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Post by Claire on Jul 15, 2010 21:49:55 GMT 1
Hi all, as some of you may know we are having a few probs getting the book sorted for our next reading circle so in the meantime, here is a mini reading circle with a short pony story set in the world of polo by Rudyard Kipling. As it is out of copyright it can be read free on the internet. See link below: ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/k/kipling/rudyard/days/chapter9.htmlLet us know what you think when you have read it. BTW if you prefer reading in book form check your books of short pony stories as it is included in a few compilations.
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Post by trixiepony on Jul 16, 2010 9:51:12 GMT 1
Oh wow love it I think I read it years ago.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2010 12:37:02 GMT 1
I've probably had a deprived childhood...I've never read any Rudyard Kipling So this was a treat for me. I thought it was a good story with a nice touch of humour . I'm not really interested in Polo and know nothing about it but I certainly wasn't bored and it kept me interested. I like stories told from the horses point of view.
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Post by foxglove on Jul 16, 2010 13:42:19 GMT 1
I'm not sure if I'd read it all before- the version in a short story collection I had was abbreviated to just the last third, from where Lutyens is injured.
It is indeed pacy, as a short story should be. The mannerisms and personalities of the ponies are beautifully done; I love the way the riders are mostly passengers, with the ponies reading the game and making the decisions.
I particularly liked "they were a team of crack players instead of a crack team"- England footballers take note.....
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Post by darkhorse on Jul 16, 2010 20:56:33 GMT 1
Lol foxglove Thanks for doing this short story. I haven't read it before and I think I am going to enjoy it.
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Post by exmoorfan on Jul 16, 2010 22:45:15 GMT 1
Wow Claire. Had no idea this was a horse story. Haven't read it all yet as have been a bit busy but it looks good... Rosie my childhood was deprived too.. The only R K. i know is the poem. ( The power of the Dog) very sad..
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2010 7:20:32 GMT 1
I didn't even read any Enid Blyton as a child, or Monica Edwards
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Post by Claire on Jul 17, 2010 10:35:33 GMT 1
Cripes no Enid Blyton - how did you miss her?!!!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2010 12:23:10 GMT 1
Cripes no Enid Blyton - how did you miss her?!!! I must have been reading pony books or magazines instead But I did read Beatrix Potter.
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Post by Claire on Jul 17, 2010 23:25:46 GMT 1
Just remembered to add a poll!
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Post by kunuma on Jul 17, 2010 23:42:16 GMT 1
Loved the story in that you really felt you were playing in the game. Suspending disbelief in what really happens to lame polo ponies, I adored the ending! One surprise was when they said that 13'3hh was the height limit - surely nowadays it is at least 15hh? Do we have any polo players (or groupies!) on the board ..........!?
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Post by susanb on Jul 19, 2010 14:22:52 GMT 1
Sorry to be so late arriving to this discussion....have been having DSL (internet) problems for days now....apparently high humidity can affect connectivity (outside humidity, not inside, so no control over it!)
Now, where to begin? I LOVE this story.
Kipling was clearly a keen observer of ponies....the bits about the hot blooded expensive ponies getting irritated and lathered playing a close, slow game, football as he called it, and being nervous playing on the borders of a "box of humans" as they pressed in during the last match ring true, as does the observation that a blinkered pony can't brace against a blow that he can't see.
I loved the way the various ponies characters are revealed in lightning sketches:
"‘Not me,’ said the Maltese Cat politely. ‘I was at Malta then, pulling a vegetable cart. I don’t race. I play the game.'" - (Proud as a lion of what he does well, but no false pride in anything else)
‘It makes me feel undersized and unhappy all the same,’ said Kittiwynk, a mouse-coloured mare with a red browband and the cleanest pair of legs that ever an aged pony owned." And later: "Kitty was talking with the neck of a leather-covered soda-water bottle between her teeth and trying to look over her withers at the same time. This gave her a very coquettish air."
Above, under and through all is the language.....you could get drunk on Kipling's prose, which is so often poetic.
Not "Who's Who had been known to nip", but "‘No biting,’ said the Maltese Cat warningly, for once or twice in his career Who’s Who had been known to forget himself in that way."
Not "I once cleverly jumped a cart pole and won the match", but "I went over the pole of a four-in-hand once, and picked a game out of the dust by it."
