Plains Tales From The Hills — Joseph Rudyard Kipling

Plain Tales from the Hills is the first collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling Out of its 40 stories eight and twenty according to Kipling s Preface were initially published in the Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore Punjab British India between November 1886 and June 1887 The remaining tales are more or less new Kipling had worked as a journalist for the CMG his first job since 1882 when he was not quite 17 The title refers by way of a pun on Plain as the reverse of Hills to the deceptively simple narrative style and to the fact that many of the stories are set in the Hill Station of Simla the summer capital of the British Raj during the hot weather Not all of the stories are in fact about life in the Hills Kipling gives sketches of many aspects of life in British India The tales include the first appearances in book form of Mrs Hauksbee the policeman Strickland and the Soldiers Three Privates Mulvaney Ortheris and Learoyd In the preface to his short stories collection Dr Brodie s Report Jorge Luis Borges wrote he was inspired by the quality and conciseness of Plain Tales from the Hills