Kukri

“ Hugh shook his tawny head quietly.
“No pagan spy. For ten years I have fought the paynim, under the standard of the Cross.”
“Hai!” Shotha Kupri raised his shoulders and held out gnarled hands. “You come out of the East, with accursed Mongols at your back; you speak the tongue of the thrice-accursed Arabs. Shall we trust you?”
“And yet,” mused the singing girl, glancing from the mighty crusader to the old chieftain, “his hair and eyes be unlike the Muslimin. Nay, his sword is a strange weapon.” ”

“ As for Kuroki, he said nothing. He was not given to speech at any time. But he picked up a Malay kris and ran his thumb along the edge of it critically like a man to whom such a weapon is not altogether unfamiliar. ”

“ That Takma, that night, when he was with my mother, snatched my father's own weapon from him: a kris which the Regent had given him the day before...."
"You know?" cried the doctor. "You know? Oh, my God! Do you know that? I ... I have never said a word. I am eightee-eight years of age ... but I've ... I've never said a word."
"No, you never said anything ... but Mamma's baboe ..."
"Ma-Boeten?"
"Yes, Ma-Boeten told her son, a mantri at Tegal. Ma-Boeten is dead and the mantri has started blackmailing me. He's been to me for money. I've given him money. I shall give him money every month." ”

“ It was an unpleasant sound—the mirthless mirth of these men on the long, white line of the Narkarra road. There were no strangers in Kashima, or they might have thought that captivity within the Dosehri hills had driven half the European population mad. The laughter stopped abruptly. Kurrell was the first to speak.
"Well, what are you going to do?"
Boulte looked up the road, and at the hills. "Nothing," said he quietly. "What's the use? It's too ghastly for anything. We must let the old life go on. I can only call you a hound and a liar, and I can't go on calling you names for ever. ”

“ Thus at Malko-Tirnovsko, in the district of Adrianople, a procession of mummers goes through the streets on that day. [pg 332] The principal personages in it bear the names of the Kuker and Kukerica. The Kuker is a man clad in a goatskin. His face is blackened with soot and he wears on his head a high shaggy hat made of an entire skin. Bells jingle at his girdle, and in his hand he carries a club. The Kukerica, who sometimes goes by the name of Baba, that is, “Old Woman,” is a man disguised in petticoats with his face blackened. ”

“ A more useful weapon it would be impossible to place in the hands of any man than the kokre is in those of the Nipale. He uses it for all purposes, and without it he seldom stirs out abroad. It is his sword, his table-knife, his razor, and his nail-parer; with it he clears the jungle for his cultivation, builds his log-hut, skins the animals that he slaughters — in short, without the kokre he is as helpless as a child; with it he is a formidable warrior, as well as a man of all work. ”

“ Whereas Zóra, the granddaughter of the Syud Dervish who lived here, has escaped, and is now at Kukeyra, under the protection of the rebel Burma Naik, and lives in a house outside the entrance gate of the village, you are therefore to go there with your men and take her up and bring her to me, without hurting even a hair of her head. I do not want the old man, he is useless to me; but if he resist he can be slain. ”

“ Sologub discloses the devils and the angels in men and women, but Kuprin is cheerfully human. Both have a certain satirical genius, but Kuprin is read by everyone, whereas it would be hardly one in ten that could follow Sologub. In comparison with Chekhof I should say Kuprin was a little more inventive, and as regards a picture of life Kuprin is nearer to the present moment. Nearly all these Russian tale-writers excel in describing the life of townspeople. Very little study of the peasantry has been made, though there are one or two notable exceptions. ”

“ This was: never to pay attention to the advice of women, to allow nobody to grow too rich, to keep his treasury well filled, and himself and his troops constantly occupied. Had he so desired, Kuprili might have taken advantage of the revolts of the Janissaries to place himself on the throne ”

“ The Kukuruku appear to have a Sobo element, which fled from the south of the Ẹdo area to escape the exactions of the king of Ẹdo; they are dwellers mainly in the hill country, but how long they have been established there it is difficult to say; their language is split up into numerous tongues so diverse that towns a few miles apart cannot understand one another. The list of the kings of Ọkpe suggests that the separation of the Ẹdo and Kukuruku may go back six hundred years; but this does not necessarily apply to other sections of the Kukuruku. ”