‘They’re chargers — cavalry chargers! ‘said Kittiwynk indignantly. ‘They’ll never see thirteen-three again.’ - (Very like a woman cattily remarking on anothers' age "She'll never see twenty again!")
The effective use of repitition, more common in poetry than prose:
"They had good reason to be proud, and better reason to be afraid"
"The black who had been driven nearly crazy by his blinkers trusted to his weight and his temper; But Benami knew how to apply his weight and how to keep his temper."
".....a wise little, plain little, gray little head looked in through the open door."
Oops.....this post is starting to look like a dissertation ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Claire on Jul 20, 2010 0:06:53 GMT 1
I enjoyed reading your post susan. Yes, the writing is much better than most of the pony stories we usually read. As much as I love JMB and the PTs you can't really put them in the same class of writer as Kipling! I want to say more but am too knackered now so will have to wait til tomorrow.
Funnily enough susan, the weather has been playing havoc with my laptop too as it keeps overheating and cutting off all the time and then it won't boot up without a load of fiddling around. Which is why I am on here so late and too tired to write anything of any sense. (What's new i hear you all cry)
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Post by Claire on Jul 20, 2010 19:35:30 GMT 1
Just been gathering my thoughts on the story. I totally agree with susans analysis regarding the character sketches of the ponies. In a short story its hard to fit in much in the way of character development and sometimes its left out entirely. But Kipling gives each pony a chracter with just a few words. I also think its nice that a 'non-pony' author endows the ponies with so much character when some pony authors can only manage to create card-board cut-out equines. Sometimes stories from the pony point of view can be a bit of a snore-fest (try 'Three White Stockings' if you want a cure for imsomnia), with the same tired old Black Beauty or Moorland Mousie scenario, but this is really different. I like the way the ponies are in charge of things and I think it would be quite fun to read a story set in the showjumping or racing world in which the ponies ran the show there too! It reminds me a little of a Pullein-Thompson short story in which the ponies try and arrange things so they get the riders they want but they are not so successful as the Maltese Cat and Co. (Sorry forgot name of story will add it later if I can remember) Its also nice to have a pony story which is set in a different location to the norm and about a topic which is not tackled very often. I do think the author skimmed a little over the more brutal aspects of polo, undoubtedly there were men like Lutyens who cared about their mounts but from what I have heard many people ran their polo ponies into the ground. And as kunuma says the ending where Maltese Cat lives a life of happy retirement is prob not very realistic! But a nice ending none-the-less. My only quibble with the story is that I found it slightly confusing in places and couldn't follow the polo match all the time, and I think there were a few too many characters to follow for a short story. Other than that an excellent & interesting short story. My favourite Kipling story as a kid was Rikki Tikki Tavey (spelling!) about the mongoose. I just found it on the internet and had a quick look and it was really quite violent - must have had bloodthirsty tendancies as a kiddywink! Anyone else read it?
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Post by susanb on Jul 20, 2010 21:44:02 GMT 1
Claire, I grew up on all the Jungle Book stories, Rikki Tikki Tavi was one of them....from where I sit, I can see my gorgeous leather bound edition (bit of luck there, picked it up cheap at a used book store, and I had a gift certificate, so basically it was free!).
Of the other, non Mowgli, stories in the books (there were two, The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book, though you often find them bound together these days), the other best-beloved was Kotik, the White Seal, in which Kotik looks for a place where the seals can live without being hunted for their coats. Like RTT, it ends well, but is realistically violent in places.
Re the many characters and action....I've read this so many times that I don't remember if I was confused the first time! I can say this, it's one that you can return to again and again, and it only gets better :-)
Almost forgot....re bloodthirsty tendencies....um, have you read Beatrix Potter lately? The Victorians were NOT all hearts and flowers!
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vera
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Post by vera on Jul 30, 2010 1:48:53 GMT 1
Thanks for this Claire. I did enjoy re-reading this story; The Jungle Book was one of my favourites growing up. Is it because I am older but I did not remember just how dangerous that polo game was and how the ponies and riders seem to be injured a lot. I mean all I see of polo here is one of the royals falling off his horse and getting mixed up in hooves and walking away unscathed. (They never show where everything goes right!) I just remembered it as a story of a brave little horse! This proves how beneficial it is to read these well loved pony stories as an adult! Anyway, it was a lovely read. Thank you!
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