The Female of the Species

http://www.potw.org/archive/potw96.html ^ | ? | Rudyard Kipling

[backhoe]

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

The Female of the Species

    WHEN the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
    He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.
    But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail.
    For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

    When Nag the basking cobra hears the careless foot of man,
    He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it if he can.
    But his mate makes no such motion where she camps beside the trail.
    For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

    When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons and Choctaws,
    They prayed to be delivered from the vengeance of the squaws.
    'Twas the women, not the warriors, turned those stark enthusiasts pale.
    For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

    Man's timid heart is bursting with the things he must not say,
    For the Woman that God gave him isn't his to give away;
    But when hunter meets with husbands, each confirms the other's tale—
    The female of the species is more deadly than the male.

    Man, a bear in most relations—worm and savage otherwise,—
    Man propounds negotiations, Man accepts the compromise.
    Very rarely will he squarely push the logic of a fact
    To its ultimate conclusion in unmitigated act.

    Fear, or foolishness, impels him, ere he lay the wicked low,
    To concede some form of trial even to his fiercest foe.
    Mirth obscene diverts his anger—Doubt and Pity oft perplex
    Him in dealing with an issue—to the scandal of The Sex!

    But the Woman that God gave him, every fibre of her frame
    Proves her launched for one sole issue, armed and engined for the same;
    And to serve that single issue, lest the generations fail,
    The female of the species must be deadlier than the male.

    She who faces Death by torture for each life beneath her breast
    May not deal in doubt or pity—must not swerve for fact or jest.
    These be purely male diversions—not in these her honour dwells—
    She the Other Law we live by, is that Law and nothing else.

    She can bring no more to living than the powers that make her great
    As the Mother of the Infant and the Mistress of the Mate.
    And when Babe and Man are lacking and she strides unclaimed to claim
    Her right as femme (and baron), her equipment is the same.

    She is wedded to convictions—in default of grosser ties;
    Her contentions are her children, Heaven help him who denies!—
    He will meet no suave discussion, but the instant, white-hot, wild,
    Wakened female of the species warring as for spouse and child.

    Unprovoked and awful charges—even so the she-bear fights,
    Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons—even so the cobra bites,
    Scientific vivisection of one nerve till it is raw
    And the victim writhes in anguish—like the Jesuit with the squaw!

    So it comes that Man, the coward, when he gathers to confer
    With his fellow-braves in council, dare not leave a place for her
    Where, at war with Life and Conscience, he uplifts his erring hands
    To some God of Abstract Justice—which no woman understands.

    And Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the Woman that God gave him
    Must command but may not govern—shall enthral but not enslave him.
    And She knows, because She warns him, and Her instincts never fail,
    That the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male.

---

This poem can be found, for example, in:

• Kipling, Rudyard. Rudyard Kipling's Verse: Inclusive Edition, 1885-1918. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1919.
• Felleman, Hazel, ed. The Best Loved Poems of the American People. Garden City, NY: Garden City Books, 1936.

[backhoe]

I ran across this long-forgotten poem over on thefiringline.com- and present it with a respectful nod to the distaff side...

[JD86]

Thank you...:)

[backhoe]

Thanks for looking... I always liked Kipling, but hadn't seen this piece in years, It's something to mull over...

[IronJack]

I tried to find it. I thought I had Kipling Compleat. But I see no reference to it in "Departmental Ditties", "Soldiers Three", "Plain Tales", "Under the Deodars", or an anthology of poems and writings. What did I miss?

[backhoe]

Dunno! Your list sounds like it ought to include it. I can't recall when I first read this poem- teenager, probably, in the 1960's- but I do recall reading it.

There are a couple of references at the bottom.

[JD86]

I concur with the analysis. I was an Army wife and I always felt protected and safe when my husband was present. I knew he would take care of me and our children. But I also know when he wasn't there, I was more than capable of holding down the home front. And God have mercy on anyone who ever tried to harm my children, because I certainly wasn't going to. They would have had to go through me to get to them and that would not have been an easy task.

[JoeSchem]

I've known one or two male jerks in my life, but when it comes to individuals who'll eternally nurse a grudge and eagerly destroy your reputation and self-esteem and career over the tiniest perceived slight, I could name quite a few women.

[sarasmom]

Mostly true. :)

[JD86]

We never forget...:)

[Sabertooth]

Well, the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
Her simple tears will win the day where man's wits often fail.
And things are even worse for men, since Rudyard Kipling wrote,
For the female of the species now has got the right to vote.

[JoeSchem]

We never forget...:)

That's true, so long as 'Remembering Differently From What Video Tape Would Show' is counted as 'Not Forgetting.'

[elbucko]

I like Kipling and Jack London, the "Kipling" of the North. The last line about soldiering in Afganistan by RK, is chilling.

But I don't think, anymore, that "the Female is more deadly than the Male". I think the "Western Male" is is even weaker still, than in Kiplings time.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Kipling didn't write it. Ted Nugent did.

[RightOnline]

Kipling's right. Women can be unbelievably tough and vicious.......when protecting their own.

I pity the fool that ever deigns to seriously cross RightOnlinesWife. Trust me when I tell you that that would be frightening. Glad she's on my side. :)

[Sabertooth]

When the yuppie in his sportscar merges to the passing lane,
He wonders if the driver up in front could have a brain.
But the fender of her SUV will make his courage fail,
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

[Sungirl]

Unprovoked and awful charges—even so the she-bear fights, Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons—even so the cobra bites,

I have to agree with this part...hee hee....I can cut to the quick real fast with my words.

[vikingchick]

And things are even worse for men, since Rudyard Kipling wrote,
For the female of the species now has got the right to vote.

Ah, a wise guy. Well, I'm starting a list, and you're at the top of it....Mister Man! :)

[JD86]

I'm sorry, you seem to be remembering a specific instance.
I was making a general comment....we never forget...as in remember forever.