“ This characteristic dryness does not come, as one is liable to think, from ill-disguised insensibility. Kuprin's soul, on the contrary, is of such exquisitely fine texture that all human emotions vibrate there. The few times when he has expressed himself are enough to convince the reader. He has often pitied women with a discreet, fraternal compassion. ”

“ The Kukis are not so strict about the rule enjoining the parents to have no contact with the rest of the village, for they allow drinks to be given by them to all, except the unmarried. Nearly all sacrifices are in part used as occasions for taking omens, and the fowl killed at the birth genna affords excellent omens. They watch the convulsive struggles of its feet in the death agony, and, if the left foot crosses over the right foot, the future is believed to be favourable for the child. ”

“ There were indications as to the direction from which the dead traveller had come. Indian legends would alone have been my guide, for I found that rumours of a strange land were common among all the riverine tribes. You have heard, no doubt, of Curupuri?"
"Never."
"Curupuri is the spirit of the woods, something terrible, something malevolent, something to be avoided. None can describe its shape or nature, but it is a word of terror along the Amazon. Now all tribes agree as to the direction in which Curupuri lives. It was the same direction from which the American had come. ”

“ But the ships are manned by Greeks and Genoese. The other, by the northern passes through the steppes of the Alans and the Kumanians—”
“They are foster brothers of the Mongols,” growled Shotha Kupri. “Aye, and kin to all the devils.”
“We can not open a road, that is clear,” nodded the Orphelian. “We must trust in cunning, like a fox.”
And they turned again hopefully to the patriarch, who sighed and clasped his hands.
“There is no gift but from the Almighty. Pray ye to Him who is greater than the emperor.”
“For the ages of ages,” muttered Shotha Kupri. ”

“ Now you can figure the angles for yourself: maybe he won't bomb this planet because he thinks he can still make some use of the Quarter—but that's a big maybe. Even if he doesn't, it's a dead cinch there's going to be trouble. The Niori know he comes here, even if they can't prove it, and when the war starts they're going to be sore."
"Tell me something," said Cudyk after a moment. "If you knew all this long ago—and you must have, since you have been so closely associated with Rack—why did you help Rack, and so force yourself to leave Palumbar?" ”

“ KAKAR, a Pathan tribe on the Zhob valley frontier of Baluchistan. The Kakars inhabit the back of the Suliman mountains between Quetta and the Gomal river; they are a very ancient race, and it is probable that they were in possession of these slopes long before the advent of Afghan or Arab. They are divided into many distinct tribes who have no connexion beyond the common name of Kakar. Not only is there no chief of the Kakars, or general jirgah (or council) of the whole tribe, but in most cases there are no recognized heads of the different clans. ”

“ After sunset he puts off his disguise, is paid for his trouble, and carouses with his fellows. The people believe that the man who plays the part of Kuker commits a deadly sin, and the priests make vain efforts to abolish the custom. ”

“ Kuprin made his name in writing stories of life in the Russian army. He did not describe the common soldier as did his likeness, Kipling, but rather the life of the officers. His most famous books on the subject are “Cadets,” “Staff-Captain Ribnikof” [1] and “The Duel.” [1] He extended his popularity with somewhat lurid and oleographic descriptions of the night haunt and night life, and wrote the notorious novel, lately completed, entitled “Yama”—“The Pit.” He has written a great deal about the relationship of men and women. His weakness is the subject of women. ”

“ Kim heard tales of shots missed upon ibex, serow, or markhor, by Sahibs twenty years in their graves—every detail lighted from behind like twigs on tree-tops seen against lightning. They told him of their little diseases, and, more important, the diseases of their tiny, sure-footed cattle; of trips as far as Kotgarh, where the strange missionaries live, and beyond even to marvellous Simla, where the streets are paved with silver, and anyone, look you, can get service with the Sahibs, who ride about in two-wheeled carts and spend money with a spade. ”

“ He is rarely a muleteer or camel-man, and does not take kindly to handicrafts. The Kūrds generally bear a very indifferent reputation, a worse reputation perhaps, than they really deserve. Being aliens to the Turks in language and to the Persians in religion, they are everywhere treated with mistrust, and live as it were in a state of chronic warfare with the powers that be. Such a condition is not of course favourable to the development of the better qualities of human nature. The Kūrds are thus wild and lawless ”

