fashion nova kick back leggings
kaa's hunting his spots are the joy of the leopard: hishorns are the buffalo's pride. be clean, for the strength of the hunter isknown 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 knewit ten seasons before. oppress not the cubs of the stranger, buthail them as sister and brother, for though they are little and fubsy, itmay be the bear is their mother. "there is none like to me!" says the cub inthe pride of his earliest kill; but the jungle is large and the cub he issmall.
let him think and be still. maxims of baloo all that is told here happened some timebefore mowgli was turned out of the seeonee wolf pack, or revenged himself on sherekhan the tiger. it was in the days when baloo was teachinghim the law of the jungle. the big, serious, old brown bear wasdelighted to have so quick a pupil, for the young wolves will only learn as much of thelaw of the jungle as applies to their own pack and tribe, and run away as soon as they can repeat the hunting verse--"feetthat make no noise; eyes that can see in
the dark; ears that can hear the winds intheir lairs, and sharp white teeth, all these things are the marks of our brothers except tabaqui the jackal and the hyaenawhom we hate." but mowgli, as a man-cub, had to learn agreat deal more than this. sometimes bagheera the black panther wouldcome lounging through the jungle to see how his pet was getting on, and would purr withhis head against a tree while mowgli recited the day's lesson to baloo. the boy could climb almost as well as hecould swim, and swim almost as well as he could run.
so baloo, the teacher of the law, taughthim the wood and water laws: how to tell a rotten branch from a sound one; how tospeak 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 hedisturbed him in the branches at midday; and how to warn the water-snakes in thepools before he splashed down among them. none of the jungle people like beingdisturbed, 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 thejungle-people hunts outside his own
grounds. it means, translated, "give me leave tohunt here because i am hungry." and the answer is, "hunt then for food, butnot for pleasure." all this will show you how much mowgli hadto learn by heart, and he grew very tired of saying the same thing over a hundredtimes. but, as baloo said to bagheera, one daywhen mowgli had been cuffed and run off in a temper, "a man's cub is a man's cub, andhe must learn all the law of the jungle." "but think how small he is," said the blackpanther, 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 littleto be killed? no. that is why i teach him these things, andthat 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 shouldcome to harm through ignorance," baloo answered very earnestly. "i am now teaching him the master words ofthe jungle that shall protect him with the birds and the snake people, and all thathunt on four feet, except his own pack. he can now claim protection, if he willonly remember the words, from all in the jungle.is not that worth a little beating?" "well, look to it then that thou dost notkill the man-cub. he is no tree trunk to sharpen thy bluntclaws upon. but what are those master words?
i am more likely to give help than to askit"--bagheera stretched out one paw and admired the steel-blue, ripping-chiseltalons 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," saida sullen little voice over their heads, and mowgli slid down a tree trunk very angryand indignant, adding as he reached the ground: "i come for bagheera and not forthee, fat old baloo!" "that is all one to me," said baloo, thoughhe was hurt and grieved.
"tell bagheera, then, the master words ofthe 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 backto thank old baloo for his teachings. say the word for the hunting-people, then--great scholar." "we be of one blood, ye and i," saidmowgli, giving the words the bear accent
which all the hunting people use."good. now for the birds." mowgli repeated, with the kite's whistle atthe end of the sentence. "now for the snake-people," said bagheera. the answer was a perfectly indescribablehiss, and mowgli kicked up his feet behind, clapped his hands together to applaudhimself, and jumped on to bagheera's back, where he sat sideways, drumming with his heels on the glossy skin and making theworst 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 howhe had begged the master words from hathi the wild elephant, who knows all aboutthese things, and how hathi had taken mowgli down to a pool to get the snake word from a water-snake, because baloo could notpronounce it, and how mowgli was now reasonably safe against all accidents inthe jungle, because neither snake, bird, nor beast would hurt him. "no one then is to be feared," baloo woundup, 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 himselfheard by pulling at bagheera's shoulder fur and kicking hard. when the two listened to him he wasshouting at the top of his voice, "and so i shall have a tribe of my own, and lead themthrough the branches all day long." "what is this new folly, little dreamer ofdreams?" said bagheera. "yes, and throw branches and dirt at oldbaloo," mowgli went on.
"they have promised me this. ah!""whoof!" baloo's big paw scooped mowgli offbagheera's back, and as the boy lay between the big fore-paws he could see the bear wasangry. "mowgli," said baloo, "thou hast beentalking with the bandar-log--the monkey people." mowgli looked at bagheera to see if thepanther was angry too, and bagheera's eyes were as hard as jade stones. "thou hast been with the monkey people--thegray apes--the people without a law--the
eaters of everything.that is great shame." "when baloo hurt my head," said mowgli (hewas still on his back), "i went away, and the gray apes came down from the trees andhad pity on me. no one else cared." he snuffled a little."the pity of the monkey people!" baloo snorted."the stillness of the mountain stream! the cool of the summer sun! and then, man-cub?" "and then, and then, they gave me nuts andpleasant things to eat, and they--they
carried me in their arms up to the top ofthe trees and said i was their blood brother except that i had no tail, andshould be their leader some day." "they have no leader," said bagheera."they lie. they have always lied." "they were very kind and bade me comeagain. why have i never been taken among themonkey people? they stand on their feet as i do. they do not hit me with their hard paws.they play all day. let me get up!bad baloo, let me up!
