THE JUNGLE BOOK - Novels
by Rudyard Kipling
in
English Children Stories
Now Rann the Kite brings home the night
That Mang the Bat sets free—
The herds are shut in byre and hut
For loosed till dawn are we.
This is the hour of pride and power,
Talon and tush and claw.
Oh, hear the call!—Good ...Read Moreall
That keep the Jungle Law!
Night-Song in the Jungle
It was seven o’clock of a very warm evening in the Seeonee hills when Father Wolf woke up from his day’s rest, scratched himself, yawned, and spread out his paws one after the other to get rid of the sleepy feeling in their tips. Mother Wolf lay with her big gray nose dropped across her four tumbling, squealing cubs, and the moon shone into the mouth of the cave where they all lived. “Augrh!” said Father Wolf. “It is time to hunt again.” He was going to spring down hill when a little shadow with a bushy tail crossed the threshold and whined: “Good luck go with you, O Chief of the Wolves. And good luck and strong white teeth go with noble children that they may never forget the hungry in this world.”
It was the jackal—Tabaqui, the Dish-licker—and the wolves of India despise Tabaqui because he runs about making mischief, and telling tales, and eating rags and pieces of leather from the village rubbish-heaps. But they are afraid of him too, because Tabaqui, more than anyone else in the jungle, is apt to go mad, and then he forgets that he was ever afraid of anyone, and runs through the forest biting everything in his way. Even the tiger runs and hides when little Tabaqui goes mad, for madness is the most disgraceful thing that can overtake a wild creature. We call it hydrophobia, but they call it dewanee—the madness—and run.
By Rudyard Kipling 1 Mowgli’s Brothers Now Rann the Kite brings home the night That Mang the Bat sets free— The herds are shut in byre and hut For loosed till dawn are we. This is the hour of ...Read Moreand power, Talon and tush and claw. Oh, hear the call!—Good hunting all That keep the Jungle Law! Night-Song in the Jungle It was seven o’clock of a very warm evening in the Seeonee hills when Father Wolf woke up from his day’s rest, scratched himself, yawned, and spread out his paws one after the other to get rid of
2 Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled Once, twice and again! And a doe leaped up, and a doe leaped up From the pond in the wood where the wild deer sup. ...Read MoreI, scouting alone, beheld, Once, twice and again! As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled Once, twice and again! And a wolf stole back, and a wolf stole back To carry the word to the waiting pack, And we sought and we found and we bayed on his track Once, twice and again! As the dawn was
3 Road-Song of the Bandar-Log Here 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—so— Curved ...Read Morethe 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,
4 Mowgli’s Song THAT HE SANG AT THE COUNCIL ROCK WHEN HE DANCED ON SHERE KHAN’S HIDE The Song of Mowgli—I, Mowgli, am singing. Let the jungle listen to the things I have done. Shere Khan said ...Read Morewould kill—would kill! At the gates in the twilight he would kill Mowgli, the Frog! He ate and he drank. Drink deep, Shere Khan, for when wilt thou drink again? Sleep and dream of the kill. I am alone on the grazing-grounds. Gray Brother, come to me! Come to me, Lone Wolf, for there is big game afoot!
5 Lukannon This is the great deep-sea song that all the St. Paul seals sing when they are heading back to their beaches in the summer. It is a sort of very sad seal National Anthem. I met my ...Read Morein the morning (and, oh, but I am old!) Where roaring on the ledges the summer ground-swell rolled; I heard them lift the chorus that drowned the breakers’ song— The Beaches of Lukannon—two million voices strong. The song of pleasant stations beside the salt lagoons, The song of blowing squadrons that shuffled down the dunes, The song of midnight
6 Darzee’s Chant (Sung in honor of Rikki-tikki-tavi) Singer and tailor am I— Doubled the joys that I know— Proud of my lilt to the sky, Proud of the house that I sew— Over and under, so weave I ...Read Moremusic—so weave I the house that I sew. Sing to your fledglings again, Mother, oh lift up your head! Evil that plagued us is slain, Death in the garden lies dead. Terror that hid in the roses is impotent—flung on the dung-hill and dead! Who has delivered us, who? Tell me his nest and his name. Rikki, the
7 Shiv and the Grasshopper (The song that Toomai’s mother sang to the baby) Shiv, who poured the harvest and made the winds to blow, Sitting at the doorways of a day of long ago, Gave to each his ...Read Morefood and toil and fate, From the King upon the guddee to the Beggar at the gate. All things made he—Shiva the Preserver. Mahadeo! Mahadeo! He made all,— Thorn for the camel, fodder for the kine, And mother’s heart for sleepy head, O little son of mine! Wheat he gave to rich folk, millet to the poor, Broken scraps for
8 Parade Song of the Camp Animals ELEPHANTS OF THE GUN TEAMS We lent to Alexander the strength of Hercules, The wisdom of our foreheads, the cunning of our knees; We bowed our necks to service: they ne’er were ...Read Moreagain,— Make way there—way for the ten-foot teams Of the Forty-Pounder train! GUN BULLOCKS Those heroes in their harnesses avoid a cannon-ball, And what they know of powder upsets them one and all; Then we come into action and tug the guns again— Make way there—way for the twenty yoke Of the Forty-Pounder train! CAVALRY HORSES
