Mowgli knew that he had enemies now and he went far
away. He ran until he came to a village in a place with
many rocks and narrow valleys. Everywhere Mowgli
could see cows and buffaloes. Some little boys were
looking after the cows, but when they saw Mowgli, they
shouted and ran away. Mowgli walked on until he came
to the village.
He sat down by the gate. When a man came out of
the village, Mowgli opened his mouth to show that he
wanted food. The man ran back into the village and
came back with a hundred other people. They all looked
at Mowgli and saw the bite-marks on his arms and legs.
'Look,' said a man, 'those are the bite-marks of wolves.
He is a wolf-child who has run away from the jungle.'
'He is a good-looking boy,' said one of the women.
'Messua, he looks like your little boy that was taken by
the tiger.'
'Let me look,' said Messua. 'Yes, he is thin, but he
looks like my son.'
'Take him to your house, Messua,' the villagers said.
'The jungle took your boy, and the jungle has given you
this one back.'
The woman called Messua took Mowgli to her house
and gave him milk and bread. This was Mowgli's first
time in a house, and he did not like it. It felt like a prison.
'But I am a man now,' he thought, 'and I must do
what men do. I must also learn to speak like men.' He
knew all the many languages of the jungle, and so it
was easy for him to learn the sounds of men. That first
evening he learnt many words from Messua.
But that night he did not want to sleep inside the
house. So he climbed out of the window, and went to
sleep in a field near the village. Before he went to sleep,
a soft grey nose touched his face. It was Grey Brother,
the eldest of Mother Wolf's cubs.
'Wake, Little Brother,' he said. 'I bring news. Shere
Khan has gone away. You burnt his coat with the Red
Flower. But he says that, when he comes back, he will
kill you.'
'I remember also what I said about Shere Khan,' said
Mowgli. 'But it is good to have news. Will you always
bring me news, Grey Brother?'
'Yes, Little Brother. But you will not forget that you
are a wolf? You will not forget us when you are with men?'
'Never,' replied Mowgli. 'I will always remember that
I love you all.'
For three months Mowgli learnt how to be like a man.
He had to wear clothes, learn how to use money, and
how to work in the fields. In the evenings he sat with
the villagers under a great tree, while the men told stories
about the jungle and the animals. Once, when Buldeo,
the village hunter, told a story about a tiger, Mowgli
had to hide his face because he was laughing. At the
end he said, 'Buldeo's stories are stupid. He knows
nothing about the jungle.'
The villagers did not like this, and after that they sent
Mowgli out every day with the other boys, to look after
the herds of cows and buffaloes while they ate. Mowgli
enjoyed this work, and usually went on alone, with a
big group of cows and buffaloes.
One day he saw Grey Brother under a tree near the
jungle. 'Shere Khan has come back, but he is hiding for a
while. Then he is coming to kill you,' said Grey Brother.
'Very good,' said Mowgli. 'Tell me when he comes.
Meet me at the river, by the big dhak-tree with golden
flowers. I will watch for you there every day.'
Day after day Mowgli went out with the herds, but
there was nobody at the dhak-tree. Then at last the day
came when Grey Brother was waiting for him.
'Shere Khan has waited for a month, and is hoping
that you have now forgotten about him,' said the wolf.
'He's going to wait for you at the village gate this
evening. But now he is hiding in the big dry ravine of
the Waingunga. I met Tabaqui this morning-' here
Grey Brother showed his teeth a little '-and before I
broke his back, he told me all about Shere Khan's plan.'
'Has Shere Khan eaten today, or does he hunt empty?'
The answer was life or death for Mowgli.
'He killed and ate this morning. And he has drunk,
too.'
'How stupid he is!' said Mowgli. 'Does he think that
I shall wait until he has slept?' He stood and thought
for a while. 'The ravine of Waingunga! I can take the
buffaloes round to the top end and chase Shere Khan
down the ravine. After a meal, he cannot fight or climb
easily. But I need a big group of cows at the bottom end
of the ravine, to stop him escaping. Then we will catch
him between the buffaloes and the cows. Can you help
me, Grey Brother?'
'Not I alone,' said Grey Brother, 'but I have someone
who will help me.' And the big grey head of Akela came
out from the trees.
