Explore "Gunga Din" by Rudyard Kipling on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
You may talk o' gin and beer / When you're quartered safe out 'ere, / An' you're sent to penny-fights an' Aldershot it; / But when it comes to slaughter / You will do your work on water, / An' you'll lick the bloomin' boots of 'im that's got it. / Now in Injia's sunny clime, / Where I used to spend my time / A-servin' of 'Er Majesty the Queen, / Of all them blackfaced crew / The finest man I knew / Was our regimental bhisti, Gunga Din. / He was "Din! Din! Din! / You limpin' lump o' brick-dust, Gunga Din! / Hi! slippery _hitherao_! / Water, get it! _Panee lao_! [Bring water swiftly.] / You squidgy-nosed old idol, Gunga Din."
The uniform 'e wore / Was nothin' much before, / An' rather less than 'arf o' that be'ind, / For a piece o' twisty rag / An' a goatskin water-bag / Was all the field-equipment 'e could find. / When the sweatin' troop-train lay / In a sidin' through the day, / Where the 'eat would make your bloomin' eyebrows crawl, / We shouted "Harry By! " [Mr. Atkins's equivalent for "O brother. "] / Till our throats were bricky-dry, / Then we wopped 'im 'cause 'e couldn't serve us all. / It was "Din! Din! Din! / You 'eathen, where the mischief 'ave you been? / You put some _juldee_ in it [Be quick.] / Or I'll _marrow_ you this minute [Hit you.] / If you don't fill up my helmet, Gunga Din!"