Chapter - 7 “The King’s Ankus”

Kaa and Mowgli were bathing in the wise snake's favorite pool. They lay soaking in the cool water, watching the moon rise. Mowgli said to Kaa, "The man pack, at this hour, would lay down on hard pieces of wood. Shutting out the clean winds, they would pull dirty cloths over their heads. Then before long, they would begin to make evil songs through their noses. It is better in the jungle."

"So the jungle gives you all that you wish, Little Brother?" Kaa asked.

"I have the jungle," said Mowgli. "What more could there be between sunrise and sunset?"

Kaa said, "Three or four moons ago, I hunted in the Cold Lairs. There was a white cobra there who is the keeper of many things—dead things. He said a man would give the hot breath under his ribs just for the sight of them."

"We will go there to look then," said Mowgli, "for I cannot forget that I was once a man."

Kaa and Mowgli set off for the Cold Lairs. This night they were empty and silent, for the Monkey- People were in the jungle. Kaa went down a ruined staircase in the queen's pavilion. Then he led Mowgli a great distance along an underground passage that finally opened into a vault.

"A well-hidden place," said Mowgli. "And now, what do we see?"

"Am I nothing?" The voice came from the middle of the vault. Mowgli turned and saw a cobra nearly eight feet long! Years of darkness had bleached him to an ivory white.

"Good hunting!" said Mowgli, whose manners never left him.

"What news of the city?" the cobra asked. "What of the great, walled city above our heads?"

"The jungle is above us," said Mowgli.

The cobra turned to Kaa. "Who is this man who is not afraid? How is it that he speaks our language with a man's lips?"

The boy spoke for himself. "Mowgli is what they call me. I am of the jungle. Now tell me, Father of Cobras, who are you?"

The cobra said, "I am the keeper of the king's treasure. I teach death to those who come to steal."

Confused, Mowgli looked around and said, "But I see nothing here to take away."

"By the gods of the sun and moon!" cried the cobra. "Before your eyes close, I will let you see. You will look at what no man has seen before!"

Mowgli stared harder into the dim light of the dark vault. The floor was buried some five or six feet deep in silver and gold. There were golden candlesticks hung with emeralds. There were silver heads of forgotten gods with eyes of jewels. There were piles of swords, helmets, rings, bracelets, cups, and more—all decorated with silver and gold,

rubies, diamonds, and jade.

Only one thing interested Mowgli, however. This was a two-foot ankus, or elephant goad. It was made of steel and ivory and decorated with jade, emeralds, rubies, and gold.

Mowgli said to the cobra, "Will you give me this if I will bring you frogs to eat?"

The cobra said, "Look by your foot!"

Mowgli picked up a man's skull.

The cobra said, "Behold a man who came here to take away the treasure."

Mowgli said, "If you will give me the ankus, it is good hunting. If not, it is good hunting also. I do not fight with you."

"No man who ever entered here has left," the cobra said. "I am the keeper of the city's treasure!"

Then Kaa cried, "White worm! There is no city! And what is this talk of killing?"

"If there is no city, there is still treasure," the cobra answered. "There is room for sport here. Watch me make the boy run."

Mowgli threw the ankus at the great cobra's hood, pinning him to the floor.

"Kill!" cried Kaa.

"No," Mowgli said. "I will never kill again— except for food. But look, Kaa!" Mowgli had forced the cobra's mouth open. Now Kaa could see that his fangs were black, dried up from age.

"I am shamed. Kill me!" hissed the cobra.

"There has been too much talk of killing," Mowgli said. "But I will take the ankus because I fought and beat you."

"You will not have it long, jungle man," the cobra warned. "My strength may be dried up, but the ankus will do its work. It is Death! I tell you, it is Death!"

Mowgli and Kaa were glad to leave the vault and return to the light of day. Mowgli quickly went to show the ankus to Bagheera.

"What do men use this ankus for?" Mowgli asked his friend.

Bagheera said, "It was made to poke at the heads of elephants, to make them obey. Since men have neither teeth nor claws, they create things like this—and worse."

Mowgli was disgusted. "It is always blood with this man pack. I will use this thing no more. Look!"

He threw the ankus 50 yards away, deep into the trees. Then he and Bagheera went to sleep.

That night Mowgli dreamed of the beautful object he had thrown away. When he woke to look for it, the ankus was gone.

"A man has taken it," Mowgli said to Bagheera. "Look—here is his trail."

They followed the trail most of the night. Soon it was clear that one man had been followed by a smaller man. Then, near a pile of broken rocks, lay a villager with an arrow in his back. The ankus was nowhere to be seen, and the smaller man's trail went on alone.

Mowgli and Bagheera followed the new trail to the ashes of a campfire. There lay the body of the smaller man, dead. The ankus was gone.

Mowgli stooped over the ashes. "Four men wearing shoes took the ankus," he said.

For another hour, they followed the trail. The day was clear and hot now. Before long they found another man lying in the bushes, dead. Around him was a circle of spilled flour.

"The cobra was right," said Mowgli. "This ankus is Death himself."

Half a mile farther, they found a smoking campfire. At its center, an iron plate held a burned cake of bread. Three men lay dead around it. Close to the fire, blazing in the sunshine, lay the ankus.

Mowgli tasted a piece of the bread and spat it out. "Poison!" he cried. "The man in the bushes must have put it in the bread for these three."

Mowgli picked up the ankus. "This goes back to the cobra," he said. "I have no love for men— but I would not have six of them die in one night!"

Two nights later, the cobra was sadly resting in the darkness of the vault. Then suddenly, the ankus flew in front of him and clashed on the floor of golden coins.

"Father of Cobras," said Mowgli. "Find a young cobra to help guard your treasure. No other man must come out of here alive."

"Aha!" said the cobra. "So the ankus returns, then. Why are you still alive?"

"I do not know," said Mowgli. "But let the ankus out no more."