i will play with them again." "listen, man-cub," said the bear, and hisvoice rumbled like thunder on a hot night. "i have taught thee all the law of thejungle for all the peoples of the jungle-- except the monkey-folk who live in thetrees. they have no law. they are outcasts.they have no speech of their own, but use the stolen words which they overhear whenthey listen, and peep, and wait up above in the branches. their way is not our way.they are without leaders.
they have no remembrance. they boast and chatter and pretend thatthey are a great people about to do great affairs in the jungle, but the falling of anut turns their minds to laughter and all is forgotten. we of the jungle have no dealings withthem. we do not drink where the monkeys drink; wedo not go where the monkeys go; we do not hunt where they hunt; we do not die wherethey die. hast thou ever heard me speak of thebandar-log till today?" "no," said mowgli in a whisper, for theforest was very still now baloo had
finished. "the jungle-people put them out of theirmouths and out of their minds. they are very many, evil, dirty, shameless,and they desire, if they have any fixed desire, to be noticed by the jungle people. but we do not notice them even when theythrow nuts and filth on our heads." he had hardly spoken when a shower of nutsand twigs spattered down through the branches; and they could hear coughings andhowlings and angry jumpings high up in the air among the thin branches. "the monkey-people are forbidden," saidbaloo, "forbidden to the jungle-people.
remember." "forbidden," said bagheera, "but i stillthink baloo should have warned thee against them.""i--i? how was i to guess he would play with suchdirt. the monkey people!faugh!" a fresh shower came down on their heads andthe two trotted away, taking mowgli with them.what baloo had said about the monkeys was perfectly true. they belonged to the tree-tops, and asbeasts very seldom look up, there was no
occasion for the monkeys and the jungle-people to cross each other's path. but whenever they found a sick wolf, or awounded tiger, or bear, the monkeys would torment him, and would throw sticks andnuts at any beast for fun and in the hope of being noticed. then they would howl and shriek senselesssongs, and invite the jungle-people to climb up their trees and fight them, orwould start furious battles over nothing among themselves, and leave the dead monkeys where the jungle-people could seethem. they were always just going to have aleader, and laws and customs of their own,
but they never did, because their memorieswould not hold over from day to day, and so they compromised things by making up a saying, "what the bandar-log think now thejungle will think later," and that comforted them a great deal. none of the beasts could reach them, but onthe other hand none of the beasts would notice them, and that was why they were sopleased when mowgli came to play with them, and they heard how angry baloo was. they never meant to do any more--thebandar-log never mean anything at all; but one of them invented what seemed to him abrilliant idea, and he told all the others
that mowgli would be a useful person to keep in the tribe, because he could weavesticks together for protection from the wind; so, if they caught him, they couldmake him teach them. of course mowgli, as a woodcutter's child,inherited all sorts of instincts, and used to make little huts of fallen brancheswithout thinking how he came to do it. the monkey-people, watching in the trees,considered his play most wonderful. this time, they said, they were reallygoing to have a leader and become the wisest people in the jungle--so wise thateveryone else would notice and envy them. therefore they followed baloo and bagheeraand mowgli through the jungle very quietly
till it was time for the midday nap, andmowgli, who was very much ashamed of himself, slept between the panther and the bear, resolving to have no more to do withthe monkey people. the next thing he remembered was feelinghands on his legs and arms--hard, strong, little hands--and then a swash of branchesin his face, and then he was staring down through the swaying boughs as baloo woke the jungle with his deep cries and bagheerabounded up the trunk with every tooth bared. the bandar-log howled with triumph andscuffled away to the upper branches where
bagheera dared not follow, shouting: "hehas noticed us! bagheera has noticed us. all the jungle-people admire us for ourskill and our cunning." then they began their flight; and theflight of the monkey-people through tree- land is one of the things nobody candescribe. they have their regular roads andcrossroads, up hills and down hills, all laid out from fifty to seventy or a hundredfeet above ground, and by these they can travel even at night if necessary. two of the strongest monkeys caught mowgliunder the arms and swung off with him
through the treetops, twenty feet at abound. had they been alone they could have gonetwice as fast, but the boy's weight held them back. sick and giddy as mowgli was he could nothelp enjoying the wild rush, though the glimpses of earth far down below frightenedhim, and the terrible check and jerk at the end of the swing over nothing but empty airbrought his heart between his teeth. his escort would rush him up a tree till hefelt the thinnest topmost branches crackle and bend under them, and then with a coughand a whoop would fling themselves into the air outward and downward, and bring up,
hanging by their hands or their feet to thelower limbs of the next tree. sometimes he could see for miles and milesacross the still green jungle, as a man on the top of a mast can see for miles acrossthe sea, and then the branches and leaves would lash him across the face, and he and his two guards would be almost down toearth again. so, bounding and crashing and whooping andyelling, the whole tribe of bandar-log swept along the tree-roads with mowglitheir prisoner. for a time he was afraid of being dropped. then he grew angry but knew better than tostruggle, and then he began to think.
