THE SERVICE EDITION
OF
THE WORKS OF
RUDYARD KIPLING
THE FIVE NATIONS
VOL. I
THE
FIVE NATIONS
BY RUDYARD KIPLING
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I
METHUEN AND CO., LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
| First Published | September 1903 |
| Second Edition | 1903 |
| Third Edition | 1907 |
| Fourth Edition | 1908 |
| Fifth and Sixth Editions | 1909 |
| Seventh Edition | 1910 |
| Eighth Edition | 1911 |
| Ninth Edition | 1912 |
| Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Editions | 1913 |
| Fourteenth Edition | 1914 |
| Fifteenth Edition (2 vols.) | 1914 |
vii
DEDICATION
Before a midnight breaks in storm,
Or herded sea in wrath,
Ye know what wavering gusts inform
The greater tempest’s path;
Till the loosed wind
Drive all from mind,
Except Distress, which, so will prophets cry,
O’ercame them, houseless, from the unhinting sky.
Or herded sea in wrath,
Ye know what wavering gusts inform
The greater tempest’s path;
Till the loosed wind
Drive all from mind,
Except Distress, which, so will prophets cry,
O’ercame them, houseless, from the unhinting sky.
Ere rivers league against the land
In piratry of flood,
Ye know what waters slip and stand
Where seldom water stood.
Yet who will note,
Till fields afloat,
And washen carcass and the returning well,
Trumpet what these poor heralds strove to tell?
In piratry of flood,
Ye know what waters slip and stand
Where seldom water stood.
Yet who will note,
Till fields afloat,
And washen carcass and the returning well,
Trumpet what these poor heralds strove to tell?
Ye know who use the Crystal Ball
(To peer by stealth on Doom),
The Shade that, shaping first of all,
Prepares an empty room.
Then doth It pass
Like breath from glass,
But, on the extorted vision bowed intent,
No man considers why It came or went.
(To peer by stealth on Doom),
The Shade that, shaping first of all,
Prepares an empty room.
Then doth It pass
Like breath from glass,
But, on the extorted vision bowed intent,
No man considers why It came or went.
Before the years reborn behold
Themselves with stranger eye,
And the sport-making Gods of old,
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Themselves with stranger eye,
And the sport-making Gods of old,
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...