KIM

EPISODE ONE –  SULIMA’S PROPHECY 
 
See treatment already delivered, where some modifications requested by the director have been made (name of the Police Officer:  Tata; Kim doesn’t steal a pipe, but rather he steals a pancake; name of Jasmine’s master:  Nabob Dinar; Mahbub Alì simply becomes Red Beard) 

EPISODE TWO – TRAVELLING WITH THE LAMA 

Kim and the Lama take a train towards Umballa. On board the train Kim meets X21 (the Indian secret agent who is a friend of Red Beard’s) disguised as a food merchant.  In order to gather enough money to buy some food, Kim decides to swindle a couple of rich farmers making them believe that the Lama is a Saint capable of performing miracles.  But they are sceptical and stingy, so they don’t fall for it.  While Kim looks around for other suckers to swindle, the train is blocked in the middle of the countryside by an elephant lying on the railway tracks.  Kim persuades the conductor to allow the Lama to solve the problem since he is capable of speaking to animals.  The Lama talks to the elephant but he is “misunderstood”.  The Lama’s failure unleashes the wrath and the scorn of the travellers who pelt the priest with objects they throw from the train windows.  Kim speaks up in defence of his teacher and performs the “miracle” in his place by using his slingshot.  Taking a careful aim, he strikes the elephant’s behind with a thorn berry.  The elephant gets up with a trumpeting roar.  The elephant is furious because of the pain and attacks the train full of terrified travellers.   Kim enjoys his revenge.  Then, using another trick, he makes the animal kneel down at the Lama’s feet.  The travellers make a great fuss and call him a Saint while Kim goes around collecting their offerings.  The train sets off once again.  Kim looks for the merchant (X21) since he wants to buy some food, but he is intercepted by the secret agents in the service of Nabob Dinar who want to retrieve the message hidden in the loaf of bread (a white note with some holes punched into the paper). Kim is chased by the spies up on top of the train and during his flight he loses the note.  X21 sees the slip of paper stuck on a window, with the cricket Drì glued upon it like a paperweight (see the film Murder on the Orient Express) and rushes to Kim’s rescue.  With the help of X21, Kim gets rid of the foreign secret agents, who fall off the train.  Upon their arrival in Umballa, the rich farmers offer hospitality on their farm to the Lama since they believe him to be a saint.

EPISODE THREE – THE PEDIGREE OF THE STALLION 

A couple of rich farmers offer Kim and the Lama accommodation on their farm in Umballa.  They believe that the Lama is a saint capable of performing miracles and treat them with honours.  Kim has the time of his life as he takes advantage of the two fools, but the Lama disapproves his cheating ways.  After convincing Kim that honesty is the best policy, he sends him off to cancel the banquet that the farmers are organizing in his honour.  Kim is reluctantly about to obey him when he remembers the secret message that he’s supposed to deliver.  In a colonial town house, Colonel Creighton is awaiting the arrival of the Governor-General in order to talk about the information contained in the secret message which is yet to be delivered.  His daughter Elsa, a girl the same age as Kim, is there along with him.  Her father promised her a short holiday on a tiger safari in the jungle.  When he reaches the town house, Kim is surprised by Elsa who mistakes him for a thief and wants to hand him over to her father to be whipped.  Kim is torn between the Lama’s teachings and the promise he made to Red Beard that he wouldn’t reveal his secret mission to anyone.  Kim ends up confessing the truth to the young girl.  Elsa doesn’t believe him and insists on seeing the secret message.  When she discovers that it’s only a white sheet of paper with some holes punched through, she believes that Kim has made fun of her and a furious fight ensues between the two of them.  They beat each other up in the kitchens, pulling at their hair and throwing dishes laden with food at each other.  They are finally pulled apart by Mr. Barney, Elsa’s assistant housemaster.  Elsa is sent off to wash up while Kim is locked up in the pantry as he waits to be questioned by the Colonel.  But the arrival of the Governor-General distracts everyone’s attention and they forget all about the little prisoner in the pantry.  With Drì’s help, Kim manages to escape from the pantry but realizes that he’s lost the message during his skirmish with Elsa.  During the course of the banquet, the Colonel informs the Governor that the “pedigree of the stallion” has not arrived yet.  The two men are convinced that the secret agent in charge of delivering it has been intercepted or has perhaps betrayed them.  It dawns on Elsa that Kim was telling the truth and that now he’s in trouble because of her.  Kim desperately looks all over the kitchens for the message, but cannot find it.  His mission is about to be a total failure when Elsa comes to his help.  The message ended up in the bucket of leftovers intended for the animals.  The two youngsters successfully retrieve it just in time.  Elsa suggests a way to deliver it.  The banquet is about to come to a close when dessert is served.  The Governor is just about to choke on a little roll of paper hidden in the cake, when Creighton realizes that it’s the secret message.  They are both somewhat surprised for the way in which it has been delivered, but admire the ability of the secret agent who has accomplished his mission.  Perched upon a great tree in the garden, Kim watches as they place the note full of holes over a map of India and finally he understands the procedure.  The holes indicate some territories in the north, on the boundary with the Land of the Five Rivers, ruled by the legendary Lion of the Punjab, where some suspicious comings and goings have been noticed.  The Governor-General fears that there will be more bloody clashes between the Indians and the British, like those which occurred during the Black Year (the year in which Kim was abandoned) and orders Creighton to immediately head north and reinforce the garrisons on duty at the boundary.  Kim is very proud for having succeeded in his mission. He reaches the window to Elsa’s room and discovers her in tears.  Her father just informed her that they will have to give up their holiday and the tiger safari he had promised her.  Kim discovers that Elsa lost her mother as a child, as well, and that her father often leaves her alone even though he loves her dearly.  Elsa asks Kim a lot of questions about his activities as a secret agent and he tells her an imaginary and heroic story, hinting at Sulima’s prophecy.  He asks her whether she knows who owns the white stallion he saw in the town house stables.  Elsa is about to answer (that it belongs to her father) when the squad of lancers that is escorting the Governor out of the town house rides by the tree where Kim is perched.  One of their spears tears his trousers to shreds (see scene from the film) and makes him fall down to the ground.  Kim doesn’t have the chance to hear who the stallion belongs to, but manages to get a laugh out of Elsa.  Then he notices that it’s very late and leaves the town house, heading back to the farm where the Lama is staying.

 

EPISODE FOUR –  THE MIRACLE OF THE COW BUFFALO

When Kim returns to the farm, he discovers that he’s in trouble.  The two farmers have set up a rich banquet, but the Lama refuses to touch any food.  He is meditating under a tree and refuses to speak to anyone, not even to his own disciple.  The farmers are furious and expect to be compensated with a “miracle” worthy of the money they have spent for their guests.  Otherwise they promise to give them a sound thrashing and then report them to the police.  Kim does his best to calm them down and convince them that he himself, as disciple of the Saint, is capable of performing small miracles.  But he must have something to eat beforehand.  The two farmers pay no heed to him:  first the miracle and then the banquet.  They discuss the matter between them and finally find a miracle fit for Kim.  He has to heal a cow buffalo that no longer produces any milk.  Kim is taken to the stable and the animal is pointed out to him.  It’s old and in a sorry state.  Its black coat is mangy and its skinny ribs stick out.  Kim tries to milk the cow buffalo, but it doesn’t even produce a drop comes out.  Kim joins the Lama under the tree and desperately begs him for some help, but the Lama doesn’t even provide Kim with an answer.  He wants to serve Kim a lesson and teach him to refrain from telling lies.  Kim is about to resign himself to the beating when he sees a holy cow grazing in the field in front of a small temple.  It is a young and well-fed animal that’s certainly full of milk.  Kim lures the cow into the stable and performs the miracle.  He dyes its coat black and sharpens its horns with a file.  Kim then shuts the cow buffalo inside a hut in the courtyard and summons the farmers.  Before their very eyes he milks the cow, which has been transformed into a buffalo, and offers them some frothy milk.  The two dupes kneel down at his feet and hail the miracle he has just performed.  Not only has the cow buffalo produced milk once again, but it looks younger and plumper.  Kim can finally enjoy the banquet.  As he stuffs himself with the food, he invites the Lama to join him but the priest doesn’t budge an inch.  After devouring all the food, Kim settles down for a nap in the hay loft.  Inside the stable, the two farmers are very satisfied and are already estimating all the money they will earn by selling the milk.  But the husband, who in addition to being greedy also believes he’s a crafty fellow, has a better idea. The cow buffalo is nice and fat and her meat is surely more expensive than her milk.  They’ll sell the meat at the market and with the proceeds they’ll buy some low-priced older and skinnier animals which Kim will perform his miracles on.  In a short period of time they’ll become the richest breeders in the area thanks to the little magician.  During the night Kim hears some mooing coming from the stable, but he doesn’t take much notice of it.  Only the following morning at breakfast, as he praises the food cooked by the farm-woman, is he informed that he’s eating cow buffalo meat.  Greatly upset, he spits out the mouthful and runs into the stable, hoping that he hasn’t eaten the sacred cow.  But that’s exactly the way it is.  All that’s left of the poor animal are its bones.  The farmer is nailing its hide on a board so that he can wash it before setting it up to dry.  The dye dissolves at the first bucketful of water.  It begins to dawn on him.  Kim does his best to make up for the situation by attributing the discoloration of the hide to the spell that he cast.  But a mooing sound suddenly rises in the air.  The farm-woman has opened the hut and freed the real cow buffalo.  The animal is seething with rage and chases after her all around the threshing-floor, goading her ahead with its horns.  The Brahmin of the temple comes looking for the sacred cow and the farmer realizes that he has committed sacrilege. He lunges against Kim with a pitchfork and chases him all around the threshing-floor.  Sitting under the tree, the Lama smiles at all that hubbub.  All the sinners are punished properly at the end of the day.  The greedy farmers have to offer the temple a considerable amount of money to repent for the sacrilege of having killed a sacred cow; whereas Kim manages to escape the floggings by climbing up a tree.  But he cannot come down since the cow buffalo is awaiting him underneath, ready to serve him a good dose of its horns.  Only when the sun rises does the Lama feel some pity for him.  So he throws him a rope to help him down.  The disciple’s bones are aching and his stomach is growling after a whole night of fasting, but he’s learned his lesson.  Without uttering a word, he flanks his Lama with a contrite expression on his face and the two of them take up their journey towards Benares.

