Part of a set. Red leatherette binding with gold lettering. Elephant Head on front board.

Rewards and Fairies is a historical fantasy book by Rudyard Kipling published in 1910. The title comes from the poem “Farewell, Rewards and Fairies” by Richard Corbet, which was referred to by the children in the first story of Kipling’s earlier book Puck of Pook’s Hill. Rewards and Fairies, a follow up to Puck, is set one year later, although it was published four years afterwards.

The book consists of a series of short stories set in historical times and a linking contemporary narrative about Dan and Una, two children living in the Weald of Sussex in the area of Kipling’s own home, who encounter Puck. He magically conjures up real and fictional individuals from Sussex’s past to tell the children some aspect of the history and prehistory of the region, though the episodes are not always historically accurate and some of the stories contain elements of the supernatural as well as history. Another recurring character is Old Hobden, who represents the continuity of the inhabitants of the land. His ancestors sometimes appear in the stories and seem very much like him.

Each story is preceded and followed by a poem, one of which is If—, often described as Britain’s favourite poem. Other well known poems included in the book are Cold Iron and The Way through the Woods.

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936) was an English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist. He was born in India, which inspired much of his work.

Kipling’s works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including “The Man Who Would Be King” (1888). His poems include “Mandalay” (1890), “Gunga Din” (1890), “The Gods of the Copybook Headings” (1919), “The White Man’s Burden: The United States and the Philippine Islands” (1899), and “If—” (1910). He is seen as an innovator in the art of the short story. His children’s books are classics; one critic noted “a versatile and luminous narrative gift.”

Kipling in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was among the United Kingdom’s most popular writers. Henry James said “Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius, as distinct from fine intelligence, that I have ever known.” In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, as the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and at 41, its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and several times for a knighthood but declined both. Following his death in 1936, his ashes were interred at Poets’ Corner, part of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey.

Kipling’s subsequent reputation has changed with the political and social climate of the age. The contrasting views of him continued for much of the 20th century. Literary critic Douglas Kerr wrote: “[Kipling] is still an author who can inspire passionate disagreement and his place in literary and cultural history is far from settled. But as the age of the European empires recedes, he is recognised as an incomparable, if controversial, interpreter of how empire was experienced. That, and an increasing recognition of his extraordinary narrative gifts, make him a force to be reckoned with.”