Of the fourteen stories in this volume, "As easy as ABC" touches on science fiction, while "The Village that voted the Earth was Flat" takes off into the sublime and lunatic farce. "Swept and Garnished" and "Mary Postgate", both set during the First World War, are among the finest stories Kipling ever wrote. The whole is immensely enjoyable as the work of a writer at home in verse and prose, and in love with words.