the first thing was to send back word tobaloo and bagheera, for, at the pace the monkeys were going, he knew his friendswould be left far behind. it was useless to look down, for he couldonly see the topsides of the branches, so he stared upward and saw, far away in theblue, rann the kite balancing and wheeling as he kept watch over the jungle waitingfor things to die. rann saw that the monkeys were carryingsomething, and dropped a few hundred yards to find out whether their load was good toeat. he whistled with surprise when he sawmowgli being dragged up to a treetop and heard him give the kite call for--"we be ofone blood, thou and i."
the waves of the branches closed over theboy, but rann balanced away to the next tree in time to see the little brown facecome up again. "mark my trail!" mowgli shouted."tell baloo of the seeonee pack and bagheera of the council rock.""in whose name, brother?" rann had never seen mowgli before, thoughof course he had heard of him. "mowgli, the frog.man-cub they call me! mark my trail!" the last words were shrieked as he wasbeing swung through the air, but rann
nodded and rose up till he looked no biggerthan a speck of dust, and there he hung, watching with his telescope eyes the swaying of the treetops as mowgli's escortwhirled along. "they never go far," he said with achuckle. "they never do what they set out to do. always pecking at new things are thebandar-log. this time, if i have any eye-sight, theyhave pecked down trouble for themselves, for baloo is no fledgling and bagheera can,as i know, kill more than goats." so he rocked on his wings, his feetgathered up under him, and waited.
meantime, baloo and bagheera were furiouswith rage and grief. bagheera climbed as he had never climbedbefore, but the thin branches broke beneath his weight, and he slipped down, his clawsfull of bark. "why didst thou not warn the man-cub?" heroared to poor baloo, who had set off at a clumsy trot in the hope of overtaking themonkeys. "what was the use of half slaying him withblows if thou didst not warn him?" "haste!o haste! we--we may catch them yet!" baloo panted."at that speed!
it would not tire a wounded cow. teacher of the law--cub-beater--a mile ofthat rolling to and fro would burst thee open.sit still and think! make a plan. this is no time for chasing.they may drop him if we follow too close." "arrula!whoo! they may have dropped him already, beingtired of carrying him. who can trust the bandar-log?put dead bats on my head! give me black bones to eat!
roll me into the hives of the wild beesthat i may be stung to death, and bury me with the hyaena, for i am most miserable ofbears! arulala! wahooa!o mowgli, mowgli! why did i not warn thee against the monkey-folk instead of breaking thy head? now perhaps i may have knocked the day'slesson out of his mind, and he will be alone in the jungle without the masterwords." baloo clasped his paws over his ears androlled to and fro moaning. "at least he gave me all the wordscorrectly a little time ago," said bagheera
impatiently. "baloo, thou hast neither memory norrespect. what would the jungle think if i, the blackpanther, curled myself up like ikki the porcupine, and howled?" "what do i care what the jungle thinks?he may be dead by now." "unless and until they drop him from thebranches in sport, or kill him out of idleness, i have no fear for the man-cub. he is wise and well taught, and above allhe has the eyes that make the jungle-people afraid.
but (and it is a great evil) he is in thepower of the bandar-log, and they, because they live in trees, have no fear of any ofour people." bagheera licked one forepaw thoughtfully. "fool that i am! oh, fat, brown, root-digging fool that iam," said baloo, uncoiling himself with a jerk, "it is true what hathi the wildelephant says: `to each his own fear'; and they, the bandar-log, fear kaa the rocksnake. he can climb as well as they can.he steals the young monkeys in the night. the whisper of his name makes their wickedtails cold.
let us go to kaa.""what will he do for us? he is not of our tribe, being footless--andwith most evil eyes," said bagheera. "he is very old and very cunning.above all, he is always hungry," said baloo hopefully. "promise him many goats.""he sleeps for a full month after he has once eaten. he may be asleep now, and even were heawake what if he would rather kill his own goats?"bagheera, who did not know much about kaa, was naturally suspicious.
"then in that case, thou and i together,old hunter, might make him see reason." here baloo rubbed his faded brown shoulderagainst the panther, and they went off to look for kaa the rock python. they found him stretched out on a warmledge in the afternoon sun, admiring his beautiful new coat, for he had been inretirement for the last ten days changing his skin, and now he was very splendid-- darting his big blunt-nosed head along theground, and twisting the thirty feet of his body into fantastic knots and curves, andlicking his lips as he thought of his dinner to come.
"he has not eaten," said baloo, with agrunt of relief, as soon as he saw the beautifully mottled brown and yellowjacket. "be careful, bagheera! he is always a little blind after he haschanged his skin, and very quick to strike." kaa was not a poison snake--in fact herather despised the poison snakes as cowards--but his strength lay in his hug,and when he had once lapped his huge coils round anybody there was no more to be said. "good hunting!" cried baloo, sitting up onhis haunches.
like all snakes of his breed kaa was ratherdeaf, and did not hear the call at first. then he curled up ready for any accident,his head lowered. "good hunting for us all," he answered."oho, baloo, what dost thou do here? good hunting, bagheera. one of us at least needs food.is there any news of game afoot? a doe now, or even a young buck?i am as empty as a dried well." "we are hunting," said baloo carelessly. he knew that you must not hurry kaa.he is too big. "give me permission to come with you," saidkaa.
