Welcome back, everyone to 1001 classic short stories and tales.

This is your host, John Haggardorn.

It's time for Kipling's story, this one called

The Mark of the Beast. And there's some history here, too, to enjoy. In this story, Kipling's

biographical details and the story's historical context are relevant to understanding the colonialist

viewpoint in the Mark of the beast.

Born in Bombay, India in 1865 to English parents,

Kipling grew up during the British Raj,

or the time period during which the British Empire ruled India.

Known as the jewel in the English crown,

India had great economic value for the empire. Kippling believed that England had a moral imperative, the white man's burden, he calls it, in his 1899 poem of the same

title, to civilize and improve the lives of its Indian subjects. Kippling's imperialist beliefs

were in keeping with the morality of the historical time,

and his writing is typically understood as pro-colonialist. Kippling's works were highly popular

in Britain, which enabled England to see India through Kipling's eyes. Despite his imperious beliefs,

Kipling appreciated the diversity to which he was exposed while living in India.

He grew up wearing native clothing and speaking Hindustani.

This short story reveals both his support and his criticism of British rule.

In this story, Kipling highlights the imbalance of power and the disconnect that often exist between the colonizer and the colonized, or in this case, the English and the Indians.

And now the Mark of the Beast by Rudyard Kipling.

Your gods and my gods, do you or I know which are the stronger? Native proverb.

East of Suez, some hold, the direct control of Providence ceases. Man being there handed over to the power of

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