The wombat, Kipling, and the tube of mummy

[truepenny]

A 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, 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.]

Comments

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I've now read all of Something of Myself, not in a spirit of doing your research but because I've had it a while and not got around to reading it, and it was out. I am now filled with a strong but futile desire to email Kipling about sundry writing stuff.

There wasn't anything else about the wombat or the mummy. There were two cousins, one of each of the most commonly found genders. Mrs. Burne-Jones was called "Georgie" or 'Aunt Georgie" and apparently composed poetry. They were more of an influence on Kipling than one might imagine.