EPISODE: 5.

"Never while we can follow a trail," said the cubs. "Come to

the foot of the hill when thou art a man, and we will talk to

thee; and we will come into the croplands to play with thee by

night."

"Come soon!" said Father Wolf. "Oh, wise little frog, come

again soon; for we be old, thy mother and I."

"Come soon," said Mother Wolf, "little naked son of mine. For,

listen, child of man, I loved thee more than ever I loved my

cubs."

"I will surely come," said Mowgli. "And when I come it will be

to lay out Shere Khan's hide upon the Council Rock. Do not

forget me! Tell them in the jungle never to forget me!"

The dawn was beginning to break when Mowgli went down

the hillside alone, to meet those mysterious things that are called

men.

Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack

As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled

Once, twice and again!

And a doe leaped up, and a doe leaped up

From the pond in the wood where the wild deer sup.

This I, scouting alone, beheld,

Once, twice and again!

As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled

Once, twice and again!

And a wolf stole back, and a wolf stole back

To carry the word to the waiting pack,

And we sought and we found and we bayed on his track

Once, twice and again! As the dawn was breaking the Wolf Pack yelled

Once, twice and again!

Feet in the jungle that leave no mark!

Eyes that can see in the dark—the dark!

Tongue—give tongue to it! Hark! O hark!

Once, twice and again!

Kaa's Hunting

His spots are the joy of the Leopard: his horns are the

Buffalo's pride.

Be clean, for the strength of the hunter is known by the

gloss of his hide.

If ye find that the Bullock can toss you, or the heavy-browed

Sambhur can gore;

Ye need not stop work to inform us: we knew it ten seasons

before.

Oppress not the cubs of the stranger, but hail them as Sister

and Brother,

For though they are little and fubsy, it may be the Bear is

their mother.

"There is none like to me!" says the Cub in the pride of his

earliest kill;

But the jungle is large and the Cub he is small. Let him

think and be still.

Maxims of Baloo

All that is told here happened some time before Mowgli was

turned out of the Seeonee Wolf Pack, or revenged himself on

Shere Khan the tiger. It was in the days when Baloo was

teaching him the Law of the Jungle. The big, serious, old brown

bear was delighted to have so quick a pupil, for the young

wolves will only learn as much of the Law of the Jungle as

applies to their own pack and tribe, and run away as soon as

they can repeat the Hunting Verse—"Feet that make no noise; eyes that can see in the dark; ears that can hear the winds in

their lairs, and sharp white teeth, all these things are the marks

of our brothers except Tabaqui the Jackal and the Hyaena whom

we hate." But Mowgli, as a man-cub, had to learn a great deal

more than this. Sometimes Bagheera the Black Panther would

come lounging through the jungle to see how his pet was getting

on, and would purr with his head against a tree while Mowgli

recited the day's lesson to Baloo. The boy could climb almost as

well as he could swim, and swim almost as well as he could run.

So Baloo, the Teacher of the Law, taught him the Wood and

Water Laws: how to tell a rotten branch from a sound one; how

to speak politely to the wild bees when he came upon a hive of

them fifty feet above ground; what to say to Mang the Bat when

he disturbed him in the branches at midday; and how to warn

the water-snakes in the pools before he splashed down among

them. None of the Jungle People like being disturbed, and all are

very ready to fly at an intruder. Then, too, Mowgli was taught

the Strangers' Hunting Call, which must be repeated aloud till it

is answered, whenever one of the Jungle-People hunts outside

his own grounds. It means, translated, "Give me leave to hunt

here because I am hungry." And the answer is, "Hunt then for

food, but not for pleasure."

All this will show you how much Mowgli had to learn by

heart, and he grew very tired of saying the same thing over a

hundred times. But, as Baloo said to Bagheera, one day when

Mowgli had been cuffed and run off in a temper, "A man's cub is

a man's cub, and he must learn all the Law of the Jungle."

"But think how small he is," said the Black Panther, who

would have spoiled Mowgli if he had had his own way. "How

can his little head carry all thy long talk?"

"Is there anything in the jungle too little to be killed? No. That

is why I teach him these things, and that is why I hit him, very

softly, when he forgets."

"Softly! What dost thou know of softness, old Iron-feet?"

Bagheera grunted. "His face is all bruised today by thy—

softness. Ugh." "Better he should be bruised from head to foot by me who love

him than that he should come to harm through ignorance," Baloo

answered very earnestly. "I am now teaching him the Master

Words of the Jungle that shall protect him with the birds and the

Snake People, and all that hunt on four feet, except his own

pack. He can now claim protection, if he will only remember the

words, from all in the jungle. Is not that worth a little beating?"

"Well, look to it then that thou dost not kill the man-cub. He is

no tree trunk to sharpen thy blunt claws upon. But what are

those Master Words? I am more likely to give help than to ask

it"—Bagheera stretched out one paw and admired the steel-blue,

ripping-chisel talons at the end of it—"still I should like to

know."

"I will call Mowgli and he shall say them—if he will. Come,

Little Brother!"

"My head is ringing like a bee tree," said a sullen little voice

over their heads, and Mowgli slid down a tree trunk very angry

and indignant, adding as he reached the ground: "I come for

Bagheera and not for thee, fat old Baloo!"

"That is all one to me," said Baloo, though he was hurt and

grieved. "Tell Bagheera, then, the Master Words of the Jungle

that I have taught thee this day."

"Master Words for which people?" said Mowgli, delighted to

show off. "The jungle has many tongues. I know them all."

"A little thou knowest, but not much. See, O Bagheera, they

never thank their teacher. Not one small wolfling has ever come

back to thank old Baloo for his teachings. Say the word for the

Hunting-People, then—great scholar."

"We be of one blood, ye and I," said Mowgli, giving the words

the Bear accent which all the Hunting People use.

"Good. Now for the birds."

Mowgli repeated, with the Kite's whistle at the end of the

sentence. "Now for the Snake-People," said Bagheera.

The answer was a perfectly indescribable hiss, and Mowgli

kicked up his feet behind, clapped his hands together to applaud

himself, and jumped on to Bagheera's back, where he sat

sideways, drumming with his heels on the glossy skin and

making the worst faces he could think of at Baloo.

"There—there! That was worth a little bruise," said the brown

bear tenderly. "Some day thou wilt remember me." Then he

turned aside to tell Bagheera how he had begged the Master

Words from Hathi the Wild Elephant, who knows all about these

things, and how Hathi had taken Mowgli down to a pool to get

the Snake Word from a water-snake, because Baloo could not

pronounce it, and how Mowgli was now reasonably safe against

all accidents in the jungle, because neither snake, bird, nor beast

would hurt him.

"No one then is to be feared," Baloo wound up, patting his big

furry stomach with pride.

"Except his own tribe," said Bagheera, under his breath; and

then aloud to Mowgli, "Have a care for my ribs, Little Brother!

What is all this dancing up and down?"

Mowgli had been trying to make himself heard by pulling at

Bagheera's shoulder fur and kicking hard. When the two listened

to him he was shouting at the top of his voice, "And so I shall

have a tribe of my own, and lead them through the branches all

day long."

"What is this new folly, little dreamer of dreams?" said

Bagheera.

"Yes, and throw branches and dirt at old Baloo," Mowgli went

on. "They have promised me this. Ah!"

"Whoof!" Baloo's big paw scooped Mowgli off Bagheera's back,

and as the boy lay between the big fore-paws he could see the

Bear was angry.....