"a blow more or less is nothing to thee,bagheera or baloo, but i--i have to wait and wait for days in a wood-path and climbhalf a night on the mere chance of a young ape. psshaw!the branches are not what they were when i was young.rotten twigs and dry boughs are they all." "maybe thy great weight has something to dowith the matter," said baloo. "i am a fair length--a fair length," saidkaa with a little pride. "but for all that, it is the fault of thisnew-grown timber. i came very near to falling on my lasthunt--very near indeed--and the noise of my
slipping, for my tail was not tight wrappedaround the tree, waked the bandar-log, and they called me most evil names." "footless, yellow earth-worm," saidbagheera under his whiskers, as though he were trying to remember something."sssss! have they ever called me that?" said kaa. "something of that kind it was that theyshouted to us last moon, but we never noticed them. they will say anything--even that thou hastlost all thy teeth, and wilt not face anything bigger than a kid, because (theyare indeed shameless, these bandar-log)--
because thou art afraid of the he-goat'shorns," bagheera went on sweetly. now a snake, especially a wary old pythonlike kaa, very seldom shows that he is angry, but baloo and bagheera could see thebig swallowing muscles on either side of kaa's throat ripple and bulge. "the bandar-log have shifted theirgrounds," he said quietly. "when i came up into the sun today i heardthem whooping among the tree-tops." "it--it is the bandar-log that we follownow," said baloo, but the words stuck in his throat, for that was the first time inhis memory that one of the jungle-people had owned to being interested in the doingsof the monkeys.
"beyond doubt then it is no small thingthat takes two such hunters--leaders in their own jungle i am certain--on the trailof the bandar-log," kaa replied courteously, as he swelled with curiosity. "indeed," baloo began, "i am no more thanthe old and sometimes very foolish teacher of the law to the seeonee wolf-cubs, andbagheera here--" "is bagheera," said the black panther, andhis jaws shut with a snap, for he did not believe in being humble."the trouble is this, kaa. those nut-stealers and pickers of palmleaves have stolen away our man-cub of whom thou hast perhaps heard."
"i heard some news from ikki (his quillsmake him presumptuous) of a man-thing that was entered into a wolf pack, but i did notbelieve. ikki is full of stories half heard and verybadly told." "but it is true.he is such a man-cub as never was," said baloo. "the best and wisest and boldest of man-cubs--my own pupil, who shall make the name of baloo famous through all the jungles;and besides, i--we--love him, kaa." "ts! ts!" said kaa, weaving his head to and fro."i also have known what love is.
there are tales i could tell that--" "that need a clear night when we are allwell fed to praise properly," said bagheera quickly. "our man-cub is in the hands of the bandar-log now, and we know that of all the jungle-people they fear kaa alone.""they fear me alone. they have good reason," said kaa. "chattering, foolish, vain--vain, foolish,and chattering, are the monkeys. but a man-thing in their hands is in nogood luck. they grow tired of the nuts they pick, andthrow them down.
they carry a branch half a day, meaning todo great things with it, and then they snap it in two. that man-thing is not to be envied.they called me also--`yellow fish' was it not?" "worm--worm--earth-worm," said bagheera,"as well as other things which i cannot now say for shame.""we must remind them to speak well of their master. aaa-ssp!we must help their wandering memories. now, whither went they with the cub?""the jungle alone knows.
toward the sunset, i believe," said baloo. "we had thought that thou wouldst know,kaa." "i?how? i take them when they come in my way, but ido not hunt the bandar-log, or frogs--or green scum on a water-hole, for thatmatter." "up, up! up, up!hillo! illo!illo, look up, baloo of the seeonee wolf pack!"
baloo looked up to see where the voice camefrom, and there was rann the kite, sweeping down with the sun shining on the upturnedflanges of his wings. it was near rann's bedtime, but he hadranged all over the jungle looking for the bear and had missed him in the thickfoliage. "what is it?" said baloo. "i have seen mowgli among the bandar-log.he bade me tell you. i watched. the bandar-log have taken him beyond theriver to the monkey city--to the cold lairs.they may stay there for a night, or ten
nights, or an hour. i have told the bats to watch through thedark time. that is my message.good hunting, all you below!" "full gorge and a deep sleep to you, rann,"cried bagheera. "i will remember thee in my next kill, andput aside the head for thee alone, o best of kites!" "it is nothing.it is nothing. the boy held the master word.i could have done no less," and rann circled up again to his roost.
