The wombat, Kipling, and the tube of mummy
Feb. 7th, 2003 02:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
truepennyA little historical research (a very little) reveals that the Incident took place in 1881, the year before Kipling returned to India. He was 16.
No grubby small boy. Sorry,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
papersky.
On the other hand, this does mean that the proper model for Young Kipling is Stalky & Co.: Stalky, M'Turk, and Beetle. Which is handy, as that's the only Kipling book I actually own and the only one with which I have more than a passing familiarity. (I don't know why that is, so don't even bother asking.) And a Stalky-esque Kipling could be rather fun to write, aside from being the sort of Eris-like creature who might be prone to smuggling Rossetti's wombat into Burne-Jones's garden.
The historical wombat appears to have belonged to an earlier era, since Rossetti Lamenting the Death of his Wombat is dated 1869. However, I am perfectly willing to assume that a man who would acquire a second wombat (sadly expiring almost immediately upon arrival) would not balk at going to the lengths of acquiring a third. And who can wonder that the Third Wombat is never mentioned, after its disgraceful and unchristian behavior in the garden of Edward Burne-Jones?
[ETA: and we just squeak in under the wire: Dante Gabriel Rossetti died in 1882, at the age of 56. Clearly this story was Meant To Be.]
No grubby small boy. Sorry,
papersky.On the other hand, this does mean that the proper model for Young Kipling is Stalky & Co.: Stalky, M'Turk, and Beetle. Which is handy, as that's the only Kipling book I actually own and the only one with which I have more than a passing familiarity. (I don't know why that is, so don't even bother asking.) And a Stalky-esque Kipling could be rather fun to write, aside from being the sort of Eris-like creature who might be prone to smuggling Rossetti's wombat into Burne-Jones's garden.
The historical wombat appears to have belonged to an earlier era, since Rossetti Lamenting the Death of his Wombat is dated 1869. However, I am perfectly willing to assume that a man who would acquire a second wombat (sadly expiring almost immediately upon arrival) would not balk at going to the lengths of acquiring a third. And who can wonder that the Third Wombat is never mentioned, after its disgraceful and unchristian behavior in the garden of Edward Burne-Jones?
[ETA: and we just squeak in under the wire: Dante Gabriel Rossetti died in 1882, at the age of 56. Clearly this story was Meant To Be.]
