Chapter - 2 Kaa’s Hunting

When Mowgli was a bit older, Baloo began teaching him the Law of the Jungle. Usually, young wolves learn only laws for their own pack. But Mowgli, as a man-cub, had to learn a great deal more by heart. He grew very tired of having to say the same thing over and over a hundred times. But as Baloo said to Bagheera one day, "There is nothing in the jungle too little to be killed. The Master Words of the jungle shall protect him with every stranger he meets. I will call Mowgli and he shall say them. Come, Little Brother!"

Mowgli slid down a half-fallen tree trunk. "I come for Bagheera and not for you, fat old Baloo!" he said rudely.

"That is all one to me," said Baloo, though Mowgli's words hurt him. "Tell Bagheera then. Tell him the Master Words I have taught you this day." Mowgli gave the Master Words - We be of one blood, you and I - to be used with the Hunting- People, the birds, and the snakes. Then he clapped his hands, jumped on Bagheera's back, and made the worst faces he could think of at Baloo.

"Soon I shall have a tribe of my own," Mowgli boasted. "I'll lead them through the trees, and we'll throw branches and dirt on Baloo!"

Whoof! Baloo scooped up Mowgli's wriggling little body. Lying between Baloo's big paws, the boy could see that the bear was very angry. Mowgli glanced over at Bagheera. The panther's eyes were hard as jade.

"Mowgli," said Baloo, "I see you have been talking with the Monkey-People. I have taught you the Law for all people of the jungle except the Monkey-People. They have no Law. They have no leaders. They boast and chatter of all the great things they mean to do. Then the fall of a nut makes them forget everything. We have nothing to do with them. We do not drink where they drink; we do not hunt where they hunt; we do not die where they die."

Baloo had hardly spoken when a shower of nuts and twigs fell down through the branches. They could hear the angry crashing of monkeys high in the tree branches above their heads.

"Baloo," said Bagheera, "you might have warned Mowgli against them."

"How was I to guess he would play with such dirt?" Baloo asked. "The Monkey-People! Faugh!"

When it was time for the midday nap, Mowgli lay down to sleep between the panther and the bear. He was very much ashamed of himself. He told himself he would stay away from the Monkey- People from now on.

But the next thing Mowgli knew there were hands pulling on his arms and legs—hard, strong, little hands. Then he felt a swash of branches across his face. Before he saw what was happening, he was staring down through the waving trees!

Below him Baloo and Bagheera woke the jungle with their deep cries. That made the Monkey- People howl with triumph. "Bagheera has finally noticed us!" they cried. "Now all the jungle sees how skillful and cunning we are!"

Then began the wild, whooping flight of the Monkey-People through the trees, carrying Mowgli with them as their prisoner.

At first Mowgli was afraid of being dropped. Then he grew angry and began to think about how to send word to Bagheera and Baloo. But the Monkey-People were traveling fast! He was afraid his friends would never be able to find him.

Looking up, he saw Chil the Kite. Chil had seen that the monkeys were carrying something. He had flown down to see whether their load was anything good to eat.

Mowgli quickly called out to the bird, "We be of one blood, you and I!"

Hearing the cry, Chil answered, "In whose name, Brother?"

"Mowgli the Frog! Mark my trail!" shouted Mowgli. "Tell Baloo and Bagheera! Mark my trail!"

Meanwhile, Baloo and Bagheera were frantic with rage and grief. Baloo had set off at a clumsy lope, hoping to catch up to the monkeys somehow.

Bagheera roared at him, "That pace would not tire a wounded cow. This is no time for chasing! Sit still and think!"

Baloo stopped and said, "Oh, fool that I am! What Hathi the Wild Elephant says is true: To each his own fear. Who do the Monkey-People fear? Kaa the Rock Python. Let us go to Kaa."

"What will he do for us? He is not of our tribe," Bagheera growled. 

"But he is very old and very cunning," Baloo said. "And above all, he is always hungry."

They found Kaa, all 30 feet of him, stretched out in the afternoon sun.

"Good hunting!" called Baloo.

"Good hunting for us all," Kaa said in reply. "Is there news of good game nearby? I am as empty as a dry well."

"We are hunting now," answered Bagheera.

"Let me come with you," said Kaa. "I am hungry for a young buck or an ape. On my last hunt I missed my kill. My tail was too loose about the tree, and I came near to falling. The noise awoke the Monkey-People, and they insulted me with evil names."

"They will say anything!" Bagheera cried scornfully. "They will even say that the great Kaa is afraid of the he-goat's horns."

The swallowing muscles on the side of Kaa's throat rippled and bulged with anger.

"It—it is the Monkey-People we follow now," said Baloo. The words stuck in his throat. He hated to admit to any interest in the monkeys.

"The trouble is," said Bagheera, "those nutstealers have stolen away our man-cub."

"A man-cub in their hands may come to great harm," said Kaa. "They also called me - yellow fish, was it not?"

"Worm, earthworm," said Bagheera.

Kaa said, "We must remind the Monkey-People to speak well of me, their master. Where did they go with the cub?"