"he has not forgotten to use his tongue,"said baloo with a chuckle of pride. "to think of one so young remembering themaster word for the birds too while he was being pulled across trees!" "it was most firmly driven into him," saidbagheera. "but i am proud of him, and now we must goto the cold lairs." they all knew where that place was, but fewof the jungle people ever went there, because what they called the cold lairs wasan old deserted city, lost and buried in the jungle, and beasts seldom use a placethat men have once used. the wild boar will, but the hunting tribesdo not.
besides, the monkeys lived there as much asthey could be said to live anywhere, and no self-respecting animal would come withineyeshot of it except in times of drought, when the half-ruined tanks and reservoirsheld a little water. "it is half a night's journey--at fullspeed," said bagheera, and baloo looked very serious. "i will go as fast as i can," he saidanxiously. "we dare not wait for thee.follow, baloo. we must go on the quick-foot--kaa and i." "feet or no feet, i can keep abreast of allthy four," said kaa shortly.
baloo made one effort to hurry, but had tosit down panting, and so they left him to come on later, while bagheera hurriedforward, at the quick panther-canter. kaa said nothing, but, strive as bagheeramight, the huge rock-python held level with him. when they came to a hill stream, bagheeragained, because he bounded across while kaa swam, his head and two feet of his neckclearing the water, but on level ground kaa made up the distance. "by the broken lock that freed me," saidbagheera, when twilight had fallen, "thou art no slow goer!""i am hungry," said kaa.
"besides, they called me speckled frog." "worm--earth-worm, and yellow to boot.""all one. let us go on," and kaa seemed to pourhimself along the ground, finding the shortest road with his steady eyes, andkeeping to it. in the cold lairs the monkey-people werenot thinking of mowgli's friends at all. they had brought the boy to the lost city,and were very much pleased with themselves for the time. mowgli had never seen an indian citybefore, and though this was almost a heap of ruins it seemed very wonderful andsplendid.
some king had built it long ago on a littlehill. you could still trace the stone causewaysthat led up to the ruined gates where the last splinters of wood hung to the worn,rusted hinges. trees had grown into and out of the walls;the battlements were tumbled down and decayed, and wild creepers hung out of thewindows of the towers on the walls in bushy hanging clumps. a great roofless palace crowned the hill,and the marble of the courtyards and the fountains was split, and stained with redand green, and the very cobblestones in the courtyard where the king's elephants used
to live had been thrust up and apart bygrasses and young trees. from the palace you could see the rows androws of roofless houses that made up the city looking like empty honeycombs filledwith blackness; the shapeless block of stone that had been an idol in the square where four roads met; the pits and dimplesat street corners where the public wells once stood, and the shattered domes oftemples with wild figs sprouting on their sides. the monkeys called the place their city,and pretended to despise the jungle-people because they lived in the forest.and yet they never knew what the buildings
were made for nor how to use them. they would sit in circles on the hall ofthe king's council chamber, and scratch for fleas and pretend to be men; or they wouldrun in and out of the roofless houses and collect pieces of plaster and old bricks in a corner, and forget where they had hiddenthem, and fight and cry in scuffling crowds, and then break off to play up anddown the terraces of the king's garden, where they would shake the rose trees and the oranges in sport to see the fruit andflowers fall. they explored all the passages and darktunnels in the palace and the hundreds of
little dark rooms, but they neverremembered what they had seen and what they had not; and so drifted about in ones and twos or crowds telling each other that theywere doing as men did. they drank at the tanks and made the waterall muddy, and then they fought over it, and then they would all rush together inmobs and shout: "there is no one in the jungle so wise and good and clever andstrong and gentle as the bandar-log." then all would begin again till they grewtired of the city and went back to the tree-tops, hoping the jungle-people wouldnotice them. mowgli, who had been trained under the lawof the jungle, did not like or understand
this kind of life. the monkeys dragged him into the cold lairslate in the afternoon, and instead of going to sleep, as mowgli would have done after along journey, they joined hands and danced about and sang their foolish songs. one of the monkeys made a speech and toldhis companions that mowgli's capture marked a new thing in the history of the bandar-log, for mowgli was going to show them how to weave sticks and canes together as aprotection against rain and cold. mowgli picked up some creepers and began towork them in and out, and the monkeys tried to imitate; but in a very few minutes theylost interest and began to pull their
friends' tails or jump up and down on allfours, coughing. "i wish to eat," said mowgli."i am a stranger in this part of the jungle. bring me food, or give me leave to hunthere." twenty or thirty monkeys bounded away tobring him nuts and wild pawpaws. but they fell to fighting on the road, andit was too much trouble to go back with what was left of the fruit. mowgli was sore and angry as well ashungry, and he roamed through the empty city giving the strangers' hunting callfrom time to time, but no one answered him,
and mowgli felt that he had reached a verybad place indeed. "all that baloo has said about the bandar-log is true," he thought to himself. "they have no law, no hunting call, and noleaders--nothing but foolish words and little picking thievish hands.so if i am starved or killed here, it will be all my own fault. but i must try to return to my own jungle.baloo will surely beat me, but that is better than chasing silly rose leaves withthe bandar-log." no sooner had he walked to the city wallthan the monkeys pulled him back, telling him that he did not know how happy he was,and pinching him to make him grateful.
