The Jungle Book, part 1 · page 21 2101The moonlight was blocked out of the mouth of the cave, for Shere Khan’s great square head and shoulders were thrust into the entrance.102Tabaqui, behind him, was squeaking: “My lord, my lord, it went in here!”103“Shere Khan does us great honor,” said Father Wolf, but his eyes were very angry.104“What does Shere Khan need?”105“My quarry.106A man’s cub went this way,” said Shere Khan.107“Its parents have run off.108Give it to me.”109Shere Khan had jumped at a woodcutter’s campfire, as Father Wolf had said, and was furious from the pain of his burned feet.110But Father Wolf knew that the mouth of the cave was too narrow for a tiger to come in by.111Even where he was, Shere Khan’s shoulders and forepaws were cramped for want of room, as a man’s would be if he tried to fight in a barrel.112“The Wolves are a free people,” said Father Wolf.113“They take orders from the Head of the Pack, and not from any striped cattle-killer.114The man’s cub is ours--to kill if we choose.”115“Ye choose and ye do not choose!116What talk is this of choosing?117By the bull that I killed, am I to stand nosing into your dog’s den for my fair dues?118It is I, Shere Khan, who speak!”119The tiger’s roar filled the cave with thunder.120Mother Wolf shook herself clear of the cubs and sprang forward, her eyes, like two green moons in the darkness, facing the blazing eyes of Shere Khan.121“And it is I, Raksha [The Demon], who answers.122The man’s cub is mine, Lungri--mine to me!123He shall not be killed.124He shall live to run with the Pack and to hunt with the Pack; and in the end, look you, hunter of little naked cubs--frog-eater--fish-killer--he shall hunt thee!125Now get hence, or by the Sambhur that I killed (I eat no starved cattle), back thou goest to thy mother, burned beast of the jungle, lamer than ever thou camest into the world!126Go!”127Father Wolf looked on amazed.128He had almost forgotten the days when he won Mother Wolf in fair fight from five other wolves, when she ran in the Pack and was not called The Demon for compliment’s sake.129Shere Khan might have faced Father Wolf, but he could not stand up against Mother Wolf, for he knew that where he was she had all the advantage of the ground, and would fight to the death.130So he backed out of the cave mouth growling, and when he was clear he shouted:131“Each dog barks in his own yard!132We will see what the Pack will say to this fostering of man-cubs.133The cub is mine, and to my teeth he will come in the end, O bush-tailed thieves!”134Mother Wolf threw herself down panting among the cubs, and Father Wolf said to her gravely:135“Shere Khan speaks this much truth.136The cub must be shown to the Pack.137Wilt thou still keep him, Mother?”138“Keep him!” she gasped.139“He came naked, by night, alone and very hungry; yet he was not afraid!140Look, he has pushed one of my babes to one side already.141And that lame butcher would have killed him and would have run off to the Waingunga while the villagers here hunted through all our lairs in revenge!142Keep him?143Assuredly I will keep him.144Lie still, little frog.145O thou Mowgli--for Mowgli the Frog I will call thee--the time will come when thou wilt hunt Shere Khan as he has hunted thee.”146“But what will our Pack say?” said Father Wolf.147The Law of the Jungle lays down very clearly that any wolf may, when he marries, withdraw from the Pack he belongs to.148But as soon as his cubs are old enough to stand on their feet he must bring them to the Pack Council, which is generally held once a month at full moon, in order that the other wolves may identify them.149After that inspection the cubs are free to run where they please, and until they have killed their first buck no excuse is accepted if a grown wolf of the Pack kills one of them.150The punishment is death where the murderer can be found; and if you think for a minute you will see that this must be so.151Father Wolf waited till his cubs could run a little, and then on the night of the Pack Meeting took them and Mowgli and Mother Wolf to the Council Rock--a hilltop covered with stones and boulders where a hundred wolves could hide.152Akela, the great gray Lone Wolf, who led all the Pack by strength and cunning, lay out at full length on his rock, and below him sat forty or more wolves of every size and color, from badger-colored veterans who could handle a buck alone to young black three-year-olds who thought they could.153The Lone Wolf had led them for a year now.154He had fallen twice into a wolf trap in his youth, and once he had been beaten and left for dead; so he knew the manners and customs of men.155There was very little talking at the Rock.156The cubs tumbled over each other in the center of the circle where their mothers and fathers sat, and now and again a senior wolf would go quietly up to a cub, look at him carefully, and return to his place on noiseless feet.157Sometimes a mother would push her cub far out into the moonlight to be sure that he had not been overlooked.158Akela from his rock would cry: “Ye know the Law--ye know the Law.159Look well, O Wolves!”160And the anxious mothers would take up the call: “Look--look well, O Wolves!”161At last--and Mother Wolf’s neck bristles lifted as the time came--Father Wolf pushed “Mowgli the Frog,” as they called him, into the center, where he sat laughing and playing with some pebbles that glistened in the moonlight.162Akela never raised his head from his paws, but went on with the monotonous cry: “Look well!”163A muffled roar came up from behind the rocks--the voice of Shere Khan crying: “The cub is mine.164Give him to me.165What have the Free People to do with a man’s cub?”166Akela never even twitched his ears.167All he said was: “Look well, O Wolves!168What have the Free People to do with the orders of any save the Free People?169Look well!”170There was a chorus of deep growls, and a young wolf in his fourth year flung back Shere Khan’s question to Akela: “What have the Free People to do with a man’s cub?”171Now, the Law of the Jungle lays down that if there is any dispute as to the right of a cub to be accepted by the Pack, he must be spoken for by at least two members of the Pack who are not his father and mother.1 2next →The Jungle Book, part 2↑ back to The Jungle BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg236/1/page/2/