 

EPISODE FIVE –  THE GRAND TRUNK ROAD

Once again, Kim and the Lama have taken up their journey towards Benares.  Kim has regained his good mood, but the Lama still isn’t speaking to him.  Kim understands that there’s only one way to deter the priest from his silence.  Kim tells him about the Lion of the Punjab, the heroic commander who leads the Army of the Pure and rules over the land of the Five Rivers – called this way since the five most important rivers in India spring forth from its mountains.  Hearing Kim speak about rivers, the Lama’s curiosity is aroused and he asks for information about how to reach that region, where perhaps the River of the Arrow lies.  Kim is pleased that the Lama is speaking to him once again and says he’s sorry for the trouble he caused back at the farm.  He promises him that he’ll always speak the truth from now on, but admits that he’s also slightly disappointed.  What kind of saint is the Lama since he isn’t even capable of performing a miracle?  Hindu gurus can sit on nails and they even eat them, Sulima used to prepare healing herbs that treated high fever.  Some fakirs are even capable of levitating.  You should know how to do something if people are supposed to worship you.  How on earth can the Lama not know how to do a thing?  The Lama replies that by not reacting one can reach illumination.  “But if one doesn’t react, he may well die of hunger!”, is Kim’s objection.  The Lama explains the reason for his quest and tells him about the Wheel of Life, but all this does is to increase his disciple’s confusion.  As they cross the countryside, they come upon a small stream.  Kim thinks it’s too small to be sacred, but the Lama insists that he wishes to see it.  The two of them reach the stream, but it isn’t the River of the Arrow.  The Lama blesses it all the same since it fertilizes the fields.  He is about to cross it when a Royal Cobra rises up from the rocks and hisses menacingly.  Kim picks up a rock to smash the reptile’s back, but the Lama keeps him from doing so.  Why does he want to kill it?  A soul must have committed endless sins to be reincarnated in that form.  In so saying he approaches the snake and bends down over it.  “May you soon be freed, dear brother.”  The Cobra rises up and brushes against his face, then goes back to coiling up peacefully. Kim cannot believe his very eyes.  The Lama beckons him to walk by, but Kim is afraid.  “I’ll walk around it.”  The Lama stretches his hand out to him and finally Kim makes up his mind to walk by the motionless snake.  When he reaches the other side, he throws himself at the Lama’s feet and asks to be forgiven for his scepticism. He no longer has any doubts about his sanctity.  They take up their journey once again and finally catch sight of the Grand Trunk Road.  The Lama is nearly frightened by that colourful and swarming sea of human beings in movement, whereas Kim dives in with enthusiasm.  They mingle with the multi-coloured crowd, come across a bridal procession, a procession of Hindu gurus, a group of devoted Sikhs with dishevelled hair and eyes, the procession of a Maharajah seated on a litter perched atop a fully decked-out elephant.   As the Lama walks ahead with his head bent down low and reciting his mantra, Kim begs for some money from the passers-by but with scanty results.  The Lama notices a small temple and decides to visit it, while Kim stays behind and continues to beg on the street.  He finally catches sight of a rich merchant on board a cart full of fruit and other delicacies. Kim torments him with his pleas, but the man banishes him away brusquely.  In a fury, he curses the merchant and throws something at him.  After a few yards the cart crashes up against a tree, causing a chain of accidents:  overturned carts, restive elephants, the Maharajah catapulted from his litter, Hindu gurus rolling in the mud, overturned merchandise in the middle of the road.  Traffic on the Grand Trunk is paralyzed by the accident.  Everyone puts the blame on the merchant, who in turn takes it out on the boy who cast him the evil eye.  The Police arrive on the scene of the accident.  As the witnesses tell their version of the story, all the while fighting with one another, Kim takes advantage of the chaos and sneaks away with the food fell from the cart.  But an old woman seated on board a litter (see film) points him out to the guards as she sneers sarcastically.  Everyone runs toward the jinx, brandishing clubs in their hands.  Kim has to take a quick decision; otherwise he’s in big trouble.  He quickly grabs some fruit and slips it under his shirt, then he throws himself straight down on the ground.  When the crowd sees the boy they wanted to lynch lying on the ground with a bleeding chest, they are all moved to pity.  Kim is great at impersonating a dying boy:  he utters touching words and finally pretends to die in the arms of the deeply emotional merchant.  But his outstanding performance touches even the poor Lama’s heart, who is truly desperate.  Kim realizes that perhaps he’s gone a bit too far and decides to rise up again from the dead.  The crowds proclaim it as being a miracle.  But someone notices the fruit juice dripping from Kim’s shirt and so his trick is unmasked.  Kim and the Lama again risk being lynched, but the old woman who sat observing the entire scene with great amusement helps them escape on board her carriage.  The Lama is furious at Kim.  But the old lady takes up sides with Kim and defends him.  Sometimes a bad deed might turn out to be a good one.  For example, according to physicians, she herself should be on the brink of death.  She has gone through all the most expensive treatment, but to no avail.  Whereas the laughter Kim aroused in her through his mischief must have made her ten years younger.  The Lama asks her what illness she’s suffering from, and she replies that probably it’s only a question of loneliness.  She is immensely rich, but has no one to share her riches with.  Her husband died and her son refuses to see her.  Kim tells her that she could give him some of her money if that would help her feel better.  The Lama blushes in embarrassment, but the old woman bursts out laughing with her broody voice.  That little boy is a barrel of impudence!  And she insists upon hosting the two wayfarers in her home.

 

