Bring it here said Mother Wolf A wolf can mouth an egg without breaking it Father Wolf’s jaws closed right on the child’s back yet not a tooth even scratched the skin He laid it down among the cubs How little How naked and how bold said Mother Wolf softly The baby was pushing his way between the cubs to get close to the warm hide Ahai He is taking his meal with the others He is altogether without hair and I could kill him with a touch of my foot said Father Wolf But see he looks up and is not afraid The moonlight was suddenly blocked out of the cave Shere Khan’s great square head and shoulders were thrust into the entrance Tabaqui was squeaking behind him My Lord it went in here Shere Khan does us a great honor said Father Wolf but his eyes were very angry What does Shere Khan need 10
A man’s cub went this way said Shere Khan Give it to me Father Wolf knew the mouth of the cave was too narrow for a tiger to come in The Wolves are a free people he said They take orders from the Head of the Pack not from any striped cattle-killer The man’s cub is ours to kill if we choose What talk is this of choosing Am I to stand nosing into your dog’s den for my fair dues It is I Shere Khan who speaks The tiger’s roar fi lled the cave with thunder Mother Wolf sprang forward her eyes like two green moons in the darkness And it is I Raksha the Demon who answers The man’s cub is mine Now back you go to your mother lamer than ever you came into the world Shere Khan could not stand up against Mother Wolf She had all the advantage of the ground and would fi ght to the death So he 11
backed out of the cave mouth growling When he was clear he shouted We will see what the Pack will say to this fostering of man-cubs To my teeth he will come in the end thieves Mother Wolf threw herself down among the cubs Lie still little frog for Mowgli the Frog I will call you The time will come when you will hunt Shere Khan as he has hunted you Father Wolf waited till his cubs could run a little Then on the night of the Pack Meeting he took them and Mowgli and Mother Wolf to the Council Rock Akela the great gray Lone Wolf who led the Pack lay out on his rock Below him sat forty wolves of every size and color The cubs tumbled over each other in the center of the circle where their mothers and fathers sat Akela from his rock would cry You know the Law Look well O Wolves At last Father Wolf pushed Mowgli the Frog into the center He sat laughing and playing with some pebbles 12
Akela never raised his head from his paws but went on Look well A muffl ed roar came from behind the rocks The voice of Shere Khan cried The cub is mine Give him to me What have the Free People to do with a man’s cub Akela never even twitched his ears All he said was Look well O Wolves What have the Free People to do with the orders of any save the Free People There was a chorus of deep growls Now the Law of the Jungle declares that if there is any disagreement about the acceptance of a cub he must be spoken for by at least two members of the Pack The two must not be his father or his mother Who speaks for this cub asked Akela There was no answer The only other creature who was allowed at the Pack Council was Baloo He was the sleepy brown bear who taught the wolf cubs the Law 13
