-rudyard-kipling.
Kipling, R. (2026). The Kipling reader: Selections from the books of Rudyard Kipling. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-kipling-reader-selections-from-the-books-of-rudyard-kipling
Kipling, Rudyard. The Kipling Reader: Selections from the Books of Rudyard Kipling. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-kipling-reader-selections-from-the-books-of-rudyard-kipling.
@book{kipling2026kipling,
author = {Kipling, Rudyard},
title = {The Kipling Reader: Selections from the Books of Rudyard Kipling},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-kipling-reader-selections-from-the-books-of-rudyard-kipling}
}
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What is The Kipling Reader about?
It is a selection of Rudyard Kipling's stories and poems. The tales include Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Mowgli's Brothers, Wee Willie Winkie and A Matter of Fact, followed by verse such as The Native-Born and The Overland Mail.
Who is Rikki-Tikki-Tavi?
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a young mongoose who is washed out of his burrow by a flood and adopted by an English family. He protects their garden from the cobras Nag and Nagaina.
Who is Mowgli and who raises him?
Mowgli is a human child who wanders into a wolf cave in the Seeonee hills. Mother and Father Wolf raise him, and Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther teach him the Law of the Jungle.
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.
“Once a priest, always a priest; once a mason, always a mason; but once a journalist, always a journalist, forever.”
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