EPISODE SIX – THE CROW

Kim and the Lama reach the rich widow’s village.  The woman lives in a grand building.  A flock of crows live in a great tree which looms in front of her building.  Kim is surprised by the intelligence of the birds that pick the berries from the trees, drop them on the streets to be crushed by passing carts and then eat the contents.  The Lama tells him that the Buddhists consider them sacred animals and revere them as foreboders of good luck.  When she hears those words, the widow picks up a rock and throws it against the birds.  Sacred animals, by George!  All those damned animals do is croak all day long and then attract evil spirits into her home.  An elderly Brahmin welcomes the guests into the building.  He lives with the widow and takes care of her.  The man doesn’t seem happy about their arrival, although he treats the Lama and his disciple with servile manners.  But this does nothing to hide his irritation and wariness.  The Lama questions him about the presence of evil spirits inside the house.  The Brahmin wickedly whispers in his ear that it’s only the imagination of the feeble-minded old lady, who is more and more giving signs of mental derangement.  Then he changes his expression and rushes over to slavish his attention on his mistress and reminds her that she must take her medicine.  After drinking the potion prepared for her by the Brahmin, the widow suddenly feels very tired and is led to her bedroom for a nap.  She arouses the Brahmin’s jealousy by asking the Lama and Kim to keep her company.  The Lama notices the picture of a young man in her room and asks her whether it’s her son.  The old woman is very emotional as she tells him about her son Samir.  He got married to a girl from Delhi and, because of a stupid quarrel she had with her daughter-in-law, he refuses to speak to her and doesn’t even answer her letters.  The Brahmin suggested disowning him, but she loves her son dearly and lives in the hope of his forgiveness.  As she searches for a handkerchief to blow her nose, the woman notices that there’s something missing from her bed-stand.  She summons the Brahmin and tells him that the evil spirits have stricken again.  This time they have stolen her emerald brooch.  The Brahmin impatiently replies that she has surely placed it somewhere else and has now forgotten where.  He then leaves the room to fetch her another dose of her medicine.  The Lama notices that the woman is terribly upset and tries to soothe her.  He forgets things at times because of his age, but considers forgetfulness a gift of senility.  As for the brooch, it’s only a material object of no importance.  It’s not worth worrying about it.  Kim, who was off to the side, interrupts him in shock.  It is certainly worthwhile worrying about it!  That woman has already lost her husband and her son and she has entrusted herself into the hands of that swindling Brahmin.  Should the thief not be caught quickly, she will soon end up begging for money on the streets.  The woman asks him how he thinks he will catch the thief and Kim replies promptly.  All they have to do is leave a precious object in full view and supervise it.  When the thief moves into the scene, they will catch him red-handed.  The old woman takes a jewel-studded bracelet from her jewellery case and shows it to Kim.  It will be their bait.  At dusk all the guests dine with the Brahmin, who does nothing to hide his jealousy for the Lama since he considers him a possible rival.  Before retiring for the night, the widow removes her bracelet and pretends to forget it on top of a piece of furniture in the parlour.  Kim hides in a spot where he can keep his eye on the bracelet and begins to stand guard.  Many servants come and go during the night, including the Brahmin who brings the widow her medicine.  He has his mind set on getting rid of the Lama, so he’s got a secret plan of his own.  After having served the woman her medicine, he waits for her to drowse off and slips a ring from her finger.  Then he places it inside a pocket of the tunic belonging to the Lama, who is fast asleep in his cot.  Unawares of what is going on, Kim continues to stand guard, but he has a hard time staying awake.  Since he can no longer keep his eyes open, he decides to set up an ingenious anti-theft device:  a cobweb of invisible threads that protect the bracelet, which are in turn attached to a bell that hangs from one of his toes.  The threads protecting the bracelet stand still all night long.  But at dawn, when Kim arouses from sleep, the bracelet is no longer there.  Kim cannot believe his very eyes.  The threads are in place, the doors are locked, yet the bracelet has disappeared.  Drì jumps onto the window that has been left slightly ajar.  Kim leans out the window but believes it was impossible for anyone to climb through it, unless he was equipped with wings.  During breakfast, Kim tells the widow that he has been tricked by the thief.  The woman is more and more convinced that the house is infested with evil spirits.  The sly Brahmin goes on with his plan.  He asks the Lama to show him his rosary.  The Lama takes it out of his pocket and the ring that the Brahmin had hidden inside falls down to the ground.  The Brahmin shows it to the widow and accuses Kim and the Lama of being two impostors who have cheated her in order to steal both the ring and the bracelet.  The Lama is speechless.  But the widow speaks in his favour and says that she was the one to place the ring in his pocket in order to save it from the evil spirits, who in fact have dared not approach the holy man.  Fuming with jealousy, the Brahmin dares not retort.  But Kim cannot get over his accusations and is ever more determined to unmask the thief.  He is certain that the thief is the Brahmin himself and so Kim decides to search through his room in order to find some proof of his guilt.  He finds a secret compartment under the bed, which contains some poison and a bunch of letters from the widow’s son.  Kim realizes that the Brahmin is slowly poisoning the woman with his “medicine” and is hiding her son’s letters in order to have him disowned and therefore be the heir to all her possessions.  And since the woman will not let go, he is trying to drive her mad with the story of the thefts and the evil spirits.  But Kim is lacking a fundamental piece of proof in order to accuse the Brahmin:  the stolen jewels.  Since he cannot find them, Kim decides to take justice into his own hands.  In the middle of the night, as the Brahmin walks through the parlour with his medicine for the widow, Kim appears before him dressed as an evil spirit, accuses the man of his crimes and promises to kill him.  The Brahmin takes to his heels and flees from the house.  Kim has given him what he deserved.  The old woman is safe and sound. But the Brahmin wasn’t the thief.  In fact, just a while later, another piece of jewellery disappears mysteriously.  The old woman is desperate.  But Kim doesn’t lose heart.  He’s got a clue this time ‘round:  a black feather.  Kim climbs upon the window ledge, up to the roof and inside the chimney where he finally finds the booty.  He awaits the flying thief at the opening:  a great black crow with a yellow beak.  He catches the bird with his net and closes it up inside a cage.  The widow doesn’t want to kill it because she fears it might bring her bad luck, but she cannot set it free since it would just go on stealing from her.  The woman’s son, who in the meantime has come to her house, proposes to bring it to the Temple where it will be fed and venerated.  Kim and the Lama leave the widow’s home and once again set off on their journey towards Benares.  But after having reached the Great Trunk Road, they notice that they’re being trailed by the crow.  The Lama suggests ignoring it.  Whereas Kim likes the bird and wants to take it along.  The Lama wants to have nothing to do with it, he’s already got enough problems trying to teach Kim not to steal – all he needs is to have to teach the same thing to a crow!  In that instant the bird flanks the priest and imitates his wobbling gait.  Kim bursts out in laughter.  He really likes you!  The Lama shakes his head in embarrassment.  What on earth is so interesting about an old priest?  Kim looks at him in entertainment.  The bird is attracting by shiny things, and isn’t the Lama perhaps an Enlightened person?   

 

EPISODE SEVEN – THE RED BULL

Kim and the Lama, followed by the crow, continue with their pilgrimage towards Benares along the Great Trunk Road.  In the vicinity of a village, the Lama feels tired and wants to stop and rest in the shadow of a tree.  Kim entrusts him to the crow and goes to look for some food and water.  As he walks across the countryside, he notices two approaching soldiers on horseback carrying a flag.  The two men drive the flag into the middle of a wide clearing.  Kim approaches them and discovers that the flag depicts a red bull on a green background.  It is the image Sulima had announced with her prophecy.  At the sound of trumpets and drums, a regiment of soldiers dressed in red and green uniforms emerges from the woods and marches towards the clearing.  The soldiers begin to set up their tents in the camp.  Kim decides to explore the camp since he believes he can find the man with the white horse who will change the course of his destiny.  He makes his way inside an officer’s tent and snoops around.  Inside a drawer he finds a gun holster with a secret compartment.  Some sheets of paper full of numbers, letters and strange symbols are hidden inside the secret compartment, arranged according to a grid (it is the secret code used by enemy spies, as we will learn later on in the story).  A coded sentence is written on one of the pieces of paper, with its translation written alongside (SECRET MEETING).  But since he is illiterate, Kim cannot make it out.  Suddenly he is discovered by a little drummer-boy who attacks him since he thinks Kim is a thief.  The two of them scuffle about in the dust until a priest named Father Victor separates them.  The drummer-boy tells Father Victor that Kim was rummaging inside Captain Bennet’s tent, then runs off to tell the officer in order to have Kim flogged.  Kim tells Father Victor about the Red Bull announced to him through Sulima’s prophecy.  Father Victor picks up the amulet that Kim lost during the scuffle and notices that the medal has the inscription of the red bull upon it.  He realizes that Kim is telling the truth and asks him where he found that medal.  Kim replies that it belonged to his father and the priest therefore concludes that he must be the son of one of the officers belonging to the Mavericks Regiment.  Captain Bennet steps in, holding a riding-whip in his hand. He’s been told that a little thief was surprised in his tent and he wants to punish him accordingly.  Father Victor tells him the story of the prophecy and shows him the medal.  Bennet looks it over disconcertedly, as if recognizing it; then, concealing his bewilderment, he tells the priest that Kim is simply a cheating little thief, that the prophecy of the medal is a lie and that he certainly stole the medal from a soldier.  Kim is offended and retorts that when he comes upon the great man riding a white horse they will have the proof that he’s telling the truth.  He is not a liar, but rather a prophet.  For example, he knows that the army will soon have to take down the camp and head off for the north.  In reply, Bennet raises his riding-whip and is about to flog him.  But Kim disarms him with a well-centred kick.  Bennet furiously picks up the riding-whip and is about to beat down upon the boy, but this time with the handle, when the crow jumps upon him and pecks at him furiously.  The Lama reaches them and defends his disciple.  Father Victor explains the situation to him and asks him where the boy’s parents are.   The Lama replies that he believes they are dead, as is the woman who used to take care of him.  That’s why he has taken him into his custody and together they are headed towards Benares in search of the Sacred River.  Bennet makes fun of him:  the prophecy, the sacred river, they’re simply two crazy swindlers.  But Father Victor listens to him.  He has no doubt that the Lama is a good teacher but if Kim is really the orphan of a British soldier, he should be educated according to the culture of his country and therefore attend a school for sahibs.  Kim protests that he doesn’t need any schooling.  But the Lama believes that Father Victor is right and asks him whether culture is granted free of charge or at a price in his country.  Father Victor replies that education for military orphans is paid by the government, while fees have to be paid for boarding-schools.  The Lama asks him which school is the best.  Father Victor tells him that St. Xavier’s boarding-school in Lucknow is the best.  Bennet scornfully remarks that they don’t allow dark-skinned boys to attend St. Xavier’s, but the Lama insists.  Should Kim attend a British school, it must only be the best.  He asks Father Victor to write how much the boarding-school fees amount to on a piece of paper and he will subsequently forward the money.  Kim looks at the Lama in amazement.  Where will his teacher find all that money since he lives thanks to charity?  He believes that the Lama is acting a part and whispers into his ear that telling this tall story has been a brilliant idea.  He will pretend to stay with the sahib priest to make him happy and then he’ll escape and join the holy man along the way.  But the Lama is serious.  He says that it’s been a pleasure having him as his travelling companion, but that his mission is to find the River of the Arrow and not to tend to his education.  Kim is hurt by his words.  Never before has he opened up his heart to someone as he has with the Lama.  But if loving him means diverting him from his mission, then it’s best they part and never see each other again.  Kim turns around and is about to follow Father Victor half-heartedly, but the Lama’s voice beckons out to him.  The Lama hugs him regretfully and tells Kim that he loves him, too.  But Kim must follow his destiny, that same destiny announced by the prophecy.  And destiny wants him to stay with the sahibs and learn their culture.  Then he writes the address of the Benares monastery he is headed to on a piece of paper.  After Kim learns how to read and write, he can send him some letters and he will surely reply.  Kim and the Lama say their farewells and the Lama takes up his journey along with the crow, reassured by Father Victor’s promise to watch over the child.  But Bennet is of a different opinion.  When he returns to his tent to make sure nothing has been stolen, he realizes that the secret compartment of the gun holster has been opened and he summons Kim to question him.  The boy naively confesses that he opened the secret compartment by mistake and asks him what those strange symbols written on the sheets mean.  Bennet asks him in alarm whether he read them.  Kim admits to being illiterate and so Bennet is reassured.  But he doesn’t give up his plan to get rid of the boy, who might truly be the son of Kimberly O’Hara, as the medal seems to demonstrate.  He gets the chance when a soldier arrives at the camp, carrying an urgent message from Colonel Creighton who orders him to immediately reach Lucknow with his Regiment in order to fortify the garrisons on the northern boundaries.  Father Victor cannot explain how Kim knew about it.  Is the child truly a prophet?  Bennet suspects that Kim is a secret agent and in any case he grabs the opportunity and volunteers to personally escort him to St. Xavier’s, which is on the way to Lucknow.  Kim leaves Father Victor and heads off along with the Regiment.