"We thought you might know," said Bagheera.

"I? How?" said Kaa.

Just then, a voice above them cried, "Up, up! Look up, Baloo!"

Baloo looked up to see Chil the Kite. The bird said, "I have seen Mowgli among the Monkey- People. They took him to the Cold Lairs!"

"Good hunting to you, Chil!" said Bagheera. "I will remember you in my next kill!"

"It is nothing," Chil said. "The boy said the Master Words. I could have done no less." And with that, the big bird circled up to his roost.

"The Cold Lairs are half a night's journey," said Bagheera, looking at Baloo. "Follow after us, Baloo. We must go on quick-foot, Kaa and I."

The Cold Lairs was a deserted city on a little hill. Long ago a king had built it. Now the walls surrounding it were slowly falling away. Wild vines grew out of the windows of the empty houses.

The monkeys had set Mowgli down on an ancient stone terrace. By the hundreds they gathered around him. One of the monkeys made a speech. He said that Mowgli's capture marked a new chapter in the history of the Monkey-People. Now they could make Mowgli show them how to weave sticks and canes together as protection from the cold. Mowgli picked up some vines and began to work them in and out. But in a few minutes, the monkeys lost interest and began to pull each other's tails.

Meanwhile, Bagheera and Kaa had arrived at the Cold Lairs. As the big snake made his way slowly over the west wall, Bagheera entered the terrace without a sound. He quickly began striking right and left among the monkeys, causing howls of rage and fright. Suddenly a monkey shouted, "There is only one here! Kill him! Kill! "

A mass of biting monkeys closed over Bagheera. Five or six monkeys grabbed Mowgli. They dragged him up the wall of a stone house and pushed him through a hole in the roof. Mowgli fell a good 15 feet. But he fell as Baloo had taught him, and easily landed on his feet unharmed.

Mowgli could hear the furious yells and chattering of the monkeys around Bagheera. He heard Bagheera's deep, hoarse cough as he twisted and bucked under the heaps of monkeys. For the first time since he was born, Bagheera was fighting for his life.

Mowgli called, "To the water tank, Bagheera! Get to the water!"

Bagheera heard the call. Knowing Mowgli was safe, he felt new courage. Slowly, he inched his way to the water tank.

Then, from the ruined wall closest to the jungle, came the deep war-shout of Baloo. He began to bat at the monkeys with his heavy paws. Then Baloo heard a crash and a splash. This told him that Bagheera had fought his way to the water tank, where the monkeys could not follow.

Lifting his dripping chin, Bagheera called to thesnake for protection: We are of one blood, you and I. Baloo could not help chuckling as he heard the black panther call for help.

Then suddenly, the monkeys scattered, crying "Kaa! It is Kaa! Run! Run!"

The Monkey-People feared no one as they feared Kaa. He could slip along the branches as quietly as moss grows. He could steal away the strongest monkey who ever lived.

Kaa opened his mouth and hissed. The terrified monkeys huddled together, trembling. The Cold Lairs were silent.

"Where is the man-cub?" demanded Kaa.

"Here!" Mowgli called out from the stone house.

Kaa studied the wall of the house until he found a weak spot. Then, nose-first, he gave it half a dozen full-power, smashing blows. When the wall finally fell away in a cloud of dust and rubbish, Mowgli leaped clear. He flung himself between Bagheera and Baloo.

"Oh, no, they have hurt you, my brothers!" cried Mowgli. "You bleed."

Bagheera said, "It is to Kaa we owe the battle."

Mowgli turned to the great python. "I take my life from you tonight," he said solemnly. "My kill shall be your kill if ever you are hungry, O Kaa."

"All thanks, Little Brother," said Kaa. "But now go - for what must follow you should not see." Kaa glided to the center of the terrace and began to dance. He moved in a big circle, weaving his head from right to left. Then his body made loops and figures of eight. His coils formed soft, oozy triangles that melted into squares and mounds. He never rested, never hurried, never stopped his low, humming song. It grew darker and darker, until Kaa's coiled body disappeared.

At last Kaa said, "Monkey-People, come forward now - step nearer to me."

The lines of monkeys moved ahead helplessly. Baloo and Bagheera took one step forward, too.

"Nearer," hissed Kaa, and they all moved again. Mowgli put his hands on Baloo and Bagheera. His touch seemed to startle them—as though they had been awakened from a dream.

Mowgli led his friends away. Yet he still did not understand the power of the great snake. "It is only Kaa making circles in the dust," he said, "and his nose was all sore. Ho! Ho!"

"Mowgli," Bagheera scolded, "his nose was sore on your account. Baloo and I are badly bitten on your account. All of this, foolish little man-cub, came of your playing with the Monkey-People."

"True, it is true," said Mowgli, feeling sorrowful and ashamed now. "I am an evil man-cub, and my stomach is sad in me."

"You will learn," said Bagheera. "Now jump on my back, Little Brother, and we will go home."

Mowgli laid his head down on Bagheera's neck and slept.