The Phantom Rickshaw, by Rudyard Kipling

A view along Mall Road in Simla (Shimla), towards Combermere Bridge, rebuilt in 1971-72 and now somewhat lost among the commercial developments which Lord Combermere’s farsighted investment in Simla’s transport infrastructure set in motion in the late 1820s. The Phantom Rickshaw was one of Kipling’s first stories, published when he was still in his early twenties, and an experiment in what at the time were two unusual genres, the short story and the ghost story. Already he had discovered the potent trick of bamboozling us into feeling that we are remembering rather than reading — of alluding so casually to Combermere Bridge, Peliti’s shop and Hamilton’s jeweller’s that an Englishman who has never been nearer to India than Gravesend is tempted to sigh ‘dear old Peliti’s!’.

The Phantom Rickshaw

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“WHAT’S the matter?” cried Kitty; “what made you call out so foolishly, Jack? If I am engaged I don’t want all creation to know about it. There was lots of space between the mule and the veranda; and, if you think I can’t ride - There!”

Whereupon wilful Kitty set off, her dainty little head in the air, at a hand-gallop in the direction of the Bandstand; fully expecting, as she herself afterwards told me, that I should follow her. What was the matter? Nothing indeed. Either that I was mad or drunk, or that Simla was haunted with devils. I reined in my impatient cob, and turned round. The ’rickshaw had turned too, and now stood immediately facing me, near the left railing of the Combermere Bridge.*

“Jack! Jack, darling!” (There was no mistake about the words this time: they rang through my brain as if they had been shouted in my ear.) “It’s some hideous mistake, I’m sure. Please forgive me, Jack, and let’s be friends again.”

The ’rickshaw-hood had fallen back, and inside, as I hope and pray daily for the death I dread by night, sat Mrs Keith-Wessington, handkerchief in hand, and golden head bowed on her breast.

by Rudyard Kipling 1865-1936

From ‘Under the Deodars: The Phantom ’Rickshaw: Wee Willie Winkie’ (1899), by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936). The story was first published in 1888. Additional information from ‘Simla Past And Present’ (1925) by Edward J. Buck, and ‘Hobson-Jobson: Being a Glossary of Anglo-India Colloquial Words and Phrases’ (1886) by Sir Henry Yule (1820-1889) and Arthur Coke Burnell (1840-1882).

* Field Marshal Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere (1773-1865), erected a bridge in Simla in 1828 while serving as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces in India; he had previously served a three year term as Governor of Barbados. “Lord Combermere amused himself,” recalled Major-General Godfrey Charles Mundy (1804-1860), who served with Cotton at the Battle of Bhorapur, “and benefited the public, by superintending the formation of a fine, broad, level road round the Mount Jako, about three miles in length. It was worked entirely by hillmen and exceedingly skilfully done, and will, when finished, be a great acquisition to the loungers of Simla. Across a deep ravine, a quarter of a mile from the town, his Lordship erected a neat sangah, or mountain bridge, of pines; and under it a capacious stone tank was constructed to obviate the great scarcity of water.” The bridge transformed the economy of Simla and its smaller neighbour Chota Simla.

Précis

Kitty never saw any rickshaw or bearers, and smarting at the thought that Jack doubted her horsewomanship she rode on ahead haughtily and at speed. Jack however remained behind: for he could see the rickshaw quite clearly, and saw in it too the late Mrs Wessington herself, whose familiar and plaintive reproaches now fell again painfully on his ears.

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.

Jigsaws

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.

Jack saw a rickshaw coming. He told Kitty to avoid it. Kitty could not see it.

See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.

IApproach. IIUnlike. IIIWarn.

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