EPISODE EIGHT – KIM IN THE REGIMENT’S RETINUE

Kim is travelling towards Lucknow in the Regiment’s retinue.  Bennet orders the drummer-boy to give him a uniform and keep an eye on him at all times.  Kim is happy to be a part of the army, but he is always subjected to the vexation of the drummer-boy who has a good time humiliating him in front of the troops.  Some “racist” soldiers back the drummer-boy and mistreat Kim in turn by making fun of him for his dark skin. Once when the regiment stops and the men are gathered around a campfire for their ration, Kim finds a way to get his revenge by playing the drummer-boy a ferocious trick.  Thanks to his trick he wins over some of the soldiers who witnessed his humiliations and approve his rebellion; while arousing the strong reactions of the soldiers who were on the drummer-boy’s side.  A soldier as wide as a barn, named Willie, steps in and tries to soothe the high spirits of his companions; after all it’s only a spat between boys, but the “racist” soldiers have decided to punish the little negro and pick some sticks up from the ground.  Willie takes sides with Kim and this unleashes a wild brawl.  At the end of the struggle, the “racist” soldiers end up with their faces in the manure or with their butts inside the soup pot.  Bennet ends the squabble by punishing both Kim and Willie.  The two of them have to tend to the horses and soon become the best of friends.  Kim is very familiar with horses thanks to his experience at Red Beard’s seraglio.  But a pony with a red mane is giving him some trouble.  As Kim tries to catch the animal after it has escapes from the pen, the horse charges on him.  As he is about to be trampled on by the pony, he experiences a dramatic episode from his early childhood.  On the night in which an uprising burst out in Lahore just a short time before he was abandoned, he and his mother were charged by a horse with a red man in front of the Zam Zamamh cannon; a British soldier was in its saddle.  He was about to shoot Kim’s mother when someone in the crowd whipped his hand and therefore deviated the bullet.  Kim arouses from his recollection as Willie drives the horse away with his whip before it can trample over Kim.  Bennet is furious since someone dared whip his pony and Kim notices that the officer’s hand is disfigured by a scar.   

Willie tells Kim that he dislikes Bennet whereas he greatly admires Colonel Creighton.  He, as well, nurtures a great passion for horses.  His favorite is a great white stallion.  Kim is convinced that this Colonel is the great man announced by the prophecy and he can’t wait to reach Lucknow and meet him.  In the meanwhile Bennet has dispatched a message to his accomplices to warn them that Creighton is headed towards the north.  One night Kim sees him leaving his tent and follows him into the woods.  A small bird of prey flies to Bennet and delivers the reply message from his accomplices.  Kim, who witnesses the scene as he hides in the bushes, is about to be discovered by Bennet but manages to escape in the end.  The following morning, under pelting rain, the Regiment takes up its march towards Lucknow. As they cross a village of farmers that rises in the vicinity of a river, the “racist” soldiers (with Bennet’s consent) plunder the houses and take possession of a sacred object that is preserved in the temple dedicated to the great god Dungara:  the tusk of a red elephant that, according to the beliefs of the indigenous population, protects harvests from river floods.  At dusk the army sets up camp in the vicinity of the river.  During the night Bennet wanders away from the camp, but Kim cannot follow him since he’s being supervised by the drummer-boy.  The following morning the soldiers are awakened by the screaming farmers.  The bridge over the river has collapsed, the water has overflowed its banks and has flooded the fields.  The farmers are convinced it’s the work of Dungara, who has gotten his revenge for the theft of the tusk, driving the elephants wild and therefore devastating the banks before fleeing into the forest.  In any case, the soldiers are blocked and Bennet has a good excuse to postpone Creighton’s manoeuvres up north.  Kim decides to intercede with Dungara in order to save the farmers’ harvests and punish the sacrilegious soldiers.  With Willie’s help he recovers the sacred tusk and, in the saddle of an elephant painted in red, he leads the elephants back to the village.  The river banks are repaired thanks to their help.  The sacrilegious soldiers are punished by the great god Dungara and the Regiment can finally take up its march again.  Kim is celebrated by the soldiers as their little hero and he can’t wait to reach Lucknow and meet the Colonel.  If he truly is the great man announced by the prophecy, following the deed Kim has just carried out he will realize that the boy is destined for greater things and will not send him off to boarding-school.  But just a short time before reaching Lucknow, Bennet has Kim summoned.  He makes Kim believe that Creighton is expecting him and wants to honour him with a medal, so he takes him away on horseback.  The two of them reach a military garrison and only after the fort’s gates close behind him does Kim realize that he has been tricked.  In fact Colonel Creighton is not there awaiting him, but rather there’s a fat man with a sadistic air about him who is none other but the Headmaster of the Military Orphanage.   

 

EPISODE NINE – THE MILITARY ORPHANAGE

As Bennet joins Creighton in Lucknow and the Lama continues his journey towards Benares with the crow, Kim is locked up in a Military Orphanage – a gloomy fortress enclosed by high walls.  Kim is forced to wear a tattered grey uniform which makes him looks like a little prisoner; he bites the hand of the supervisor he’s been entrusted to and tries to escape.  The Headmaster blows into his whistle.  The guards chase Kim across the courtyard.  Kim gives them a hard time, but he is finally captured and put into punishment.  Two days of solitary confinement in a dark cell crowded with mice and without any food.  On the morning of the third day, the Headmaster’s subordinate (a thin and slow-witted young man with an evil sneer on his face) picks him up and leads him into class.  Their teacher is a very strict-looking British military man, the classroom is filthy and full of cockroaches, and there are about ten thin urchin-like pupils who are all infested by lice.  Following a lively discussion with the teacher, which causes the newcomer to be well-liked by his companions, Kim gets into his usual mischief but this time using the cockroaches.  The whistle sounds out again for the second time and the recidivist is in for punishment once again.  Kim is sentenced to hard labor.  After having shovelled manure in the stables and carried out other unpleasant tasks under the surveillance of the subordinate, Kim manages to escape.  He rushes to the courtyard where he hires a scribe to whom he dictates a letter to the Lama, telling him that Captain Bennet has tricked them and that instead of leading him to the College he’s been locked up in a kind of prison for orphans where he is subjected to the worst kinds of vexation.  The Lama must immediately come to free him or send him some money because he doesn’t even have a rupee to give to the scribe who’s writing the letter.  When he hears these words, the scribe jumps upon Kim and wants to beat him soundly.  Kim manages to get away, but ends up in the hands of his gaoler.  The whistle sounds out for the third time.  This time Kim is flogged in front of the whole class, which has been lined up in the courtyard.  He withstands the punishment without uttering a moan and earns the admiration of his companions.  During dinner in the orphanage refectory, Kim makes friends with another urchin named Sita, who teaches him how to make his disgusting slop disappear without eating it.  Kim asks Sita if he knows a way to escape from the Orphanage and the boy tells him that many before him have tried.  They all lift up their shirts and show Kim their sores caused by floggings.  That’s the result of their attempts.  It’s impossible to get away from there.  Kim tells them that nothing is impossible for him.  In the middle of the night, dodging the surveillance of the subordinate who acts as guard of the dormitory, he leaves the building and climbs up onto the roof in search of an escape hatch out of the fortress.  But the walls are very high and the front gates are constantly supervised by guards.  Crouching in the dark, Kim discovers that some soldiers leave the fortress during the night in order to revel around town; he also discovers that they corrupt the sentinels with food and cigarettes.  The following morning the class is gathered in the courtyard for training.  Their drill-sergeant forces them to march in the mud and carry out exhausting and humiliating exercises.  Many of them, devoured by hunger, give up and are subsequently flogged.  Kim decides to get his revenge on the drill-sergeant.  With Sita’s help, he sets up a ferocious trick at the expense of the sergeant and his subordinate, avenging his companions and earning himself exemplary punishment.  But that’s all that Kim wants.  In fact, thanks to his punishment, Kim and Sita have access to the military barracks; they have to wash the soldiers’ uniforms and shine their boots – and this gives the two boys the chance to steal some uniforms.  In the stables, where they have been sent to curry the horses, they have the chance to tamper with the saddle straps.  The third punishment is the most disgusting one:  they have to clean out the pig sty, but Kim finds a way to exploit the situation.  In the middle of the night, Kim leads the escape plan of the orphans.  The boys escape one-by-one from the dormitory, wearing the uniforms that Kim and Sita have previously hidden.  The sentinel guards are corrupted and the front gates are opened.  They are about to be free when Sita has a problem and so Kim goes back to help him.  In the meantime the sentinel guards have lit up their cigarettes and are biting into their doughnuts – only to realize that they’ve been made with pig excrements.  The alarm is set off.  But thanks to the traps set up beforehand by Kim, the soldiers are blocked and cannot follow them.  Before saving his friend, Kim doesn’t neglect playing another trick on the Headmaster.  Then the two urchins join their companions and disappear without leaving a trace.

