The narrator thus serves as an intermediary between the “respectable” world familiar to Kipling’s Victorian British readers and the exotic setting of Carnehan and Dravot’s adventure. The bulk of “The Man Who Would Be King” is a story within a story: in the framing narrative, the narrator talks of his interactions with Carnehan and Dravot, and it is within this context that Carnehan tells the story of what happened in Kafiristan. Two years later, Carnehan returns, injured and haggard, and tells the narrator about his adventures in Kafiristan. The narrator thinks Carnehan and Dravot’s plan is foolish, but when they assure him they are serious, he provides them with books and maps of the region. On one of his journeys, he meets Peachey Carnehan and Daniel Dravot, who ask for his help in planning their conquest of Kafiristan. As part of his job, he travels by train to various parts of India, interacting with everyone from the kings of minor states to the “ loafers” who travel second-class. The story’s narrator is a correspondent for the Backwoodsman, an English-language newspaper.
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