--- rett <rett@...> skrev:

>
> (Back to the thread-topic, I still believe it likely
> that Tolkien was at least partly influenced by
> having read a translation of the Mahabharata, but
> that he didn't mention it for some reason)

A writer are inspired by many things, and is conscious
of some of them, but most probably not all. Tolkien
was, after all, younger than Kipling, so it would be a
wonder if he hadn't read the Jungle Books - whether he
liked them, I don't know. He had read Shakespeare, and
didn't like him very much, but I think he was more
influenced by him than he wanted to admit.

Gunnar