he set his teeth and said nothing, but wentwith the shouting monkeys to a terrace above the red sandstone reservoirs thatwere half-full of rain water. there was a ruined summer-house of whitemarble in the center of the terrace, built for queens dead a hundred years ago. the domed roof had half fallen in andblocked up the underground passage from the palace by which the queens used to enter. but the walls were made of screens ofmarble tracery--beautiful milk-white fretwork, set with agates and corneliansand jasper and lapis lazuli, and as the moon came up behind the hill it shone
through the open work, casting shadows onthe ground like black velvet embroidery. sore, sleepy, and hungry as he was, mowglicould not help laughing when the bandar-log began, twenty at a time, to tell him howgreat and wise and strong and gentle they were, and how foolish he was to wish toleave them. "we are great.we are free. we are wonderful. we are the most wonderful people in all thejungle! we all say so, and so it must be true,"they shouted. "now as you are a new listener and cancarry our words back to the jungle-people
so that they may notice us in future, wewill tell you all about our most excellent selves." mowgli made no objection, and the monkeysgathered by hundreds and hundreds on the terrace to listen to their own speakerssinging the praises of the bandar-log, and whenever a speaker stopped for want of breath they would all shout together: "thisis true; we all say so." mowgli nodded and blinked, and said "yes"when they asked him a question, and his head spun with the noise. "tabaqui the jackal must have bitten allthese people," he said to himself, "and now
they have madness.certainly this is dewanee, the madness. do they never go to sleep? now there is a cloud coming to cover thatmoon. if it were only a big enough cloud i mighttry to run away in the darkness. but i am tired." that same cloud was being watched by twogood friends in the ruined ditch below the city wall, for bagheera and kaa, knowingwell how dangerous the monkey-people were in large numbers, did not wish to run anyrisks. the monkeys never fight unless they are ahundred to one, and few in the jungle care
for those odds. "i will go to the west wall," kaawhispered, "and come down swiftly with the slope of the ground in my favor.they will not throw themselves upon my back in their hundreds, but--" "i know it," said bagheera."would that baloo were here, but we must do what we can.when that cloud covers the moon i shall go to the terrace. they hold some sort of council there overthe boy." "good hunting," said kaa grimly, and glidedaway to the west wall.
that happened to be the least ruined ofany, and the big snake was delayed awhile before he could find a way up the stones. the cloud hid the moon, and as mowgliwondered what would come next he heard bagheera's light feet on the terrace. the black panther had raced up the slopealmost without a sound and was striking--he knew better than to waste time in biting--right and left among the monkeys, who were seated round mowgli in circles fifty andsixty deep. there was a howl of fright and rage, andthen as bagheera tripped on the rolling kicking bodies beneath him, a monkeyshouted: "there is only one here!
kill him! kill." a scuffling mass of monkeys, biting,scratching, tearing, and pulling, closed over bagheera, while five or six laid holdof mowgli, dragged him up the wall of the summerhouse and pushed him through the holeof the broken dome. a man-trained boy would have been badlybruised, for the fall was a good fifteen feet, but mowgli fell as baloo had taughthim to fall, and landed on his feet. "stay there," shouted the monkeys, "till wehave killed thy friends, and later we will play with thee--if the poison-people leavethee alive."
"we be of one blood, ye and i," saidmowgli, quickly giving the snake's call. he could hear rustling and hissing in therubbish all round him and gave the call a second time, to make sure. "even ssso!down hoods all!" said half a dozen low voices (every ruin in india becomes sooneror later a dwelling place of snakes, and the old summerhouse was alive with cobras). "stand still, little brother, for thy feetmay do us harm." mowgli stood as quietly as he could,peering through the open work and listening to the furious din of the fight round theblack panther--the yells and chatterings
and scufflings, and bagheera's deep, hoarse cough as he backed and bucked and twistedand plunged under the heaps of his enemies. for the first time since he was born,bagheera was fighting for his life. "baloo must be at hand; bagheera would nothave come alone," mowgli thought. and then he called aloud: "to the tank,bagheera. roll to the water tanks. roll and plunge!get to the water!" bagheera heard, and the cry that told himmowgli was safe gave him new courage. he worked his way desperately, inch byinch, straight for the reservoirs, halting
in silence. then from the ruined wall nearest thejungle rose up the rumbling war-shout of baloo.the old bear had done his best, but he could not come before. "bagheera," he shouted, "i am here.i climb! i haste!ahuwora! the stones slip under my feet! wait my coming, o most infamous bandar-log!" he panted up the terrace only to disappearto the head in a wave of monkeys, but he
threw himself squarely on his haunches,and, spreading out his forepaws, hugged as many as he could hold, and then began to hit with a regular bat-bat-bat, like theflipping strokes of a paddle wheel. a crash and a splash told mowgli thatbagheera had fought his way to the tank where the monkeys could not follow. the panther lay gasping for breath, hishead just out of the water, while the monkeys stood three deep on the red steps,dancing up and down with rage, ready to spring upon him from all sides if he cameout to help baloo. it was then that bagheera lifted up hisdripping chin, and in despair gave the
snake's call for protection--"we be of oneblood, ye and i"--for he believed that kaa had turned tail at the last minute. even baloo, half smothered under themonkeys on the edge of the terrace, could not help chuckling as he heard the blackpanther asking for help. kaa had only just worked his way over thewest wall, landing with a wrench that dislodged a coping stone into the ditch. he had no intention of losing any advantageof the ground, and coiled and uncoiled himself once or twice, to be sure thatevery foot of his long body was in working order.
