Author: Rudyard Kipling

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Once, on a glittering ice-field, ages and ages ago,
Ung, a maker of pictures, fashioned an image of snow.
Fashioned the form of a tribesman, gaily he whistled and sung,
Working the snow with his fingers. Read ye the Story of Ung!
 
Pleased was his tribe with that image, came in their hundreds to scan,
Handled it, smelt it, and grunted: "Verily, this is a man!
Thus do we carry our lances, thus is a war-belt slung.
Lo! it is even as we are. Glory and honour to Ung!"
 
Later he pictured an aurochs, later he pictured a bear,
Pictured the sabre-tooth tiger dragging a man to his lair,
Pictured the mountainous mammoth, hairy, abhorrent, alone,
Out of the love that he bore them, scribing them clearly on bone.
 
Swift came the tribe to behold them, peering and pushing and still,
Men of the berg-battered beaches, men of the boulder-hatched hill,
Hunters and fishers and trappers, presently whispering low:
"Yea, they are like, and it may be, But how does the Picture-man know?"
 
"Ung, hath he slept with the Aurochs, watched where the Mastodon roam?
Spoke on the ice with the Bow-head, followed the Sabre-tooth home?
Nay! These are toys of his fancy! If he have cheated us so,
How is there truth in his image, the man that he fashioned of snow?"
 
Wroth was that maker of pictures, hotly he answered the call:
"Hunters and fishers and trappers, children and fools are ye all!
Look at the beasts when ye hunt them!" Swift from the tumult he broke,
Ran to the cave of his father and told him the shame that they spoke.
 
And the father of Ung gave answer, that was old and wise in the craft,
Maker of pictures aforetime, he leaned on his lance and laughed:
"If they could see as thou seest they would do what thou hast done,
And each man would make him a picture, and, what would become of my son?
 
"There would be no pelts of the reindeer, flung down at thy cave for a gift,
Nor dole of the oily timber that comes on the Baltic drift;
No store of well-drilled needles, nor ouches of amber pale;
No new-cut tongues of the bison, nor meat of the stranded whale.
 
"Thou hast not toiled at the fishing when the sodden trammels freeze,
Nor worked the war-boats outward through the rush of the rock-staked seas,
Yet they bring thee fish and plunder, full meal and an easy bed,
And all for the sake of thy pictures." And Ung held down his head.
 
"Thou hast not stood to the Aurochs when the red snow reeks of the fight;
Men have no time at the houghing to count his curls aright.
And the heart of the hairy Mammoth, thou sayest, they do not see,
Yet they save it whole from the beaches and broil the best for thee.
 
"And now do they press to thy pictures, with opened mouth and eye,
And a little gift in the doorway, and the praise no gift can buy:
But, sure they have doubted thy pictures, and that is a grievous stain,
Son that can see so clearly, return them their gifts again!"
 
And Ung looked down at his deerskins, their broad shell-tasselled bands,
And Ung drew downward his mitten and looked at his naked hands;
And he gloved himself and departed, and he heard his father, behind:
"Son that can see so clearly, rejoice that thy tribe is blind!"
 
Straight on the glittering ice-field, by the caves of the lost Dordogne,
Ung, a maker of pictures, fell to his scribing on bone
Even to mammoth editions. Gaily he whistled and sung,
Blessing his tribe for their blindness. Heed ye the Story of Ung!

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Type of Poem: Narrative Poem

Date Written:

Date Published:

Language: English

Keywords: Public Domain

Source: Public Domain Collection

Publisher:

Rights/Permissions: Public Domain

Comments/Notes: Rudyard Kipling’s "The Story of Ung" is a Narrative Allegorical Poem with strong elements of Artistic Philosophy and Social Commentary. It tells the story of Ung, a prehistoric artist who, despite creating astonishingly lifelike depictions of men and animals, is doubted and criticized by his own tribe. The central theme is the loneliness and misunderstanding that often accompany true creative vision. Kipling explores the eternal tension between the imaginative mind and the practical, skeptical majority. Ung's gift allows his people to see and feel more deeply, but because they do not share his ability to perceive and represent reality imaginatively, they mistrust him, questioning the authenticity of what he creates.

The tone of the poem is sympathetic, ironic, and ultimately celebratory. Ung is initially hurt and confused by his tribe’s ingratitude and suspicion, but with the wise counsel of his father, he comes to understand that his very survival and comfort depend on the blindness of others. Kipling’s portrayal of Ung reflects a deep, timeless truth about the condition of the artist: to see clearly is often to be misunderstood, yet that very misunderstanding secures the artist’s unique role within society. The imagery of the glittering ice-fields, the aurochs, mammoths, and sabre-tooth tigers evokes a vivid prehistoric world, but the emotional and psychological landscape feels universal and eternal.

Structurally, the poem unfolds as a story-within-a-story, with direct speech that gives it the flavor of an oral legend or fable. The dialogue between Ung and his father is particularly critical, as it reveals the paradox at the heart of the artist’s role: accepted for his work, doubted for the very insight that makes it possible. Kipling’s style is vigorous, colorful, and rhythmic, mirroring the energy of the young Ung at work, and the wise, slightly sardonic humor of the father. Historically, Kipling is speaking not only to prehistoric imagination but also to his own era—and indeed to all eras—where true creativity is often met with suspicion by the ordinary, pragmatic crowd.

Ultimately, "The Story of Ung" is a moving allegory about the alienation and triumph of the artist. Kipling honors the lonely gift of seeing the world differently, suggesting that while the artist may suffer misunderstanding and doubt, he should "rejoice that [his] tribe is blind," because it preserves his special vision and his special place in the human story. In celebrating Ung’s persistence and resilience, Kipling crafts a profound meditation on the nature of creativity, originality, and the complex relationship between the individual and society.