“ How lonely and empty our German woodlands would seem without the cuckoo and the cuckoo cry! As a matter of fact the African primeval forest never hears the same cry that has become so clear to ourselves. Our cuckoo, migrating in a few days all the way from the north to the equator, flies in restless haste through wood and plain, but he is silent. His cry is heard only in our country at home. But in the East Africa district of Pori, amongst many other cries those of two species of cuckoo are heard in rivalry. ”

“ Another fanatic, Cudyk thought. A liberal fanatic. I have seen all kinds, now. He said, "I have one more argument to try. Has Seu explained to you how precarious our position is here on Palumbar?"
"He spoke of it."
"The Niori accepted this one small colony with grave misgivings. Every act of violence that occurs here weakens our position, because it furnishes ammunition for a group which already wants to expel us. Do you understand?"
There was pain in Harkway's eyes. "Mr. Cudyk, it's the same all over the galaxy, wherever these pitifully tiny outgroups exist. ”

“ Alexandre I. Kuprin was born in 1870; 1909 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of his literary activity. He attained his fame only upon the publication of his amazing, epical novel, “The Duel”—which, just like “YAMA,” is an arraignment; an arraignment of militaristic corruption. Russian criticism has styled him the poet of life. If Chekhov was the Wunderkind of Russian letters, Kuprin is its enfant terrible. His range of subjects is enormous; his power of observation and his versatility extraordinary. Gambrinus alone would justify his place among the literary giants of Europe. ”

“ The islands of Lemnos and Tenedos were recovered by the Porte. The siege of Candia was again prosecuted with the utmost vigour.
Kiuprili practically ruled the Empire with unquestioned authority for five years, till his death in 1661. In prospect of that event he obtained from the Sultana Validé and the Sultan the reversion of the Grand Vizierate for his son, Ahmed Kiuprili. On his deathbed he is said to have given to the young Sultan the following heads of advice:—
Never to listen to the advice of women. ”

“ What came over Dhaan, to want to come to Gholland at thiss time of year, I cannott make out...."
"Why didn't you stay behind in India, Aunt?" asked Ina, well-bred and weary-eyed.
"Not likely! I ssee myself letting Dhaan gho alone! No, dear, we're man and wife and where Uncle Dhaan ghoes I gho. Old people like us belong to one another.... Dhaan is with Gharold now, in the other room: your Papa arrived a moment agho, Ina. Those two are talking bissiness of course. I asked Dhaan, 'Dhaan, what on ear-r-rth do you want to gho to Gholland for?' 'Bissiness!' says Dhaan. ”

“ But at fourteen an Inuit feels himself a man, and Kotuko was tired of making snares for wild-fowl and kit-foxes, and most tired of all of helping the women to chew seal- and deer-skins (that supples them as nothing else can) the long day through, while the men were out hunting. He wanted to go into the quaggi, the Singing-House, when the hunters gathered there for their mysteries, and the angekok, the sorcerer, frightened them into the most delightful fits after the lamps were put out, and you could hear the Spirit of the Reindeer stamping on the roof ”

“ CHAPTER IV THE THADO CLAN
The term New Kukis, which appears so often in the records of Cachar and Sylhet in the middle of the last century, and which has been adopted by Dr. Grierson in the “Linguistic Survey of India,” may be taken as synonymous with the Thado clan. The clan is a very large one; Dr. Grierson in the “Linguistic Survey” estimates the numbers as follows:—
This estimate omits the members of the clan in North Cachar Hills and in the unadministered tracts between the Naga Hills and Manipur on the west and the Upper Chindwin district of Burma on the east. ”

“ The most flourishing period of Kūrdish power was probably during the 12th century of our era, when the great Saladin, who belonged to the Rawendi branch of the Hadabāni tribe, founded the Ayyubite dynasty of Syria, and Kūrdish chiefships were established, not only to the east and west of the Kūrdistān mountains, but as far as Khorāsān upon one side and Egypt and Yemen on the other. During the Mongol and Tatar domination of western Asia the Kūrds in the mountains remained for the most part passive, yielding a reluctant obedience to the provincial governors of the plains. ”