all that while the fight with baloo wenton, and the monkeys yelled in the tank round bagheera, and mang the bat, flying toand fro, carried the news of the great battle over the jungle, till even hathi the wild elephant trumpeted, and, far away,scattered bands of the monkey-folk woke and came leaping along the tree-roads to helptheir comrades in the cold lairs, and the noise of the fight roused all the day birdsfor miles round. then kaa came straight, quickly, andanxious to kill. the fighting strength of a python is in thedriving blow of his head backed by all the strength and weight of his body.
if you can imagine a lance, or a batteringram, or a hammer weighing nearly half a ton driven by a cool, quiet mind living in thehandle of it, you can roughly imagine what kaa was like when he fought. a python four or five feet long can knock aman down if he hits him fairly in the chest, and kaa was thirty feet long, as youknow. his first stroke was delivered into theheart of the crowd round baloo. it was sent home with shut mouth insilence, and there was no need of a second. the monkeys scattered with cries of--"kaa! it is kaa!run!
run!" generations of monkeys had been scared intogood behavior by the stories their elders told them of kaa, the night thief, whocould slip along the branches as quietly as moss grows, and steal away the strongest monkey that ever lived; of old kaa, whocould make himself look so like a dead branch or a rotten stump that the wisestwere deceived, till the branch caught them. kaa was everything that the monkeys fearedin the jungle, for none of them knew the limits of his power, none of them couldlook him in the face, and none had ever come alive out of his hug.
and so they ran, stammering with terror, tothe walls and the roofs of the houses, and baloo drew a deep breath of relief.his fur was much thicker than bagheera's, but he had suffered sorely in the fight. then kaa opened his mouth for the firsttime and spoke one long hissing word, and the far-away monkeys, hurrying to thedefense of the cold lairs, stayed where they were, cowering, till the loadedbranches bent and crackled under them. the monkeys on the walls and the emptyhouses stopped their cries, and in the stillness that fell upon the city mowgliheard bagheera shaking his wet sides as he came up from the tank.
then the clamor broke out again.the monkeys leaped higher up the walls. they clung around the necks of the bigstone idols and shrieked as they skipped along the battlements, while mowgli,dancing in the summerhouse, put his eye to the screenwork and hooted owl-fashion between his front teeth, to show hisderision and contempt. "get the man-cub out of that trap; i can dono more," bagheera gasped. "let us take the man-cub and go. they may attack again.""they will not move till i order them. stay you sssso!"kaa hissed, and the city was silent once
more. "i could not come before, brother, but ithink i heard thee call"--this was to bagheera."i--i may have cried out in the battle," bagheera answered. "baloo, art thou hurt?"i am not sure that they did not pull me into a hundred little bearlings," saidbaloo, gravely shaking one leg after the other. "wow!i am sore. kaa, we owe thee, i think, our lives--bagheera and i."
"no matter. where is the manling?""here, in a trap. i cannot climb out," cried mowgli.the curve of the broken dome was above his head. "take him away.he dances like mao the peacock. he will crush our young," said the cobrasinside. "hah!" said kaa with a chuckle, "he hasfriends everywhere, this manling. stand back, manling.and hide you, o poison people. i break down the wall."
kaa looked carefully till he found adiscolored crack in the marble tracery showing a weak spot, made two or threelight taps with his head to get the distance, and then lifting up six feet of his body clear of the ground, sent homehalf a dozen full-power smashing blows, nose-first. the screen-work broke and fell away in acloud of dust and rubbish, and mowgli leaped through the opening and flunghimself between baloo and bagheera--an arm around each big neck. "art thou hurt?" said baloo, hugging himsoftly.
"i am sore, hungry, and not a littlebruised. but, oh, they have handled ye grievously,my brothers! ye bleed." "others also," said bagheera, licking hislips and looking at the monkey-dead on the terrace and round the tank. "it is nothing, it is nothing, if thou artsafe, oh, my pride of all little frogs!" whimpered baloo. "of that we shall judge later," saidbagheera, in a dry voice that mowgli did not at all like."but here is kaa to whom we owe the battle
and thou owest thy life. thank him according to our customs,mowgli." mowgli turned and saw the great python'shead swaying a foot above his own. "so this is the manling," said kaa. "very soft is his skin, and he is notunlike the bandar-log. have a care, manling, that i do not mistakethee for a monkey some twilight when i have newly changed my coat." "we be one blood, thou and i," mowglianswered. "i take my life from thee tonight.my kill shall be thy kill if ever thou art
hungry, o kaa." "all thanks, little brother," said kaa,though his eyes twinkled. "and what may so bold a hunter kill?i ask that i may follow when next he goes abroad." "i kill nothing,--i am too little,--but idrive goats toward such as can use them. when thou art empty come to me and see if ispeak the truth. i have some skill in these [he held out hishands], and if ever thou art in a trap, i may pay the debt which i owe to thee, tobagheera, and to baloo, here. good hunting to ye all, my masters."