'Akela! Akela!' said Mowgli. 'I knew you would not
forget me.' The two wolves ran here and there among
the herd, and soon the cows and buffaloes were in two
groups. Already, they were getting excited and
dangerous. The other herd-boys, who were watching a
long way away, ran back to the village with the news.
'Keep the cows together, Grey Brother,' called
Mowgli. 'Drive them into the bottom end of the ravine
and keep them there until we come down. Akela, you
and I will take the buffaloes round to the top.'
They drove the buffaloes round in a big circle uphill.
It took a long time because they did not want Shere
Khan to hear them. At last Mowgli was ready. He
stopped and shouted down the ravine.
'Shere Khan! It is I, Mowgli. It is time for our meeting!'
Mowgli rode on the back of Rama, the biggest of the
buffaloes, and Akela chased the herd from behind. The
buffaloes began to run down the ravine, faster and faster,
and the ground shook under their heavy feet.
Shere Khan heard the noise and woke up. He knew
what it was, and he began to run down the ravine. No
tiger can hope to stand against a herd of buffaloes when
they are moving fast. He looked for a way to escape,
but the ravine was narrow, with high rocky walls. He
had to go on, heavy with his dinner and his drink. Then
he saw the cows at the bottom of the ravine, and turned.
But it was too late. He fell under the feet of the buffaloes,
and they ran over him like a river running down a
mountain.
The buffaloes did not stop until they crashed into the
herd of cows. Mowgli jumped off Rama's back and
shouted to Akela and Grey Brother.
'It is done! Shere Khan is dead! He died the death of
a dog, not a fighting tiger.'
Mowgli took his knife and started to cut the coat
from Shere Khan's body. It was hard work. After an
hour Mowgli was still working when suddenly he felt a
hand on his back. It was Buldeo, the village hunter.
'Go and look after your buffaloes,' he cried angrily.
'I will take this tiger's coat. I can sell it for a hundred
rupees, and you can have one rupee for yourself.'
'No,' said Mowgli. 'I need this coat.'
'Listen, boy!' shouted Buldeo. 'I am the village hunter,
and I will take the coat, and keep all the money.'
Then Mowgli spoke to Akela in the wolf-language,
and suddenly Buldeo was lying on his back on the
ground with a big grey wolf standing over him.
'Buldeo,' said Mowgli, 'for a long time this tiger has
wanted to kill me. But I have killed him.'
Buldeo was very afraid. Who was this boy, who could
talk to wolves and kill tigers? 'Great King,' he said to
Mowgli, 'I am an old man. I thought you were just a
herd-boy. Let me go now, and I will go away.'
'Go, and peace go with you,' replied Mowgli, and he
went on with his work.
It was nearly dark when at last he and the wolves
pulled the great coat away from the tiger's body.
'Now we must hide this and take the cows and the
buffaloes back to the village,' said Mowgli.
But when Mowgli came near the village, there was a
crowd of people waiting for him at the gate. 'Go away,
wolf-child!' they shouted. 'Go away, or we will kill you!'
Mowgli did not understand. Shere Khan - the tiger
who killed cows and stole children - was dead, but
people were angry with him. He turned away and looked
up at the stars in the sky. 'No more sleeping in houses
for me, Akela. Let us get Shere Khan's coat and go away.'
The moon climbed high in the sky, and the frightened
villagers watched while Mowgli began to run across the
fields, with the two grey wolves running at his side.
The moon was going down when Mowgli and the two
wolves came to Mother Wolf's cave. 'The men do not
want me, Mother,' called Mowgli. 'I have come home,
and I have brought the coat of Shere Khan.'
Mother Wolf came out of the cave, very happy to see
Mowgli again, and to know that Shere Khan was dead.
From the jungle came the deep voice of Bagheera.
'Little Brother, we are pleased to see you.'
Then Mowgli took the coat of Shere Khan and put it
on the great rock at the wolves' meeting place. Akela lay
on it and called, 'Look well, 0 Wolves!' And the WolfPack
came and looked, and saw that Shere Khan was dead.
'Now,' said Mowgli, 'I do not belong to the WolfPack,
or to the Man-Pack. I will hunt alone in the jungle.'
'And we will hunt with you,' said Grey Brother and
the rest of Mother Wolf's cubs.
And Mowgli went away into the jungle and lived and
hunted with his brothers, the wolves.
