Introduction
It is the days of the British Raj, and the editor of a newspaper in Lahore has done a favour for fellow freemasons ‘Peachey’ Carnehan and his inseparable companion Daniel Dravot. Now the two ex-army men have crammed themselves into the paper’s tiny, stuffy office to share with him a resolution. “We have decided” said Carnehan “that India isn’t big enough for such as us.”
THEY certainly were too big for the office. Dravot’s beard seemed to fill half the room and Carnehan’s shoulders the other half, as they sat on the big table. Carnehan continued:— “The country isn’t half worked out because they that governs it won’t let you touch it. They spend all their blessed time in governing it, and you can’t lift a spade, nor chip a rock, nor look for oil, nor anything like that without all the Government saying — ‘Leave it alone and let us govern.’ Therefore, such as it is, we will let it alone, and go away to some other place where a man isn’t crowded and can come to his own. We are not little men, and there is nothing that we are afraid of except Drink, and we have signed a Contrack* on that. Therefore, we are going away to be Kings.”
“Kings in our own right,” muttered Dravot.
“Yes, of course,” I said. “You’ve been tramping in the sun, and it’s a very warm night, and hadn’t you better sleep over the notion? Come to-morrow.”
* Peachey mispronounces ‘contract’.
Précis
In Rudyard Kipling’s short story, two former British soldiers burst into the cramped offices of a Lahore newspaper, and tell the bewildered editor (a fellow freemason) that petty Raj bureaucracy has forced them to a decision: they are going away to be kings in their own land. The editor’s response is to be as soothing as he can. (58 / 60 words)
In Rudyard Kipling’s short story, two former British soldiers burst into the cramped offices of a Lahore newspaper, and tell the bewildered editor (a fellow freemason) that petty Raj bureaucracy has forced them to a decision: they are going away to be kings in their own land. The editor’s response is to be as soothing as he can.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, because, besides, may, not, otherwise, since, whereas.
Word Games
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.
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