Rudyard Kipling letter admits he borrowed stories for The Jungle Book

In a recently discovered letter, the writer notes that 'it is possible I helped myself promiscuously.'

The letter, dated 1895 and addressed to an unknown woman, is listed for auction at £2,500 with Andrusier Autographs.

In it, the creator of Mowgli, Baloo and Shere Khan admits that the Law of the Jungle, which featured in 1894's The Jungle Book, was compiled from various sources.

Kipling wrote: "I am afraid that all that code in its outlines has been manufactured to meet 'the necessities of the case': though a little of it is bodily taken from (Southern) Esquimaux rules for the division of spoils.
"In fact, it is extremely possible that I have helped myself promiscuously but at present cannot remember from whose stories I have stolen."

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