Kim

Kim and the lama board a train going to Umballa, heading in the direction of Benares, where the lama intends to search for the Arrow River. Their train car is filled with people from many Indian ethnicities and religions. They talk about the lama’s journey and Kim’s involvement as his chela. The lama remembers Kim’s mention of searching for a Red Bull on a green field and expresses the hope that Kim’s bull might also lead him to the river he seeks. The lama views Kim’s participation in a mystical and providential way: “This one was sent to me but yesterday. He is not, I think, of this world” (33). When they disembark in Umballa, Kim finds the British officer of whom Mahbub Ali had spoken and transmits the coded message and the hidden paper. Kim follows the officer and eavesdrops on the subsequent conversation with another officer, in which the information he transmitted leads to a plan to dispatch a military action to put down unrest in areas to the north. After sneaking into the English house’s kitchens, he learns that they serve a man named Creighton and that the meeting upon which he had eavesdropped was with the British Commander-in-Chief.

Some of the other train passengers had invited Kim and the lama to lodge with them in a relative’s home, and Kim returns there. A Hindu priest comes by to visit, and Kim casually asks him about his childhood story of the promised Red Bull. Using astrological signs relating to the time of Kim’s birth, the Hindu priest interprets the prophecy as including a sign of war and foretells the coming of the Red Bull in three days. In the morning, Kim and the lama set off again, proceeding on foot and looking for the Arrow River as they go.

Kim and the lama walk a day’s journey, checking on streams and canals in search of the river. They are chastised by a farmer, whom Kim rebukes in kind, but the lama bears with the man’s responses patiently. At evening, they rest under a village tree in the center of a hamlet, and the village headman provides hospitality and invites the local Hindu priest to join the conversation. The priest offers his assessment of the lama’s quest (the latter generally being regarded by Hindus as a truly holy man, but perhaps a little unsound) and Kim’s prophecy. He concurs with the previous priest’s astrological interpretation of the sign of war, and Kim takes the opportunity to embellish the tale by bringing in details he had overheard from the British officer in Umballa. His detailed description of the officer and the coming military action confirms Kim’s mystical identity in the eyes of the lama and catches the attention of a retired cavalry soldier. The old soldier offers them lodging for the night, which they accept.

In the morning, the old soldier accompanies them to the next thoroughfare for their journey. Along the way, they have another conversation touching on religious matters and the lama’s quest. The soldier, apparently a Hindu, is of an agnostic temperament and mainly interested in the military dimensions of Kim’s story: “‘But why should one whose Star leads to war follow a holy man?’ ‘But he is a holy man,’ said Kim earnestly. ‘In truth, and in talk, and in act, holy. He is not like the others. I have never seen such a one’” (46). They come to the Grand Trunk Road, which runs across much of British India, and there the soldier leaves them as they continue their journey.

The Grand Trunk Road leads Kim and the lama on a journey by foot through the surrounding countryside, where Kim views all the diversity of castes, ethnicities, and religions with interest and delight. He remarks on the beauty and goodness of the country around them, but the lama, in his patient and detached way, regards all those around him as being subject to bondage: “‘And they are all bound upon the Wheel,’ said the lama. ‘Bound from life after life’” (57). When the day is over, Kim camps near a caravan made up of Ooryas (low-caste southerners) and a group of hillmen from the north, the latter of which have a canopied cart bearing the old widow of a hill rajah (known throughout the story as “the Kulu woman” or simply as “the Sahiba”). On seeing her cart, Kim perceives an opportunity: “Something might be made out of this meeting” (59). He initiates a conversation and speaks to her at length despite the old lady’s initial caustic rebukes. Since she comes from the northern hills, she is much more familiar with Buddhist lamas than most other travelers Kim has previously encountered. In exchange for food gifts, Kim sets up a meeting between her and the lama, knowing that she would like a blessing for the birth of a hoped-for second grandson. In the course of these conversations, it comes out that she is heading in the same direction they are, at least for a portion of the journey, and that she wants the lama to accompany her to her destination at Buddh Gaya. The lama agrees, reasoning that he can still look for his river along the way.

As Kim and the lama travel in the company of the Kulu woman, they see an army regiment of white men preparing to make camp. Kim watches them from behind a tree, and he observes two of them come toward him, marking out the camp’s layout. Kim interprets this as a fulfillment of his prophecy, in which two men would precede the coming of the Red Bull. He then spies the flag of this regiment—the same regiment, as it happens, his father had served in, the Mavericks—and its design is a red bull on a green field. Kim sneaks into the camp later that evening to get a better look, believing that the soldiers likely worship the red bull as a god. He regards this turn of events in his characteristically vivacious attitude: “This adventure, though he did not know the English word, was a stupendous lark—a delightful continuation of his old flights across the housetops, as well as the fulfillment of sublime prophecy” (73).

While in the camp, Kim is caught by an Anglican clergyman, Reverend Arthur Bennett, who examines the amulet Kim bears around his neck. This amulet bears the birth certificate and other papers from Kim’s father, and the clergyman learns the truth about Kim’s parentage. A second clergyman, Father Victor, who serves as the regiment’s Catholic chaplain, joins the conversation as they try to make sense of Kim’s identity. On hearing Kim’s story, the clergymen consult with the lama, and they struggle to understand their quest for the Arrow River. The lama is surprised to hear that Kim is a “sahib” (a white man), and when he realizes that Kim will have to go with the regiment, he regrets letting his heart get overly attached to Kim. A plan is made to take Kim with the regiment and find some schooling for him, and Kim encourages the lama to stay with the Kulu woman so that when Kim leaves the school (which he anticipates happening in just a day or two), he can find the lama again. Using the knowledge he had gained eavesdropping in Umballa, he also predicts to the clergymen that their regiment is not just going on a march but is actually heading to war.