by Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936)
The Inuit
Language: English
The People of the Eastern Ice, they are melting like the snow - They beg for coffee and sugar; they go where the white men go. The People of the Western Ice, they learn to steal and fight: They sell their furs to the trading-post: they sell their soul to the white. The People of the Southern Ice, they trade with the whaler's crew; Their women have many ribbons, but their tents are torn and few. But the People of the Elder Ice, beyond the white man's ken - Their spears are made of the narwhal horn, and they are the last of Men!
Text Authorship:
- by Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936), from The Second Jungle Book, heading the story "Quiquern", first published 1895 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882 - 1961), "The Inuit", 1902, published 1958, rev. 1907 [mixed chorus a cappella], from The Jungle Book, no. 4. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 102