Chapter - 4 The Outcast

By the time Mowgli was 10 or 11, Father Wolf had taught him a great deal about the jungle. Every rustle in the grass meant as much to Mowgli as the work of an office means to a businessman.

When the pack met, Mowgli took his place at the Council Rock, too. It was there he discovered his power. If he stared hard at any wolf, the wolf would be forced to drop his eyes. At other times Mowgli would pick long thorns from the paws of his friends, and pluck burrs from their coats.

Shere Khan was always crossing Mowgli's path. Now that Akela was getting old and weak, the tiger had become great friends with the younger wolves of the pack. Shere Khan would call them fine young hunters. Then he would ask them why they let themselves be led by old Akela and a man's cub. "They tell me," Shere Khan would say, "that you dare not look Mowgli in the eyes." Sensing insult, the proud young wolves would growl and bristle.

Bagheera warned Mowgli of Shere Khan's plans. "Shere Khan dares not kill you while Akela leads the pack," he said. "But Akela is old. Soon the day will come when he cannot kill his buck. Then, alas, he will be leader no more. At that time, the pack will turn against him—and against you. Shere Khan has been teaching them that a man-cub has no place in the pack."

Mowgli did not understand. "But a man should run with his brothers," he said.

Bagheera said, "Feel under my jaw."

Mowgli did not understand. But he reached up his strong little hand. Under Bagheera's silky chin he could feel a small bald spot.

"No one in the jungle knows I carry that mark," Bagheera said. "It is the mark of a collar. Who would ever guess that I was born among men, in the cages of the king's palace at Oodeypore? That is why I paid the price for you at the Council Rock. I lived in a cage until the night it came to me that I was Bagheera - the panther. I was not meant to be a

man's plaything. So I broke the silly lock and came away. But I lived among men and I know their ways. In the end, Mowgli, you must go back to men - if the wolf pack does not kill you first, that is."

"But why—why should any wish to kill me?" Mowgli asked in confusion.

"Because their eyes cannot meet yours," Bagheera said. "Because you have pulled thorns from their feet. Because you are a man. I have it! Go down to the men's huts in the valley. Take some of the Red Flower. Then, when the time comes, you will have a stronger friend than any in the jungle."

By red flower, Bagheera meant fire. Every beast lives in great fear of it. No one in the jungle will call it by its proper name.

Mowgli ran down to the bottom of the valley. He stopped suddenly when he heard the yelps of the pack on the hunt and the whimper of the buck they chased. Then the young wolves howled, "Akela! Let Akela show his strength!"

Akela must have sprung and missed, for the next sound Mowgli heard was a weak and pitiful yelp as Akela was being knocked over by the buck.

Mowgli did not wait to hear more, but ran on. The cries of the pack grew faint as he ran across the fields where the villagers lived.

Mowgli hid behind the window of a village hut. He said to himself, "Tomorrow is the day of reckoning for both Akela and me."

Through the window, he watched the fire on the hearth. Later that night, he saw a woman get up and feed it black lumps. When morning came, a boy came out carrying a small pot filled with hot charcoal. Mowgli met the boy, snatched the pot from his hand, and disappeared into the mist. The startled boy howled with fear.

All that day, Mowgli fed his fire pot with dry branches. He was laughing that night as he went to the Council Rock.

Akela lay by the side of his rock, a sign that the leadership was open. Bagheera lay close to Mowgli. The fire pot was between the boy's knees. When all the wolves had finally gathered, Shere Khan began to speak.

Mowgli sprang to his feet. "Why do we allow Shere Khan to speak? What does he have to do with the pack?"

Shere Khan roared, "I am sick of this man's cub! Give him to me—or I will hunt here always and not give you one bone!"

Akela raised his old head and said, "Mowgli is our brother in all but blood. He has eaten our food. He has driven game for us. And he has not broken one word of the Law of the Jungle."

"But he is a man—a man!" snarled many in the pack. Most of the young wolves had now begun to gather around Shere Khan.

Mowgli stood up, furious with rage and sadness. "Listen, you!" he cried. "I would have been a wolf with you to my life's end. But now you tell me that I am a man. So I do not call you brothers anymore. No, I call you dogs—as a man should. And you will do as I tell you!"

Mowgli threw the fire pot upon the ground. The pack drew back in terror from the leaping flames. Then Mowgli pushed a dead branch into the fire until the twigs sparkled and crackled.

"I go from you now," Mowgli said. "But first there is a debt to pay." He caught Shere Khan by the fur of his chin. "Stir a whisker, Lungri, and I will ram the red flower down your throat!" Then he struck out at Shere Khan with the burning branch, and the tiger whined in terror.

"Pah!" said Mowgli. "Now go! When I come next to the Council Rock, I will bring your hide! All of you—go!"

As Mowgli struck out right and left, the wolves ran howling. At last there remained only Akela, Bagheera, and perhaps 10 wolves who had taken Mowgli's part. Then something strange happened. At that moment a great pain began to hurt Mowgli inside. He caught his breath and sobbed.

"What is it? What is happening to me?" he cried out. "Am I dying, Bagheera?"

"No," Bagheera answered. "It is only tears such as men use. Let them fall."

For a long time Mowgli cried as if his heart would break. Then he went to the cave where Mother and Father Wolf waited for him.

"You will not forget me?" Mowgli asked sadly.

"Never while we can follow a trail," said the four cubs. "Come to the edge of the jungle when you become a man. There we will talk to you."

"I will surely come," promised Mowgli. "Tell my friends in the jungle never to forget me!"

The dawn was beginning to break when Mowgli went down to the village alone. It was time to meet those mysterious things called men.