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.

[SusanUSA]

Nope, no buzzer.

Trust me, in this area of skill you can't pass by grading yourself. And within 5 minutes the other will know, anyway. Conservative women don't believe in free...well, ya know.

[backhoe]

Geez! Nobody fetched you the link?

I am a Muslim Woman

Begin Old Guy Rant:

"Back when I was young, we programmed in Assembler!
We pushed our keypunch machines thru 3 foot-a snow to school!
Back then, people around here would help 'ya...."

[Sabertooth]

I notice, though, that you didn't disagree with my statement.

I didn't want to brag.

[be-baw]

Trust me, in this area of skill you can't pass by grading yourself.

I wholeheartedly agree.

And within 5 minutes the other will know

Only if your partner is less than skillful. If skillful, it will take much longer to find out, wouldn't you agree?

[Sabertooth]

Au contraire, mon ami! Les hommes Gauches et les femmes Gauches ont le savoir-faire ensemble :-).

You trying to spark a Gomez Addams moment?

[SusanUSA]

Agreed. But don't you get dizzy running in these circles?
Now hop back over to my first reply and give it time...the context WILL catch up with you. *LOL*

Happy Thanksgiving

[Sabertooth]

the context WILL catch up with you

Always chasing something...

[2Trievers]

Happy Thanksgiving Dearest JR --- and ((hugs)) to Emily and Taffy!

I love your topic. Wish I had more time to spend on it tough. Quickly, I think that the power that a woman yields has to do with their ability to flirt, appear cool and then simultaneously appear dependent and independent. Keeping a man off balance is an art form. Achieved the best coquettes. History has Josephine Bonaparte, Ninon de 'l'Enclos, Madame Mao, etc. Women's ability to offer sex and remove it makes men crazy. Yes, we are more deadly than the male species.

The Shadow

It cannot be grasped.
Chase your shadow and it will flee;
turn your back on it and it will follow you.
It is also a person's dark side,
the thing that makes them mysterious.
After they have given us pleasure,
the shadow of their withdrawal makes us yearn for their return,
much as clouds make us yearn for the sun.

Not always a conservative v. liberal issue when it comes to matters of who holds the power.

We also have a resident expert on all these matters, with a PhD in matters of gender wars. IB tear yourself away from the stove for a minute, will ya'?

[backhoe]

Oh! I like that poem!

Happy Thanksgiving to you & yours!

[2Trievers]

Hahaha ...how'd I know? ... a woman's instinct ... honed to perfection!

"by force or grace to give it away to their beloved."

I would substitute "beloved" for "prey" in many instances.

[SusanUSA]

misdirected

[poet]

And they gave us the clintons for eight years!! More male bashing!! It's all BS. ANYONE who has any cajones will defend themselves regardless of gender.
Besides, no matter what a woman accomplishes, a man can bring her down. Flame away, ladies, I have asbestos on!!

[2Trievers]

About what? Instinct? Beloved? Prey?

Bella is her own woman.

As for me ... I'm ... well, ... um, ... let's say putty in the hands of the right magician.

[Sabertooth]

And they gave us the clintons for eight years!! More male bashing!! It's all BS. ANYONE who has any cajones will defend themselves regardless of gender.

Uhh... It gets worse, I'm afraid...

---

         Hillary's Parade         

---

The former First Lady has big Thanksgiving plans to rise above her New York troubles.

Click on Moose and Squirrel for the link!

[2Trievers]

One of the best stories I read lately concerned Napoleon and Josephine. She had such powers of seduction, that she managed to hold him under her spell. A few days after their marriage, Napoleon left for Italy to battle the Austrians. Josephine refused to follow him. Napoleon begged her to join him. She continued to decline and it drove him crazy. Utilizing a combination of coldness, charm and grace. He could hardly direct the army, his distraction for her so was overwhelming. While they did part company with their lovers/mistresses, Napoleon's final word, on his death bed was, "Josephine."

So I don't necessarily agree that men will bring an unattentive woman down. We have our ways, you know.

[2Trievers]

So when you meet up with a magician, will you give him my number?