Explore "The Ballad of the King's Mercy" by Rudyard Kipling on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
_Abdhur Rahman, the Durani Chief, of him is the story told. / His mercy fills the Khyber hills -- his grace is manifold; / He has taken toll of the North and the South -- / his glory reacheth far, / And they tell the tale of his charity from Balkh to Kandahar_.
Before the old Peshawur Gate, where Kurd and Kaffir meet, / The Governor of Kabul dealt the Justice of the Street, / And that was strait as running noose and swift as plunging knife, / Tho' he who held the longer purse might hold the longer life.