A sacred ox inspects with amiable curiosity the religious and secular ornaments on display at Gangasagar Fair in Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal. The Fair is part of a Hindu pilgrimage and celebration, Gangasagar Mela, held every January on the river island of Sagar, where the Ganges empties into the Bay of Bengal.
HE snorted indignantly, and walked away across the tram rails, his hump quivering with rage.
‘See! I have saved more than the bowl will cost thrice over. Now, mother, a little rice and some dried fish atop — yes, and some vegetable curry.’
A growl came out of the back of the shop, where a man lay. ‘He drove away the bull,’ said the woman in an undertone. ‘It is good to give to the poor.’ She took the bowl and returned it full of hot rice.
‘But my yogi is not a cow,’ said Kim gravely, making a hole with his fingers in the top of the mound. ‘A little curry is good, and a fried cake, and a morsel of conserve would please him, I think.’
‘It is a hole as big as thy head,’ said the woman fretfully. But she filled it, none the less, with good, steaming vegetable curry, clapped a dried cake atop, and a morsel of clarified butter on the cake, dabbed a lump of sour tamarind conserve at the side.
Abridged from ‘Kim’ (1901), by Rudyard Kipling.
Questions for Critics
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Précis
Now the bull was gone, and driven off by Kim too, the storekeeper’s wife overruled her husband and handed Kim a bowl of rice for his monk. But Kim was not satisfied, and held out for additional curry and condiments, which despite her protestations the lady gave him readily enough. (50 / 60 words)
Now the bull was gone, and driven off by Kim too, the storekeeper’s wife overruled her husband and handed Kim a bowl of rice for his monk. But Kim was not satisfied, and held out for additional curry and condiments, which despite her protestations the lady gave him readily enough.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 45 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, because, if, may, ought, whereas, whether.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Mound. Privilege. Take.
2 Away. More. My.
3 Back. Charity. Woman.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
plt (9+1)
palate. pelt. pilot. plait. plate. plateau. pleat. plot. polite.
epaulet.
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