Potiphar Cubbins

Potiphar Cubbins is a character in a narrative poem in "Departmental Ditties" by Rudyard Kipling. Like his namesake Potiphar in the Book of Genesis, Mr. Cubbins had a lustful and unfaithful wife (see Zuleika (legendary)). Zuleika Cubbins' indiscretions were very beneficial to her husband. Her high-ranking paramours saw to it that Potiphar Cubbins was promoted to well-paying positions. Kipling insists his poem is "total fiction," but the reader cannot avoid suspecting it is a "poem a clef."