 

EPISODE TEN – THE LITTLE MAHARAJAH

The Orphanage guards ride on horseback along a dirt road that runs along the countryside.  Suddenly the footprints they were following disappear.  The squad of soldiers comes to a halt.  They look around in disbelief.  All they can see are ploughed fields dotted with scarecrows.  The soldiers patrol the fields, threading their way between the motionless scarecrows.  An insect tickles the nose of a scarecrow whose face is covered by a shapeless straw hat.  Drì captures it just in time to avoid a sneeze.  The soldiers cannot find a thing and so they decide to go back to where they came from.  A great bird lands on the head of one of the scarecrows, which proceeds to brush it off using foul language.  It’s Kim.  The others begin to move, as well.  We can recognize Sita and the other boys.  They’ve done it, they’re safe and sound.  The group splits up.  Kim and Sita walk together down a stretch of the road. Kim tells his friend about the Lama who he wishes to reach along his journey towards Benares.  Sita reaches the village where some of his relatives live and then Kim continues on his own.  As he crosses the countryside alone at night, he suddenly sees some lights and reaches a small village where a company of traveling actors is performing the Mahābhārata.  The crude farmers do not appreciate the show and Kim helps the actors out since they risk being beaten.  Kim is welcomed amidst the company since they are also traveling towards Benares. Along the way, the actors are engaged by the tutor of a powerful Maharajah who wishes to see the show.  They are hosted inside the Maharajah’s luxurious and immense palace; they discover that he’s only a six-year-old child.  The little boy oppresses the entire court, which does its best to satisfy his every whim and to undergo his cruel vexations.  Kim proves to be the only person capable of entertaining the despotic child and he grabs the opportunity to enjoy all the benefits offered by the palace.  Kim teaches the little prince all sorts of mischief. Kim teaches him how to steal, how to cheat, he teaches him all the tricks of the trade with the serious manners of a teacher.  Thanks to Kim, the little Maharajah gains consciousness of the meaning of poverty and suffering to which his subjects are subjected to; all this has been concealed from him by his tutors, who only lavish him with adulation and flattery.  Thanks to the play, Kim unveils the intrigues going on in the palace and this allows the little Maharajah to free himself from his wicked tutors and once again join his people.  The Maharajah would like to keep Kim at his side in the palace and offers him everything his heart desires in order to show his gratitude.  Kim asks for his help to find the Lama.   

The Tibetan priest is walking down the road towards Benares, along with the crow.  No one stoops to offer him any charity and his stomach has been empty for a few days.  He is flanked by a sedan chair that has been hoisted upon a caparisoned elephant. The Lama asks the rich traveler hidden behind the curtain for some charity.  Goaded on by the traveler’s provoking questions, the Lama admits he misses his disciple, that no one was as good as he was when begging for money. Even though he lied and cheated?  The Lama nods.  He was actually a little rascal, but his heart was true and pure.  So is he sorry for having lost him?  The Lama admits that he is.  He never told the boy because it’s a sin to become fond of people when you want to distance yourself from the Wheel of Life, but he had never offered his heart to anyone like he did with Kim.  The traveler asks him if he’s sorry for having entrusted him to the sahibs and sent him off to school.  The Lama says he is.  Then he turns towards the curtain in disbelief.  How can you know all these things?  Are you perhaps a soothsayer?  Kim pushes the curtain aside.  No.  But if you miss me so, here I am.  Kim tells the Lama about Bennet and the Orphanage and the Lama is sorry for having entrusted Kim to strangers so light-heartedly.  One must never trust the sahibs, concludes the disciple.  Then he invites the Lama to climb into the sedan chair.  But the priest wishes to carry out his pilgrimage on foot.  So I will come down, says Kim.  He frees the elephant and the two of them take up their journey followed by the crow.   

 

EPISODE ELEVEN – THE BOMBING

While Kim along with the Lama continue on their journey towards Benares and Colonel Creighton along with Bennet lead the Regiment northwards, in Lahore Red Beard receives a message that has been intercepted by Jasmine at Nabob Dinar’s palace.  Red Beard takes off with his caravan of horses in order to reach Creighton and deliver the message to him.

Along the road to Benares, Kim and the Lama come across a bank of the Ganges River where the British are completing some work for the construction of a bridge that will link Delhi to Calcutta by rail. 

Kim admires the ability of the engineers who have planned the project, thanks to which merchandise will be travelling more quickly and people may cross the country without having to walk for weeks on end and without being attacked by outlaws.  So the sahibs also know how to do good things, the Lama points out to him.  But Kim is likewise impressed by the harsh working conditions of the laborers, who are all Indian.  Many of them are children of his own age and the British engineers don’t seem to mind that they might be crushed by the piers or drowned in the waters of the Ganges River.  The Lama admits that Kim is right.  That’s what the Wheel of Life is like.  The strongest dominate over the weakest, those who are the keepers of knowledge exploit those who cannot do anything but obey.  So what is the solution?  “Becoming stronger than the strongest and rising up against the invader!”, bursts out Kim as he raises his fist.  “This would be a mistake”, retorts the Lama patiently.  The solution is to gain knowledge.  That is why Kim must go to college.  In order to learn how to build bridges and roads.  Only education and knowledge will allow him and his country to become truly free and independent.   

In the meanwhile, as the Regiment continues its march northwards, Bennet receives a message from Nabob Dinar who warns him that Red Beard has left for Lahore in order to reach Creighton. Fearing that his trickery has been unveiled, Bennet uses a falcon to deliver a message to his accomplices.    

Thanks to the crow, Kim intercepts the falcon and follows it.  He surprises it as it delivers the message to the secret agents dressed in black who, after destroying it, find accommodation in an inn along the way.  Kim convinces the Lama to stop over at the inn.  Disguised as a waiter, Kim listens to the conversation between secret agents through a pipe shaft and discovers that Red Beard is in the vicinity and that the secret agents are preparing a mortal ambush in his regards.  To carry out their plan, the secret agents steal some garments and horses from merchants who are staying at the inn.  Using these disguises, they head off for their mission.  Kim is accused of the theft and the inn-keeper detains him.  With the help of the Lama and the crow, he manages to escape and chases after the secret agents using a stolen horse. 

Thanks to his ability as a horseman, Kim reaches the woods in which Red Beard’s caravan is camping out and where the false merchants make him believe that they are interested in buying some ponies. 

Kim introduces himself to Red Beard under a false name, not to arouse suspicion in the secret agents.  When finally his friend recognizes Kim, he warns him about the ambush that is about to take place against him.

The plan was to shoot Red Beard from the top of a tree while he was asleep in front of the campfire.  But when the sniper shoots, he realizes he has wounded his companion whom Red Beard had captured and tied up in his place (see film).  With Kim’s help, Red Beard captures the second secret agent.  He interrogates him and discovers that another ambush is about to be carried out against Creighton.

Kim and Red Beard set off on horseback and reach the place where Bennet’s accomplices are about to spring the attack against Creighton.

The plot is foiled thanks to Kim’s shrewdness and his agility.  Creighton is safe, but Bennet manages to erase the text of the secret message intercepted by Jasmine at Nabob Dinar’s palace.  Therefore Creighton cannot decipher it.  The Colonel has no reason to suspect Bennet, but nonetheless he is convinced that someone working for the enemy has made his way inside the Great Game.  After being medicated, he asks to meet the two heroic secret agents who have saved his life.  With great surprise he discovers that one of them is only a boy.  Kim tells Creighton his story and shows him the medallion with the red bull which was bequeathed to him by his father.  Just as Bennet feared, Creighton immediately recognizes it.  He himself had given it to Captain Kimberly O’Hara when he served in the Maverick Regiment.  It dawns on the Colonel that Kim is the son that O’Hara had with an Indian woman, whom he believed he lost during the uprisings of the Dark Year.  For the first time, Kim hears someone who knew them talking about his parents.  But the reasons for their separation and his being abandoned in Lahore are mysterious to the Colonel, as well.  But Creighton expects an explanation from Bennet for Kim’s being abandoned in the orphanage.  Bennet defends himself by saying that the boy’s tutor, a beggar from Tibet, did not have the money to pay for the boy’s boarding fees.  But Bennet is proven wrong when the Lama reaches the camp.  The Lama hands over to Creighton the money necessary to pay for Kim’s studies at St. Xavier’s.  Everyone is astonished that the priest has such a sum at his disposal, but the Lama gives no importance to money.  Whether it’s small sums or large ones, all money represents for him is little pieces of metal.  All that’s important is that Kim receives a good education.  Creighton gives his word to the priest that this time his will shall be respected, that O’Hara’s son is like one of his own, that he will host Kim in his Delhi home so that he might get acquainted with the place where he spent the first few years of his life along with his mother, and then he will personally escort him to St. Xavier’s.  Kim leaves his friend Red Beard and his beloved Lama, leaving for Delhi along with the great man who will change his destiny.  

