As we travel with Kipling through Jaipur, Udaipur and onto Jodhpur, and quieter Bundi, with its palace 'like an avalanche of masonry ready to rush down and block the gorge', we listen as he weaves his wealth of stories on plain or gilded frames. Great sites, kings, minor happenings, major historic events, legend, battles and landscape – we see it all. These nineteen vivid travel essays on the independent kingdoms of Rajasthan, illuminated by the love for India seeded in Kipling's childhood, were first published by Allahabad's The Pioneer between 1887–88, when he was still only 22. Enjoy them as gateways, travel notes and as scene setters for India now and long ago.