The Undertakers. Artist and engraver: William Strang. 1901. Steel plate etching. A Series of Thirty Illustrations by William Strang, Illustrating Subjects from the Writings of Rudyard Kipling (1901), plate 15. [Click on image to enlarge it.]
Told by animals, the story concerns the dominance of the river by Mugger – a huge and ancient crocodile. Strang shows the nerve-shedding moment when a child is clutched from his jaws. This is the grim imagery of nightmare, which recalls the surreal menace of Goya.
Image scan, text and formatting by Simon Cooke. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.
BibliographyKipling, Rudyard. A Series of Thirty Etchings by William Strang, Illustrating Subjects from the Writings of Rudyard Kipling. London: Macmillan, 1901.
Created 30 September 2025