 

EPISODE TWELVE – THE ROYAL TIGER

Following a brief journey on horseback, during which Creighton speaks to Kim about his friendship with the boy’s father, they reach a great colonial residence in the outskirts of Delhi.  The town house’s immense gardens border on the jungle.  Elsa is awaiting their arrival.  It is a surprise for Kim to discover that the girl he had fought in Umballa is the daughter of the Colonel, but Elsa’s surprise is greater when her father tells her that Kim was the child she spent her early childhood with.  The Colonel shows Kim a portrait of his wife with baby Elsa in her arms.  He tells Kim about the happy period in which both the women, Elsa’s mother and Kim’s mother, used to take their children out for a walk in the town house gardens.  Kim asks the Colonel lots of questions since he wishes to recover every instant of that long-forgotten past.  But when Creighton begins to talk about the past, Elsa interrupts him furiously.  Her grief over her mother’s death has still not been appeased and remembering the past still causes her pain.  From that moment on, Elsa has a hostile and evasive attitude towards Kim.  As if his presence in the town house were reawakening memories that she would rather forget. Creighton has to leave and return to his duties while the two youngsters are entrusted to Mr. Barney, Elsa’s guardian.  Despite his stiff manners and strict tone of voice, Mr. Barney is a good fellow with a kind heart and Kim soon realizes that Elsa is the one who dominates him and not the contrary.  Following Creighton’s departure, Elsa continues to avoid Kim and treats him with evident detachment.  Until finally, snooping around in her room, Kim discovers that she’s got a weak spot:  she is obsessed by tigers.  The walls of her room are literally covered with drawings of tigers and her closet holds an elegant safari outfit and a shotgun.  When Kim asks her some questions on the subject, Elsa scornfully replies that she drew the tigers depicted in her room before killing them.  She has come face-to-face and killed at least fifty of them and hopes to reach a hundred before she turns sixteen. At that point she will be the greatest tiger hunter in all of India.  But Kim soon realizes that he and his friend are very similar in one field:  they both tell lots of lies.  The truth is that Elsa has never seen a tiger in all her life.  She never took part in a safari hunt and she’s even afraid of setting foot outside the garden. She never wandered inside the jungle.  So Kim decides to play a little joke on her.  He uses the tiger skin that’s in the parlour and terrorizes Elsa, Mr. Barney and all the house servants since they believe he is a tiger that’s wandering through the gardens during the night in search of human prey. Thanks to Kim’s talent as a tiger impersonator, the joke is a success.  Until one night the impersonator himself is terrified by the presence of a true-to-life tiger. Panic spreads through the residence and through the nearby town.  A royal tiger is roaming in the area, killing animals and spreading terror.  Kim and Elsa, terrified yet thrilled at the same time, forget they are enemies and become accomplices.  For Elsa it’s a great chance to come face-to-face with a tiger, while for Kim it’s the chance to demonstrate his courage to Elsa and win over her admiration.  Elsa is wearing her hunting gear and, after having eluded Mr. Barney’s surveillance, they make their way into the jungle.  As the two youngsters experience a series of adventures within, Creighton returns to his residence along with Bennet in order to pick up some documents.  Mr. Barney informs him of the threat posed by the tiger and of the disappearance of the two young people.  A shooting party is immediately organized in the jungle.  As the armed hunters, followed by Creighton and Bennet, make their way inside the jungle – the two youngsters realize that they’re lost.  After going in circles, they find themselves near the same pond which they started off from.  Else hears a roar behind her back.  She thinks it’s one of Kim’s tricks, but it truly is the royal tiger.  Elsa and Kim come face-to-face with it.  Kim raises his shotgun to wound it, but in that same instant he comes to realize that he doesn’t want to kill the animal.  Elsa urges him on.  If he doesn’t shoot, then the tiger will kill them. The Lama’s words come to Kim’s mind and he tries to speak to the tiger, as the Lama had done with the Cobra.  “Your soul must have been truly noble, to come back into the world under this guise.  Do not tear us apart, dear sister, or next time you might be reincarnated as a mouse or perhaps as a worm”.  The tiger opens its jaws up wide with a terrifying roar, but does not attack them.  Elsa and Kim sigh in relief.  Then from the bush next to the tiger comes strutting out a little tiger cub that must only be a few months old.  The tiger cub happily approaches the two youngsters and begins to play with Elsa.  That’s why the tiger attacked the farm animals – she was looking for food for her offspring.  Kim and Elsa have fun playing with the tiger cub near the pond, while they are supervised by its mother sitting on a boulder.  Suddenly a shot can be heard coming from the forest.  The hunters have intercepted the tiger’s footprints and are approaching.  The tiger jumps to her feet in alarm and, after roaring at Kim and Elsa as if to entrust her tiger cub to them, she leaps into the jungle.  The hunters, followed by Bennet, chase after the animal.  But Kim realizes that the tiger doesn’t want to abandon her cub, but wants the hunters to chase after her in order to keep them away from her offspring.  In despair, Kim rushes towards the hunters and tries to keep them from shooting at the animal.  Bennet, who is already aiming at the tiger, shifts his shotgun when he notices Kim.  What a wonderful chance to get rid of O’Hara’s son.  He shoots.  The tiger, as if sensing danger, leaps in front of Kim in order to protect him.  Then she slumps down to the ground in a heap.  Creighton and Elsa rush to the scene before Bennet has the chance to shoot Kim.  Concealing his anger for having missed Kim, Bennet approaches the tiger and with a contemptuous tone of voice tells Creighton that he has shot it perfectly right under the ear, that it’s fur is intact and that it will make a wonderful carpet.  Kim is very emotional as he strokes the tiger and thanks her for what she’s done. Her soul has now become even nobler and perhaps she will be reincarnated as a goddess.  Elsa approaches Kim in despair.  She was the one who insisted on going into the jungle, so it’s her fault the tiger has been killed.  Kim says that there’s only one thing they can do to show their gratitude to their friend and that’s taking care of her cub.  Elsa looks at her father beseechingly and asks for his permission to keep the tiger cub.  Creighton hesitates, but gives his approval in order to make her happy.  Kim and Elsa return to the estate along with the cub.  Just like they have, he’s lost his mother as well.  Through her relationship with the cub, Elsa manages to overcome her resistances.  Creighton tells the two youngsters about a tender episode that occurred during their infancy.

 

EPISODE THIRTEEN -  KIM’S EDUCATION

The only one who doesn’t particularly appreciate the arrival of the new guest in the town house is poor Mr. Barney who, in addition to keeping his eye on the two hot-headed youngsters, now has to also take care of a tiger cub.  But the cub, who has been named Mokò, fills the lives of Kim and Elsa. His havoc and mischief are a source of entertainment for everyone.  But after time for fun and games comes the time for the serious matters.  Creighton summons Kim in his study to speak to him about St. Xavier’s.  As he shows the boy some of the books in his bookcase, including the draft of some law codes that he himself is writing, Creighton explains his feelings and his projects for the future of India.  He believes that the soundness and the duration of the colonial empire all depend on the capacity of the British to adapt themselves to India and not the contrary.  No one will ever manage to convert India to the culture, language, religion or laws of the West.  Never will a foreign army or governing class be able to govern such a numerous and multifaceted population.  Only if the two cultures manage to meet halfway might peace be restored.  Kim personifies this compromise since he is both Indian and British at the same time.  But in order to become an upholder of peace between the two countries that represent his roots, he must get acquainted with them.  Admissions into St. Xavier’s are very strict since its students are destined to represent India’s ruling class.  Kim’s admission is taken into consideration thanks to Creighton’s influence on the Governor-General, but there’s a written test that must be passed.  Kim has one week’s time to prepare for the test.  Elsa and Mr. Barney will be giving him a hand.  Regarding the texts to be studied, Kim will have free access to his library and there he will find everything he needs going from history, geography, natural science to mathematics.  With his arms full of books, Kim excitedly goes to Elsa’s room with high hopes.  He can’t wait to begin his lessons.  But there’s just one small problem:  he doesn’t know how to read or write.  Elsa and Mr. Barney imagine that Kim’s shortcomings are vaster than what he believes.  Not only does he not know how to read or write, but his language is dreadful, he eats with his hands, digests his food out loud, sings off key and doesn’t even know how to play polo!  Mr. Barney schedules a strict program of lessons that should try to make up for some of these shortcomings, but traditional methods soon prove to be unsuccessful.  It dawns upon Elsa that in order to educate Kim and get him ready for St. Xavier’s they must make up some kind of educational system that has to do with concrete experience.  From that moment on his natural science lessons are given in the jungle.  His song and dance lessons are carried out during the tribal ceremonies in the nearby village.  Mathematics are taught at the local market, while history and geography are taught while visiting the city’s monuments.  Slowly but surely Kim begins to grow acquainted with the various subjects and soon makes some progress.  He knows how to count, expresses himself correctly (although occasionally some entertaining blunders do slip out), he has learnt how to dance and no longer digests his food out loud.  There’s only one thing missing from his education.  He must learn how to play polo.  Elsa is an excellent horsewoman, so she is personally in charge of his training.  Because of his familiarity with horses, Kim soon proves to be an excellent pupil.  Noticing his self-assurance, Creighton decides to put him to the test and lets Kim participate in a match between soldiers held on the barracks riding grounds. Bennet, who is the captain of the opposing team, decides to grasp the opportunity to discredit Kim in the eyes of his patron; he assigns the boy with a particularly wild, rebellious and impetuous pony. The animal gives him a hard time and Kim is subjected to a series of accidents, causing his team problems and transforming the match into a kind of rodeo. But Kim discovers Bennet’s conniving,  since he plays dirty from the saddle of his red-maned pony and does all he can to unsaddle him. So Kim conquers the complicity of his horse and gives the hateful captain tit-for-tat.  After causing Bennet and his pony to fall down into the mud, through a series of acrobatic stunts that keeps the audience on its toes, Kim manages to recover the match (with moves that are on the brink of being unorthodox) and his team wins the game.  Creighton is very proud of his protégée, whereas Bennet is forced to stand up to his defeat.  Kim anxiously returns to the town house, wishing to celebrate his victory with Elsa.  But when he deposits his polo trophy in his room, he discovers that there’s a new guest in the household.  It’s Julian, a red-headed British boy and Elsa’s second cousin, who has just arrived from London in order to attend St. Xavier’s College.

