The Man Who Would Be King

About The Man Who Would Be King

Stories of criminals, ghosts, femmes fatales, madness, and murder from one of the most magical storytellers in the English language

A Penguin Classic

This selection brings together the best of Rudyard Kipling’s short writings, following the development of his work over fifty years. They take us from the harsh, cruel, vividly realized world of the “Indian” stories that made his name, through the experimental modernism of his middle period to the highly-wrought subtleties of his later pieces. Included here is the tale of insanity and empire, “The Man Who Would Be King”; the high-spirited “The Village that Voted the Earth Was Flat”; the fable of childhood cruelty and revenge “Baa Baa, Black Sheep”; the menacing psychological study “Mary Postgate”; and the ambiguous portrayal of grief and mourning in “The Gardener.”

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.