The Best Short Stories

Rudyard Kiplingandrsquo;s works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901)and many short stories, including andldquo;Baa, Baa, Black Sheepandrdquo;; andldquo;Three and An Extraandrdquo;; andldquo;On Greenhow Hillandrdquo;; andldquo;The Limitations of Pambé Serangandrdquo;; andldquo;The Disturber of Trafficandrdquo;; andldquo;The Record of Badalia Herodsfootandrdquo;; andldquo;The Ship that Found Herselfandrdquo;; and andldquo;The Maltese Catandrdquo;, among many others.

andldquo;Baa Baa, Black Sheepandrdquo; is a semi-autobiographical short story that deals with the unkind treatment that Kipling received between the ages of 6 and 11 in a foster home in Southsea. andldquo;Three and An Extraandrdquo; is the earliest appearance of the character, Mrs. Hauksbee in Kiplingandrsquo;s books. It was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette in 1886and first in book form in Plain Tales from the Hills, in 1888. It reports a defeat of andldquo;the clever, witty, brilliant and sparklingandrdquo; Mrs. Hauksbee by Mrs. Cusack-Bremmilandmdash;in the formerandrsquo;s predatory pursuit of Mr. Cusack-Bremmil. His only slum storyandldquo;The Record of Badalia Herodsfootandrdquo; was published in 1890. It is based on Kiplingandrsquo;s observation of Londonandrsquo;s lower classes. Set in the East End, it recounts the story of a young, honest woman who becomes a relief worker in the slums after being deserted by her abusive husband.

Kiplingandrsquo;s short stories remain in print and have garnered high praise from writers like Poul Anderson, Jorge Luis Borges and Randall Jarrell who wrote: andldquo;After you have read Kiplingandrsquo;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.andrdquo;