 

TIME SPAN FOR THE FOLLOWING EPISODES

For the time being, the remaining 13 treatments are outlined briefly.  They will be developed in a definite manner by the next delivery date.  The development of the treatments might cause some modifications in the outline. 

 

EPISODE FOURTEEN – THE BANDITS

Back at the town house, the relationship between Kim and Julian is not an easy one.  Kim’s separation from Elsa and his departure for St. Xavier’s along with Julian.  Strong clash between Kim and Julian during the journey towards Lucknow.  Using a disguise, Kim gets rid of Julian and decides to join his Lama.  During his solitary journey, Kim discovers that there’s a bloodthirsty gang of bandits in the area.  One night he comes upon their camp and discovers that they have kidnapped Julian.  They are not sure whether they want to kill him or simply ask his uncle for some ransom money.  Even Kim is rather hesitant whether to free the hateful brat from strife or let the bandits go ahead and torture him.  Moved to pity, he finally decides to help him out.  He makes his way inside the gang of bandits, frees Julian but also gratifies himself by stealing from the thieves.  On board a carriage driven by X21 disguised as a coachman, and paid for using the bandits’ money, Kim and Julian arrive at St. Xavier’s (without speaking a word to each other).  To his great surprise, Kim finds the Lama waiting for him.  The Lama gives him his recommendations (see film).  Kim makes his entrance inside the grand building that hosts St. Xavier’s.  

 

EPISODE FIFTEEN - ST. XAVIER’S

Kim has a hard time fitting into St. Xavier’s.  Despite his good will and sociability, the Headmaster dislikes him and so do the white-skinned students who treat him and the other Indian boys as pariahs.  The leader of the “racist” white-skinned boys attacks Kim.  Julian doesn’t step in to defend him, despite Kim saved him from the bandits.  Even to the point that he denies that it ever happened and supports Kim’s enemies in order to be accepted in the group.  The white students even show their hostility to the Indian ones, who have become a group with Kim, during class.  The Headmaster, who is also the Science teacher, does nothing to stop it.  Whereas the young English teacher, who is charmed by Kim’s personality, decides to put an end to the controversy between the two groups (the Indians and the British) through a sports competition.  The teacher plans a cricket match, but Kim changes the rules into his own and transforms the game into a football match.  Despite the unfairness practiced by his opponents, the match is gloriously won by Kim’s team.  But the leader of the losing team is not willing to accept the defeat and prepares his revenge.  He destroys the draft of the book the English professor wrote and puts the blame on Kim.  The other white boys know who is really guilty, but they’re afraid to tell the truth.  The Headmaster has his mind set on banishing Kim from St. Xavier’s.  The English teacher knows that he’s innocent, but has nothing to prove it.  The only one who can profess Kim’s innocence is Julian.  In a scene that brings to mind the film XXX, Julian musters up all his courage, stands up on his desk alongside Kim and says the name of the real culprit.  Slowly even the other white students follow his example and take up sides with Kim.  The Headmaster is forced to banish the racist spoilt young man from college.  Kim and Julian go back to being friends. 

 

EPISODE SIXTEEN - THE BLOSSOMING GARDEN

Kim’s progress at St. Xavier’s.  He writes his first letter to the Lama and receives a reply.  Friendship and collaboration between Kim and Julian.  They share a test of their virility.  Easter holidays.  The two boys return to the town house in Delhi and discover that the garden is in full bloom, but so is Elsa.  Kim is amazed and dumbfounded by the sudden change in Elsa.  They have a hard time communicating.  Kim is befuddled by the emotions that Elsa arouses in him.  Elsa feels she is being rejected by Kim for reasons that are beyond her.  She has a friendly rapport with Julian.  Kim’s jealousy.  Some rivalry sets in between Kim and Julian; it breaks out in a clash.  The youngsters go for an outing with Mr. Barney to witness a procession.  The presence of foreign secret agents who arouse a clash between the Indians and the British. Kim and Julian take part in order to solve the situation peacefully and this also solves their own personal strife.  It dawns on Elsa that she has been the cause of the dispute between the two boys and she is sorry about that.  The three friends clear things up and go back to their old relationship.  They return to the town house and discover more uprisings have burst out in different cities in India.  Creighton worries that a new violent rebellion might burst out in the whole country.  Kim worries about the Lama.  Kim and Julian leave for their return to St. Xavier’s.

 

EPISODE SEVENTEEN –  ESCAPE FROM ST. XAVIER’S

While he’s at St. Xavier’s, Kim receives a letter from the Lama and this reassures him.  He is studying for his finals.  News about turmoil bursting out here and there in the country reaches St. Xavier’s.  There is fear that another Black Year might occur.  Tensions flare up between the British and the Indians inside the college.  Creighton meets the other Vice-Governors and the Governor-General in Calcutta in order to discuss what should be done.  Creighton manages to have a more peaceful position prevail, without any repression, but intensifying espionage activities in order to discover those who are leading the conspiracy.  Bennet hopes to be in charge of the mission, but instead it is entrusted to Red Beard, who in the meantime has become Creighton’s  trustworthy collaborator (as Kim’s father used to be).  Creighton tells Bennet of his wish to make Kim his future successor.  Bennet decides to get rid of both Kim and Red Beard.  On the eve of his exams, Kim receives a secret message from Red Beard, which says that Creighton has decided to make him enter the Great Game.  Trusting Red Beard and obliged to keep absolute secrecy, Kim escapes from the college and goes to the place indicated by the message.    

Actually it is an ambush planned by the secret agents sent by Bennet to get rid of Kim and put the blame on Red Beard. Kim manages to escape the ambush, thwarts Bennet’s plans and is collected by X21, who is in turn followed by enemy spies who bring him to Simla and entrust him to another member of the Great Game:  Lurdon. 

 
EPISODE EIGHTEEN – THE PONY’S TRAINING

While everyone wonders where Kim has gone to and why he’s disappeared, in Simla he is trained to become a secret agent by Lurdon.  (See film). And the end of the training course, X21 arrives in disguise but Kim recognizes him.  The foreign spies have followed X21 and Lurdon, fearing that he might be intercepted, decides to entrust his mission to Kim.  Kim is sent off to Calcutta with a message to be delivered to Red Beard. During the train trip, Kim realizes that he’s being followed by secret agents and thanks to a disguise he manages to get off the train unnoticed.  Kim takes up his journey on foot towards Calcutta.  A chance and entertaining encounter with the crow and therefore with the Lama who is in a bit of trouble.  Kim solves the Lama’s problems and they travel the last stretch of the trip together.  Kim leaves the Lama in Calcutta and heads for the place where he has an appointment with Red Beard, but once again he is intercepted and followed by the secret agents.  Kim risks being killed by them, but is saved by Red Beard who has him arrested with the charge of burglary.  Red Beard is surprised to see him since the thought Kim was attending college.  After being informed of the situation, he imagines that someone is double-crossing them.  In the message, X21 confirms his suspicions.  He’s got a trail in this regard, fixes an appointment with him to talk it over:  something important is brewing.