"well said," growled baloo, for mowgli hadreturned thanks very prettily. the python dropped his head lightly for aminute on mowgli's shoulder. "a brave heart and a courteous tongue,"said he. "they shall carry thee far through thejungle, manling. but now go hence quickly with thy friends. go and sleep, for the moon sets, and whatfollows it is not well that thou shouldst see." the moon was sinking behind the hills andthe lines of trembling monkeys huddled together on the walls and battlementslooked like ragged shaky fringes of things.
baloo went down to the tank for a drink andbagheera began to put his fur in order, as kaa glided out into the center of theterrace and brought his jaws together with a ringing snap that drew all the monkeys'eyes upon him. "the moon sets," he said."is there yet light enough to see?" from the walls came a moan like the wind inthe tree-tops--"we see, o kaa." "good.begins now the dance--the dance of the hunger of kaa. sit still and watch."he turned twice or thrice in a big circle, weaving his head from right to left.
then he began making loops and figures ofeight with his body, and soft, oozy triangles that melted into squares andfive-sided figures, and coiled mounds, never resting, never hurrying, and neverstopping his low humming song. it grew darker and darker, till at last thedragging, shifting coils disappeared, but they could hear the rustle of the scales. baloo and bagheera stood still as stone,growling in their throats, their neck hair bristling, and mowgli watched and wondered. "bandar-log," said the voice of kaa atlast, "can ye stir foot or hand without my order?speak!"
"without thy order we cannot stir foot orhand, o kaa!" "good!come all one pace nearer to me." the lines of the monkeys swayed forwardhelplessly, and baloo and bagheera took one stiff step forward with them."nearer!" hissed kaa, and they all moved again. mowgli laid his hands on baloo and bagheerato get them away, and the two great beasts started as though they had been waked froma dream. "keep thy hand on my shoulder," bagheerawhispered. "keep it there, or i must go back--must goback to kaa.
aah!" "it is only old kaa making circles on thedust," said mowgli. "let us go."and the three slipped off through a gap in the walls to the jungle. "whoof!" said baloo, when he stood underthe still trees again. "never more will i make an ally of kaa,"and he shook himself all over. "he knows more than we," said bagheera,trembling. "in a little time, had i stayed, i shouldhave walked down his throat." "many will walk by that road before themoon rises again," said baloo.
"he will have good hunting--after his ownfashion." "but what was the meaning of it all?" saidmowgli, who did not know anything of a python's powers of fascination."i saw no more than a big snake making foolish circles till the dark came. and his nose was all sore.ho! ho!" "mowgli," said bagheera angrily, "his nosewas sore on thy account, as my ears and sides and paws, and baloo's neck andshoulders are bitten on thy account. neither baloo nor bagheera will be able tohunt with pleasure for many days."
"it is nothing," said baloo; "we have theman-cub again." "true, but he has cost us heavily in timewhich might have been spent in good hunting, in wounds, in hair--i am halfplucked along my back--and last of all, in honor. for, remember, mowgli, i, who am the blackpanther, was forced to call upon kaa for protection, and baloo and i were both madestupid as little birds by the hunger dance. all this, man-cub, came of thy playing withthe bandar-log." "true, it is true," said mowglisorrowfully. "i am an evil man-cub, and my stomach issad in me."
"mf!what says the law of the jungle, baloo?" baloo did not wish to bring mowgli into anymore trouble, but he could not tamper with the law, so he mumbled: "sorrow never stayspunishment. but remember, bagheera, he is very little." "i will remember.but he has done mischief, and blows must be dealt now.mowgli, hast thou anything to say?" "nothing. i did wrong.baloo and thou are wounded. it is just."
bagheera gave him half a dozen love-tapsfrom a panther's point of view (they would hardly have waked one of his own cubs), butfor a seven-year-old boy they amounted to as severe a beating as you could wish toavoid. when it was all over mowgli sneezed, andpicked himself up without a word. "now," said bagheera, "jump on my back,little brother, and we will go home." one of the beauties of jungle law is thatpunishment settles all scores. there is no nagging afterward. mowgli laid his head down on bagheera'sback and slept so deeply that he never waked when he was put down in the home-cave.
road-song of the bandar-loghere we go in a flung festoon, half-way up to the jealous moon!don't you envy our pranceful bands? don't you wish you had extra hands? wouldn't you like if your tails were--socurved in the shape of a cupid's bow? now you're angry, but--never mind,brother, thy tail hangs down behind! here we sit in a branchy row,thinking of beautiful things we know; dreaming of deeds that we mean to do,all complete, in a minute or two-- something noble and wise and good,done by merely wishing we could. we've forgotten, but--never mind,brother, thy tail hangs down behind!
all the talk we ever have hearduttered by bat or beast or bird-- hide or fin or scale or feather--jabber it quickly and all together! excellent! wonderful!once again! now we are talking just like men!let's pretend we are ... never mind, brother, thy tail hangs down behind!this is the way of the monkey-kind. then join our leaping lines that scumfishthrough the pines, that rocket by where, light and high, thewild grape swings. by the rubbish in our wake, and the noblenoise we make,
be sure, be sure, we're going to do somesplendid things!
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