What do you think?
Rate this book
Lispeth
“Lispeth” is one of the best-known short stories written by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936). First published in 1886, it tells the story of a beautiful Indian girl, who lives in a Christian mission after having lost her parents. One day, Lispeth meets an English traveller and falls in love with him...
“Look, you have cast out Love! What Gods are these
You bid me please?
The Three in One, the One in Three? Not so!
To my own gods I go.
It may be they shall give me greater ease
Than your cold Christ and tangled Trinities.”
This edition also contains a biographical profile of Kipling written by Charles Eliot Norton (1827-1908) in 1891.
“Look, you have cast out Love! What Gods are these
You bid me please?
The Three in One, the One in Three? Not so!
To my own gods I go.
It may be they shall give me greater ease
Than your cold Christ and tangled Trinities.”
This edition also contains a biographical profile of Kipling written by Charles Eliot Norton (1827-1908) in 1891.
- GenresShort Stories
24 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 29, 1888
30 people want to read
About the author
Rudyard Kipling
6,974 books3,622 followersJoseph Rudyard Kipling was a journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist.
Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). His poems include Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), The White Man's Burden (1899), and If— (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".
Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 41, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."
Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, Kipling suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died less than a week later on 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Kipling's death had in fact previously been incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."
Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). His poems include Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), The White Man's Burden (1899), and If— (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".
Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 41, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."
Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, Kipling suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died less than a week later on 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Kipling's death had in fact previously been incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 17, 2020
I’ve tended to steer clear of Kipling but read this short story on kindle recently. It was ok but I didn’t feel overly inspired to review it. However, the story has stuck with me and the message I tookfrom it has grown. I glanced at some of the Reviews on here and found myself markedly out of step with the bulk of them. They tended to bang on about Kipling the ‘colonialist’ writer looking down upon the natives, eg Lispeth, regarding her as little more than an aesthetically pleasing savage. I saw Kipling in a different light – his ability to look through both sets of eyes - English and Indian – and conclude that the cultures were sufficiently different that only hurt and harm could come from pretending otherwise.
Lispeth is orphaned and brought up in the household of an Anglican chaplain and his wife. She develops into a stunningly beautiful and intelligent adolescent. She determines to marry a particular young English man after she has nursed him back to health. Perhaps you can guess the rest…
Lispeth is orphaned and brought up in the household of an Anglican chaplain and his wife. She develops into a stunningly beautiful and intelligent adolescent. She determines to marry a particular young English man after she has nursed him back to health. Perhaps you can guess the rest…
May 28, 2021
В начале творческого пути Киплинг придавал огромное значение рассказам, тем ограничивая полёт фантазии, предпочитая рассказывать о событиях, более-менее происходившим в действительности. Редьярд глубоко погружался в атмосферу Индии, предлагая читателю заглянуть столь же далеко. В 1888 году был опубликован сборник рассказов «Незамысловатые сказания с холмов», где в качестве первого повествования представал сюжет про девушку Лиспет, воспитанную согласно христианской морали, но сохранившую склонность к нравам, присущим её племени. Впервые публикация рассказа состоялась двумя годами ранее в пенджабской «Гражданской и военной газете».
(c) Trounin
(c) Trounin
September 25, 2015
How lies can destroy your world.
Read
April 21, 2024I'm with Harold Bloom on this one, it's clearly dripping in sarcasm aimed at the missionaries and colonials, with the purity and honesty of the so-called 'savage' girl who learns the hard way to reject them forthright. It's a satire on what is considered 'civilised', and not pro-colonial in the slightest.
"while the denser of [Kipling's] contemporary English readers might have overlooked the irony and simply interpreted [Lispeth] as either an affirmation of their beliefs on miscegenation and the "White Man's Burden" or a quaint tragedy about true love lost, perceptive readers were forced to ask themselves just what good the missionaries brought to this girl's life and whether the same holds true for the imperialist enterprise as a whole."
"while the denser of [Kipling's] contemporary English readers might have overlooked the irony and simply interpreted [Lispeth] as either an affirmation of their beliefs on miscegenation and the "White Man's Burden" or a quaint tragedy about true love lost, perceptive readers were forced to ask themselves just what good the missionaries brought to this girl's life and whether the same holds true for the imperialist enterprise as a whole."
May 14, 2018
Quite a shockingly poor book. What stands out about this book is how bad a view Kipling has of and depicts the Indians aka ‘The Savages’ and how horribly bad the Christian Couple and British Man in this story. ‘If’ this was Kiplings aim, then, bravo. However, having read other Kipling works, it isn’t.
August 23, 2021
Rudyard Kipling shows his colonial attitudes in this story, as he describes a defiant "savage", and how she was deceived. The chaplains wife came across as being insincere. Perhaps that wasn't a rare thing at the time in colonial India.
February 18, 2025
Lispeth solo quería un hombre a quien amar y se encontro a un inglés cani.
June 8, 2025
“It meant nothing at all to him, and everything in the world to Lispeth.”
January 19, 2016
Just a simple short story about faith and love. Christianity is not always the solution for everyone, as Kipling hints. Still, I've read better stories related to the theme of colonization and Christianity.
June 2, 2024
Pocahontas vibes but bleak and heartbreaking.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews