Rudyard Kipling in Vernet-les-Bains
Rudyard Kipling, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907, stayed in Vernet-les-Bains in 1910, 1911 and 1914. At that time, Kipling was well known in France, following the success of the French version of his classic work, The Jungle Book.
While he was in Vernet, Kipling wrote about Canigou. In a letter to the Club Alpin, he praised it as "a magician among mountains".
Kipling also wrote a light-hearted short story entitled Why Snow Falls at Vernet. It makes fun of the English habit of always talking about the weather. This story (in its original English version, and in a French translation) can be seen on this link:
Today, the central bridge over the River Cady in Vernet-les-Bains is named after Kipling.
A short walk around the part of Vernet that was best known to Kipling can be seen on this link:
Read more about this topic: Vernet-les-Bains
Famous quotes containing the word kipling:
“Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.”
—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus, 44:14.
The line “their name liveth for evermore” was chosen by Rudyard Kipling on behalf of the Imperial War Graves Commission as an epitaph to be used in Commonwealth War Cemeteries. Kipling had himself lost a son in the fighting.