Summary

Rudyard Kipling’s short story “Beyond the Pale” begins with a reflection that people should keep with people of their own kind, race, color, or caste and announces that the story follows a man who did not respect this rule and suffered because of this. The story then introduces a beautiful Indian woman named Bisesa, who became a widow at only 15 years old. Bisesa lives in Amir Nath’s Gully and longs for a lover.

An Englishman named Trejago wanders into the gully, where Bisesa sits behind a barred window, and they exchange words from the same song, “The Love-song of Har Dyal”. Bisesa’s voice stops suddenly, and the man leaves the place. The next day, he receives a package on the way to his office. The package contains several objects, and Trejago works out that they represent a letter from Bisesa telling him she is a widow and asking him to meet again that n...