 

EPISODE NINETEEN –  THE HINDU FEAST

The plan is to set up the entire episode in Calcutta while a great religious feast is going on.  Thousands of pilgrims crowd the city, there are processions all over, gurus are bathing in the river, crowds all around.  Kim and Red Beard make their way through this setting. The enemy spies mingle with the crowd, follow them and try to get rid of them.  The two of them have to meet with X21 in a very crowded spot, wearing something to recognize them which they discover is common to all the pilgrims who are crowding the square.  They do not find X21 but discover that the enemy spies are setting up an ambush against an important religious figure in a temple or in a crowded square, then they are prepared to put the blame on the British. Kim and Red Beard thwart the plot at the last minute.  Then they go looking for X21 in his home and discover that he has been killed.  Red Beard is desperate for the death of his friend.  He was the best of the lot.  He must have discovered something very important.  Before dying he managed to conceal a message for Red Beard, which Kim finds.  It is written in code.  Kim recognizes it since he had a chance to see it in Bennet’s tent; so he helps Red Beard decipher it.  The message announces a GREAT BLAST to the detriment of the British.  Kim and Red Beard are alarmed as they leave to join Creighton in Delhi, picking up the Lama and the crow along the way.

 

EPISODE TWENTY– THE BOMBING OF THE BRIDGE

In Delhi our heroes join Elsa who tells them that her father has gone to the inauguration of the railway bridge on the Ganges River along with the Governor-General.  It dawns on Red Beard that the conspirators want to blow up the bridge. They rush to warn Creighton, but get there too late.  The bridge blows up as a train carrying British soldiers, the Governor-General and Creighton passes over it.  Kim and Red Beard manage to save the Governor and Creighton.  Creighton is brought to the hospital in serious condition.  Bennet grasps the opportunity to take over the military command.  He blames the bombing on the Indians who built the bridge.  Uprising of the sepoys.  Revolution bursts out.  Elsa with her father.  Bennet and the Governor-General accuse Red Beard of being the traitor.  Kim helps Red Beard in his flight.  Bennet accuses him of being his accomplice.  Kim is in danger.  Elsa and Julian offer their help to keep Kim and the Lama in hiding at the town house in Delhi.

 

EPISODE TWENTY-ONE – INDIA IN FLAMES  

The British attack the Indian villages.  The Indians set fire to the East India Company offices.  Textile factory machinery thrown into the sea.  Clashes and retaliation between the dominators and the dominated – with innocent blood bearing the brunt of it.  Amidst the chaos our heroes reach the town house in Delhi, but racial hatred bursts out here as well.  Bennet incites the inhabitants of the nearby village to attack Creighton’s town house and set fire to it.  Kim experiences once again the nightmare of his past.  He saves Elsa’s life when she goes back inside the house to save the tiger cub.  Refugees flee along the Grand Trunk Road.  Our heroes are collected by Father Victor and he offers his protection to Elsa and Mr. Barney in the mission.  The presence of Kim, an Indian, in the mission puts the lives of others in danger.  Kim leaves Elsa and goes away with the Lama.  Kim sees a woman fleeing with a child and experiences his past when his mother was fleeing along with him...  A dangerous situation is solved this time by the Lama who leads Kim to safety in a Buddhist monastery.

 

EPISODE TWENTY-TWO -  THE MONASTERY

The Buddhist Monastery is a haven of peace while clashes continue and grow harsher outside.  The Lama regains his concentration and the ability to meditate along with his brethren, while Kim is in a state of crisis.  He feels that he has failed his mission and condemns the Buddhist priests for their indifference towards what is going on outside.  The arrival of the British led by Bennet, who mistreat and offend the monks but do not get any reaction from them.  The British besiege the nearby village where only defenseless women and children live.  Kim urges the monks to react.  The monks, led by Kim, proceed to free the women and children and lead them to the safety of the monastery.  When the soldiers burst upon the village, they find it deserted and suspect the interference of the monks. The monastery is searched:  the women, children, Kim and the Lama are in hiding.  A kind British soldier discovers the children and the women in hiding but does not give them away.  Bennet’s plans are once again thwarted by Kim.  The British depart.  The monastery becomes a place of hospitality.  Among the refugees Kim meets Jasmine and discovers that Red Beard has been captured by the British and sentenced to death.  He is locked up in a fortress and his execution is close at hand. Kim leaves the monastery and sets off to free Red Beard with Jasmine.

 

EPISODE TWENTY-THREE – THE EXECUTION

Kim and Jasmine make their way inside the fortress where Red Beard is locked up and try to make him escape, but they fail.  Kim frees Red Beard at the moment of his execution.  Red Beard’s escape towards the Lion of the Punjab in the Land of the Five Rivers.  Kim returns to the monastery.  Elsa is there awaiting him.  Kim discovers that Creighton wants to attack the Lion of the Punjab since he thinks he is responsible and the leader of the uprising.  Clash between Kim and the Lama.  Kim leaves the monastery and wishes to reach Red Beard to tell him about the imminent attack on behalf of the British.  The Lama is grieved over his separation from Kim.  Kim and Elsa travel together.  Adventures.  British barrage.  Elsa allows Kim to go beyond the British barrage.  Then Kim continues on his own.  Kim faces some difficulties and becomes ill.  His meeting with the sahiba who accommodates him.  Kim experiences visions and memories as he is delirious with fever.  The sahiba treats him with her magical herbs and when Kim shows her his amulet containing the yellow flower she tells him that many years before she met a man whose eyes were the same color as Kim’s and who had shown her a similar flower.  The man was very sick and tired, just like Kim, because of his long journey across India in search of his wife and child.  He was resigned to never finding them again and told her that he was headed towards the Land of the Five Rivers, where he had met his wife and where he wished to be buried.  Encouraged by the sahiba’s words and after having spent the night hugging the earth, Kim once again sets off on his journey along with Drì.  In the meanwhile the Lama discovers that the yellow flower grows in the Land of the Five Rivers and goes looking for Kim.  He meets the Russians who are headed towards the Kaiber Pass and joins them.

 

EPISODE TWENTY-FOUR – THE LION OF PUNJAB

Kim heads off towards the mountains.  He is captured by the King of Punjab’s men and led to the secret fortress of the Blind Lion, called this way because of the patch he wears over one of his eyes.  Kim is believed to be a British secret agent.  Kim proclaims his being Indian and a friend of Red Beard.  He warns him that the British Army is about to attack Punjab.  But the Lion does not trust him.  Kim wins over the Lion’s trust when he foils a plot to poison him or kill him in some other way.  The plot is planned by one of his men who is really an undercover spy.  During some reconnaissance in the mountains there’s a clash with a squad of British scouts.  The Lion has the proof that England has dared to challenge him.  This means war!  Military action carried out by the Army of the Pure, who strike British advance-guards and demolish ammunition depots using a gallery system and their acquaintance with mountains very similar to the Afghan ones.  During one of these actions, Kim meets his friend soldier Willie from the Regiment who is wounded in a clash.  Kim hides him and takes care of him.  Before dying, Willie hands him a coded message that he took from Bennet’s tent.  He is certain that Bennet is the double-crossing spy.  The clash with the Lion of the Punjab is only a trap.  The real objective of Bennet’s accomplices is something else.  Willie’s death makes Kim realize that he doesn’t want any more war, that the British and the Indian are both his friends.  He takes up his journey towards the mountains to go and look for Red Beard.  Along with him he discovers Bennet’s plot. 

 

EPISODE TWENTY-FIVE – THE KAIBER MOUNTAIN PASS

As he’s looking for Red Beard, Kim intercepts the camp belonging to the Russian scouts on the mountains.  To his great surprise, he finds his Lama there.  The Lama informs him what he has discovered about the yellow flower.  The arrival of the Russians. Kim wins them over since he is an excellent cook.  They do not suspect a thing and take him in with them.  Along with the scouts, Kim and the Lama climb up towards the Kaiber Pass.  They meet with a false shepherd, like in the movie, who is none other than Red Beard himself without his beard.  Red Beard follows the Russians up to the camp at the top of the Pass.  The arrival of one of the conspirators with armed retinue (and umbrella).  They suspect Kim and hypnotize him.  Kim withstands it.  But then Nabob Dinar also arrives and he is unmasked.  Kim refuses to speak.  They tie him to a cable that hangs over a ravine. Red Beard intervenes, like in the movie.  Kim and Red Beard get rid of the Nabob and of his henchmen with an avalanche of rocks.  The Russian maps unveil the real enemy objective:  to direct the British Army towards Punjab in order to facilitate the invasion of Tsar Alexander’s men from the Kaiber Pass.  Creighton must be warned immediately.  The Lama is wounded and cannot move.  Kim half-heartedly entrusts him to the crow and rides away on horseback with Red Beard.

 

EPISODE TWENTY-SIX – THE SACRED RIVER

As Red Beard and Kim ride towards the Land of the Five Rivers across the mountains, the regiment led by Creighton and Bennet prepares to attack the Lion of the Punjab.  The men dressed in black try to stop Kim and Red Beard on the mountains.  Our heroes overcome their barrage.  Spectacular actions by Kim and Red Beard as they block the two opposing formations just before the clash.  Bennet flees on the mountains, followed by Kim and Red Beard.  The traitor tries to send a smoke signal to his accomplices in order to warn them that the Regiment is headed for the Kaiber Pass.  Kim and Red Beard capture Bennet and send a message that causes the enemy troops to end up in the hands of the British.  Kim climbs up to the Pass in order to look for the Lama, but he cannot find him.  The Lama’s voice calls out to him, saying that he has found the tree bearing the yellow flowers.  Finale with the river coming into view.