Mowgli’s Brothers by Rudyard Kipling

It was seven o’clock in the evening. Father Wolf woke up from his day’s sleep. Mother Wolf also woke and licked her cubs.

"It’s time to hunt," said Father Wolf.

Suddenly a little figure appeared in the mouth of the cave.

It was Tabaqui, the jackal.

"Good evening," said Tabaqui. “May I enter the cave?”

Father Wolf did not like Tabaqui and so he answered dryly, “Enter the cave if you like. But there is no food here.”

"There is no food for a wolf," said Tabaqui, “but there is food for a jackal.”

He entered the cave, found a dry bone and began to crack it.

“How beautiful your children are! How large their eyes are!”

Tabaqui knew very well that it was not a good thing to compliment children because it often brought misfortune. He said it because he wanted to make Father Wolf angry.

Tabaqui sat still for a few minutes, then he said, “Shere Khan the Big One will hunt among these hills the next moon, so he has told me." Shere Khan was the tiger who lived twenty miles away.

“By the Law of the Jungle he has no right to hunt here,” said Father Wolf. "He will frighten every animal here and besides he will make the villagers angry. Then he will run away and the villagers will hunt us wolves."

Father Wolf listened. Far among the hills he heard the angry growl of Shere Khan, the tiger.

“Is he after cattle?” asked Mother Wolf.

“No,” answered Father Wolf. “He is hunting man, tonight.”

There was a slight noise in the bushes and Father Wolf was just going to jump, and then tried to stop himself. He saw what it was that made the sound. “Man,” he said. “A man’s cub. Look!"

Right in front of him stood a naked brown baby, who could just walk. He looked up into Father Wolf’s face and laughed.

“Is it a man’s cub?" said Mother Wolf. “Bring it here."

Father Wolf ran to the mouth of the cave, gently took the boy into his teeth, brought it to Mother Wolf, and put it down among the cubs.

“How little, how naked and how bold," said Mother Wolf. “He is not afraid of me. I like him, I shall be his mother and he will be my son.”

Suddenly it became dark in the cave. Shere Khan’s great head appeared at the mouth of the cave.

“A man’s cub went this way," said Shere Khan. “Its parents ran away and left it in the jungle. Give it to me, it's mine.”

Mother Wolf leaped forward, her eyes shone in the darkness.

"It is I, Raksha the Demon,” she said. "The man's cub is mine. You will not kill him. He will live. He will run with the pack and hunt with the pack. And in the end he will hunt you, just as you are hunting him.",

Shere Khan knew that Mother Wolf would fight to the death, so he slowly took his head out of the mouth of the cave. “We shall see what the pack will say to that,” he shouted.

When Shere Khan had gone away, Mother Wolf said, “I shall keep him. I shall take care of him, I shall call him Mowgli, which means Frog, because he is naked.”

One thing that Shere Khan said was true. The Law of the Jungle said clearly that the wolves must bring their cubs before the Pack Council. Perhaps the Pack Council would not let a man cub run with the pack.

Father Wolf waited till his cubs could run a little and then he took them and Mowgli and Mother Wolf to the Council Rock, to the Great Council of wolves.

Akela, the great grey wolf was the leader of the pack.

"Oh, wolves,” said Father Wolf, “this little Frog is a man’s cub. Shere Khan wants to eat him.”

“He belongs to me, he is my son,” cried Raksha. “Let him live with us.”

“If two members of the Council, who are not his father and mother, speak for the man’s cub, then let him live with our pack,” said Aketa. “If nobody speaks for him, let Shere Khan take him and eat him.”

Then Baloo, the sleepy brown bear who taught the young wolves the Law of the Jungle, got up and said, “I speak for the man’s cub.”

“Who else speaks for the man’s cub?” asked Akela.

“I speak for the man’s cub,” cried Bagheera, the black panther. Bagheera was big and strong. His fur was black as ink and soft as silk.

“Let him live with us, with the free people of the jungle. What harm can a naked Frog do to us?”

Thus Mowgli remained in the jungle and lived with the wolves. And from that day Baloo, the brown bear and Bagheera, the black panther became his friends.

The years passed, and Mowgli grew up with the cubs. Father Wolf taught him everything that wolves knew about the jungle. Old Baloo taught him to speak the language of the animals. Baloo taught him how to find honey and nuts. Bagheera, the black panther, played with him, called him Little Brother and taught him how to kill for food. Baloo and Bagheera loved Mowgli, and the wolf cubs were Mowgli’s brothers and friends, but Shere Khan hated Mowgli. He wanted to kill the boy, but he was afraid of Akela, because Akela loved Mowgli too.

Mowgli grew up strong. He always hunted with the pack and never fell behind.

The years passed and Akela grew old. The young wolves in the pack wanted a new leader. So Akela had to leave the pack and hunt alone. Then the pack drove Mowgli away and he went to the village.

Once Shere Khan, the great tiger, had caught and eaten the son of one of the villagers. And his parents took Mowgli into their house. They taught him the language of men, and how to do the things that men did. But Mowgli was not happy. The other villagers did not like him; they knew that his wolf brothers came to the village and talked to him. They were afraid now not only of Shere Khan, but also of the wolves.

Mowgli laughed at the wonderful tales that the village hunter told in the evenings about the great tiger and the other animals in the jungle. He thought they were silly. But he decided to hunt and kill Shere Khan with the help of Akela and his brothers. He thought the villagers would be glad and would like him better. He did so, and carried the skin in the village. But the people met him with sticks and stones. The hunter fired at him with his gun, but killed one of the buffalos.

“Black magic! Black magic!” they shouted, and drove him away from the village.

With the tiger skin on his head, Mowgli turned and walked away with Akela into the jungle that he loved.