Mowgli of the Jungle

Part One

The jungle went silent first. No birds, no monkeys, not even a cricket. Then the great tiger Shere Khan pushed his huge striped face into the wolves' cave and purred, "The man-cub is mine." Father Wolf froze. Mother Wolf pulled her cubs close. And there in the moonlight, in the middle of the cubs, sat a tiny brown baby with no fur and no claws, giggling.

Mother Wolf rose, with her eyes burning like two green moons. "The man-cub is mine," she snarled. "He will live, and he will hunt with the pack. I name him Mowgli, the Frog." Shere Khan stared at her, then backed away, grumbling and lashing his tail. He was lame in one foot, and he knew better than to fight a mother wolf at her own door. But he promised that he would come back.

Mowgli grew up strong and fearless among the wolves. Baloo the sleepy brown bear taught him the Law of the Jungle, mostly between naps, and he snored so loudly that monkeys fell out of the trees. Bagheera the black panther taught him to climb and creep and keep his eyes open. "Be careful," Bagheera warned. "Shere Khan has never forgotten you." Mowgli only laughed. Then, one night, old Akela missed a kill.

A wolf who misses his kill can no longer lead, and the young wolves were hungry for a new chief. Shere Khan prowled at the edge of the Council Rock, whispering to them. "Give me the man-cub," he purred, "and I will leave your pack in peace." Some of the younger wolves began to listen. Bagheera pulled Mowgli aside. "There is only one thing the tiger fears," he whispered. "The Red Flower."

The Red Flower was fire, and the jungle people dared not even say its name. Mowgli crept down to a village at the jungle's edge and stole a pot of glowing coals. He burned his thumb and yelped, which was a very embarrassing noise for a wolf to make. Then he broke off a branch and lit it, and it blazed bright orange in his hand, spitting sparks into the dark.

On the night of the Council, Mowgli walked straight into the ring of wolves, holding his flaming branch high. The wolves gasped and shrank back, and the firelight danced in their yellow eyes. Out of the shadows came a snarl. "Is the man-cub going to burn us?" roared Shere Khan. "Give him to me!" But Mowgli's voice rang out. "The Law says the pack decides, not a tiger!"

Shere Khan sprang, and Mowgli swung the branch right at his face. The flames scorched the tiger's whiskers, and he howled and leaped aside, smelling like burnt toast. Mowgli struck him again and again. "Go!" he shouted. "Go, you cattle-killer, or I will burn your whole coat off!" Shere Khan fled into the darkness with his tail between his legs, and the wolves backed away from the boy who held fire.

But the pack was not ready to forgive. Some of the wolves growled that Mowgli was a man, and men did not belong in the jungle. "I will go," Mowgli said quietly, and he felt tears slide down his cheeks. "I will not stay where I am not wanted." Akela licked his hand, and Mother Wolf pressed her head to his. Then Mowgli turned and walked away from the only home he had ever known.

For many weeks he lived near the village, and he learned to speak the language of men. But Shere Khan was not finished. One morning at dawn, the ground began to hum under Mowgli's feet. Then it began to shake. The tiger had driven a herd of water buffalo into the narrow ravine where Mowgli sat, and the stampede thundered toward him with its horns lowered. There was no way out.

Mowgli leaped onto the back of the wild bull that led the stampede, and he clung to its shoulder. He shouted orders in the herd's own language, and he turned them, hooves drumming. Dust and thunder filled the ravine. Then he swung the herd around in a great circle and drove them back the way they had come. Far ahead, he saw the tiger turn his head. "Run, Shere Khan!" cried Mowgli.

Shere Khan was cornered at the end of the ravine, with a wall of stone behind him and a wall of horns before him. He gave one last roar. Then he scrambled up the rocks like a scared kitten, and he did not stop running until he was three jungles away. Mowgli sat down on a rock, his legs trembling. Then he stood up and gave a long, wild cry of triumph.

Bagheera and Baloo came crashing through the trees, and Mother Wolf followed close behind. The wolves had heard the thunder and come out to find the boy who had saved them from the tiger. Akela howled his thanks, and the whole pack gathered around Mowgli. The Law of the Jungle had a new place for the man-cub who was braver than any wolf.

That night the stars shone cold and bright above the jungle, and the river ran silver below. Mowgli lay between Bagheera and Baloo and listened to the wolves singing his name. He did not know yet whether he belonged more to the jungle or to the village. But the dark was full of friends now. And far away, a tiger with no whiskers was still sulking.