The Man Who Would Be King

Set in the late 1880s, the story begins with a newspaperman in British India meeting Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnehan — two somewhat disreputable British adventurers. They have ambitions to rule the fractious and mutinous mountain kingdoms of British India. Essentially, the two conmen planned to journey to a remote valley on the borders of Afghanistan and install themselves as monarchs.

With the kingdoms constantly at war with each other, Peachy and Daniel figured they could train one kingdom in modern warfare and set up their own little empire. After pooling their financial resources, they were able to procure the Martini rifles they needed to carry out their bold scheme.

The journalist takes a certain liking to these two adventurers, but there’s not the slightest doubt in his mind he will never see them alive again. A few years later, he learns about their strange fates when a crippled Carnehan dressed in rags stumbles into his newspaper office.

Although the adventurers met very unfortunate endings, The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling is a tale of British bravery and enterprise. Kipling was an intelligent, insightful, and compassionate writer who deserves to be more widely read, and The Man Who Would Be King is a pretty good place to start.